Coffee Cat, a cute white cat, has over two million fans who follow his playful antics on Instagram. He’s not just popular for being adorable though. Coffee Cat has also become a source of inspiration for both people and animals battling cancer, according to his owner Varisiri Methachittipsan.
The story began in April 2016.
Varisiri and her partner, Shannon, already had a cat named Nala, who they rescued, before they brought Coffee Cat home in late 2014. Nala was already popular on Instagram, and Coffee Cat quickly became famous too. Varisiri and Shannon liked sharing the funny things their cats did with their fans. Then, one day in April 2016, while Varisiri was brushing Coffee Cat’s fur, she felt something strange underneath it.
Varisiri noticed that Coffee Cat was so fluffy that if she didn’t brush him regularly, she wouldn’t even see some things. One day, she found lumps on both sides of his body while brushing him. When she looked up cat anatomy online, she learned that those lumps might be his kidneys. Kidneys are important because they help get rid of waste and fluid from the body. Finding lumps on them was a serious sign that something might be wrong.
The next morning, which was a Saturday, Varisiri hurried Coffee Cat to the family vet. The vet checked him and said that his kidneys were bigger than they should be. Varisiri recalls that at that moment, they were worried that Coffee Cat might have cancer.
The family vet took a small piece of tissue from Coffee Cat’s body to send to another lab for testing. They said it would take about two days to get the results. But Varisiri was too worried to wait that long. So, she decided to take Coffee Cat to another hospital that same day. This hospital had more advanced equipment to diagnose problems.
They used sound waves to look inside Coffee Cat’s body, a process called an ultrasound. The ultrasound suggested that Coffee Cat might have kidney lymphoma, a type of cancer. Later, the results from the tissue sample confirmed this.
“The doctor told us that Coffee Cat’s condition was really serious,” Varisiri says. “His kidneys were almost failing completely.”
On Tuesday, which was just three days after finding the lumps, and a day after confirming kidney lymphoma with tissue samples, Coffee Cat and his owners went to see Dr. Greg Ogilvie, a vet who specializes in treating cancer, at VCA California Veterinary Specialists – Carlsbad. Dr. Ogilvie immediately began chemotherapy treatment for Coffee Cat.
“Coffee Cat was in a tough spot,” Dr. Ogilvie explains. “He was really sick when he came to our hospital, struggling to stay alive because of his severe kidney issues.”
But Dr. Ogilvie was able to comfort Varisiri and Shannon by telling them that Coffee Cat still had a good chance of getting better.
“Sometimes, people think cancer means there’s no hope left,” Dr. Ogilvie explains. “But actually, it just means we have a name for what’s wrong. We had to help the family understand this, because with the right treatment, cats can often get better.”
Dr. Ogilvie says that kidney lymphoma is a common type of cancer in cats. While chemotherapy can be tough for humans, cats can handle it well.
Varisiri decided to give Coffee Cat the best treatment possible. This meant taking him to VCA California Veterinary Specialists – Carlsbad for chemotherapy visits. The treatment plan lasted 25 weeks, with visits scheduled once a week for the first six weeks, then every other week for six weeks, and finally, once a month for three months.
Varisiri remembers that the first day of treatment was the toughest. She was worried because they didn’t know how Coffee Cat would respond. She hoped for more time with him but trusted that if the treatment wasn’t working, they would figure it out.
“After the first treatment, when we got home, he was very sick. He stayed on the bathroom floor and didn’t move much,” she says. “I couldn’t sleep that night. I kept waking up to check on him every hour. He was really nauseous and throwing up. He stayed sick for another day or two, but then he started feeling better.”
The following week, the vet team spoke to Varisiri and gave her some medicine to help Coffee Cat with his nausea. It seemed to work well. Every time they visited, Coffee Cat got his chemotherapy, and the vets also checked his body and did blood tests to see how his kidneys and body were doing with the medicine.
“We kept a close eye on him and how he responded to each medicine,” Varisiri says. During Coffee Cat’s fight with cancer, he lost weight. He went from being a bit chubby at 10 pounds to being too thin at 6.5 pounds, according to Varisiri. But as time went on, his health got better overall.
“You have to pay attention to your cat,” she says. “They’ll tell you how they’re feeling. Last year, we lost one of our cats very suddenly. Many people told me, ‘You’ll know when they’re ready to go,’ and that time, I did know. But with Coffee, I felt like he wasn’t ready. He still wanted to be with us. I believe you have to stay hopeful, take things one day at a time, and see how your pet is doing.”
At the same time, Coffee Cat got extra care from his regular vet as needed. “Our family vet helped take care of Coffee Cat between visits to us. We really couldn’t have managed without them,” Dr. Ogilvie explains.
Dr. Ogilvie says that veterinary specialists are like an extra help for the family vet. They offer advanced care that the family vet might not be able to provide due to time, equipment, or specialized knowledge limits.
Coffee Cat’s Instagram followers played a significant role in his treatment too. They supported him by joining online raffles and fundraisers and by making donations to help cover his medical expenses.
Dr. Ogilvie and the family vet worked together to treat Coffee Cat’s kidney lymphoma and get his kidneys working properly again. “Once we got his kidneys working, he really started to thrive,” Dr. Ogilvie says.
Coffee Cat is now 7 years old and has returned to a healthy weight. He still needs medication to support his kidneys, which were damaged but are now working. Varisiri says he also takes medicine to lower his blood pressure because of the kidney damage.
“One of Coffee Cat’s kidneys is smaller because of the cancer,” Varisiri explains. “So, the other kidney has to work extra hard, which leads to high blood pressure.”
Dr. Ogilvie and his team at VCA California Veterinary Specialists – Carlsbad were really impressed with how well Coffee Cat reacted to chemotherapy. “I personally think cats are not from this world,” Dr. Ogilvie says. “They’re magical creatures with incredible abilities to overcome challenges that we humans couldn’t handle.”
Varisiri mentions that all the veterinarians were very kind and caring throughout Coffee Cat’s treatment. “Dr. Ogilvie always referred to Coffee as ‘my kitty.’ We feel really fortunate that he was the one taking care of Coffee.”
Dr. Ogilvie admits that it’s difficult for him to say a cat is “cured” of cancer. However, he believes that if there’s a cat who can be called cured, Coffee Cat would be the first one on the list.
