Health
Pet medication for deadly cat illness soon to be available in US: 'Huge triumph'
Many cat owners are rejoicing at the news that a drug used to treat an otherwise fatal illness for cats will be available in the United States as of June 1.
“Stokes Pharmacy has formed an exclusive partnership with the Bova Group to offer a U.S.-made compounded oral treatment for feline infectious peritonitis (FIP),” according to a statement from Stokes Pharmacy, a New Jersey-based compounding pharmacy.
Bova, a veterinary pharmaceuticals company based in the U.K. and Australia, began selling GS-441524, a drug compound to treat FIP, in 2021 — but the drug was not available for sale in the United States.
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“This treatment is supported by Bova’s unique drug formula, which has been used in clinical research studies across the globe and is currently in use in the U.K. and Australia,” said Stokes.
Fox News Digital reached out to Stokes Pharmacy for further comment.
A drug that has been used in other countries to successfully treat FIP – an illness that kills cats unless treated – is now available in the United States. (iStock)
In a May 10 statement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said there are “certain conditions where the agency does not intend to take enforcement actions for compounded products for use in animals,” and that the drugs are still not technically FDA-approved.
FIP is a “viral disease of cats caused by certain strains of a virus called the feline coronavirus,” according to the website for Cornell University’s Feline Health Center.
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While most feline coronaviruses are relatively harmless and resolve on their own, the virus sometimes mutates into what is known as FIP.
“Once a cat develops clinical FIP, the disease is usually progressive and almost always fatal,” the Cornell website states.
Until now, U.S. cat owners have had to turn to the “black market” to obtain a drug that was not yet approved in this country.
While most feline coronaviruses are relatively harmless and resolve on their own, the virus sometimes mutates into what is known as FIP. (iStock)
FIP Warriors, a group founded in March 2019 that helps connect cat owners with medications needed to treat their cats, told Fox News Digital that they are “cautiously optimistic” at the news that veterinarians will be able to prescribe treatment for cats with FIP.
Still, the group noted, “We have very little factual information at this time and eagerly await more details from Bova and Stokes to become available. We are in direct contact with Bova and will be sharing all updates we receive with the entire FIP Warriors community.”
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“Our sincere hope is that a safe, affordable and easily accessible medication option will help treat and cure as many FIP cats as possible and that this is a positive first step toward that goal,” the group added.
“We will continue our diligent work to educate both veterinarians and cat parents as the FIP landscape evolves.”
“Within 48 hours, I could see that my cat was starting to feel better, and within a week she was back to normal.”
One of the cat owners helped by the FIP Warriors organization told Fox News Digital about what she went through to save her cat.
Jessica Guyette, a resident of Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital that she returned home from a trip to discover that one of her two cats had lost a significant amount of weight and was acting strangely.
Jessica Guyette of Washington, D.C., successfully treated her cat’s FIP with a drug regimen not yet legal in the United States. Above is her cat, pictured while sick, left, and after she was cured, right. (Jessica Guyette)
After several vet visits, Guyette was informed that her cat had FIP — and that there was nothing legally that could be done.
A veterinarian “secretly suggested” that she turn to online groups to acquire the drugs that might save her cat, which is what led her to FIP Warriors.
“At this point, there were no other options,” she said. “She was still losing weight, very lethargic, and I could tell that she was dying.”
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Guyette, who works as a researcher for the National Institutes of Health, said she and her cat saw quick results.
“Within 48 hours, I could see that my cat was starting to feel better, and within a week she was back to normal,” she said — describing the overall experience of trying to save her as “terrifying.”
She added, “I brought her in [to the vet] every month to run blood tests and the vet was astonished to find that she was back to normal, when she had been on the brink of death.”
Hannah Shaw, known on YouTube as the “Kitten Lady,” runs a nonprofit to rescue kittens and to educate others on how to care for vulnerable kittens. (Andrew Marttila)
Activist and author Hannah Shaw, founder of the nonprofit organization Kitten Lady, also treated her own cat, Coco, for FIP using black market drugs and documented the process on her YouTube channel, “Kitten Lady.”
“It is a huge triumph that FIP — which has been considered a fatal disease for so long — is now able to be legally treated by veterinarians,” the California-based Shaw told Fox News Digital via email.
“This moment is the culmination of years of research, advocacy and activism from a movement that is sick of seeing cats die due to lacking access to lifesaving treatment.”
Shaw’s latest book, “Cats of the World,” will be released in October.
In the past, when veterinarians were told to “remain hands-off” when advising cat owners about treating FIP, it was “confusing and isolating for people who discover that their cats have been diagnosed with the disease,” she said.
Even more frustrating, said Shaw, was how “animal advocates have been successfully treating cats for FIP for a number of years, but navigating that care has been incredibly complicated for the average cat guardian.”
Coco, one of Shaw’s cats, developed FIP while undergoing chemotherapy, she told Fox News Digital.
It was only due to “total strangers on the internet” that Shaw was able to obtain the medication and successfully treat Coco, she said.
“It is a huge triumph that FIP — which has been considered a fatal disease for so long — is now able to be legally treated by veterinarians,” an activist told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
“GS-441524 completely cured her of FIP, and thanks to the drug, I got another amazing two years with her,” she said.
The ability for veterinarians to discuss FIP treatment with cat owners and for the drugs to be obtained through legal means is a “massive win,” Shaw said, “and is going to help so many people save their cats’ lives.”
“This moment is the culmination of years of research, advocacy and activism from a movement that is sick of seeing cats die due to lacking access to lifesaving treatment, and it’s a huge cause for celebration,” she added.
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Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. New research shows one group getting hit the hardest – those without a college degree.
A recent study from the American Cancer Society analyzed data from over 101,000 adults aged 25 to 49 who died from colorectal cancer between 1994 and 2023.
While death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed.
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For young adults with a high school education or less, the mortality rate rose from 4.0 to 5.2 per 100,000 people, while the rate for those with at least a bachelor’s degree stayed flat, at approximately 2.7 per 100,000.
This does not mean that a degree offers some kind of biological protection, researchers cautioned.
Colorectal cancer, once considered a disease of older age, is becoming a crisis for younger adults. (iStock)
The difference is likely driven by the conditions in which people live and work, which often correlate with education levels, the researchers noted.
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The study suggests that the higher death rates are likely driven by differences in the prevalence of risk factors, including obesity, physical inactivity, smoking and diet, which are “known to be elevated among children and young adults with lower [socioeconomic status].”
Because the study relied on death certificates, researchers couldn’t say exactly why college graduates had better outcomes.
Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes. (iStock)
Certificates typically list the cause of death, age, race and education level, but they do not include a person’s full medical history.
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Because the researchers didn’t have the patients’ actual medical records, they couldn’t see things like frequency of screenings or treatment options, which would impact survival outcomes.
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Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death for men under 50 and the second leading cause for women in the same age group, according to recent statistics.
While colorectal cancer death rates remained stable for college graduates, they climbed significantly for those without a bachelor’s degree, the findings showed. (iStock)
Because the disease is highly treatable when caught early, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lowered the recommended screening age from 50 to 45 in 2021.
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Common signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer can include a change in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation or narrowing of the stool, that lasts for more than a few days, according to the American Cancer Society.
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Other signs that warrant seeing a doctor include blood in the stool or a persistent feeling of needing to go to the bathroom but being unable to go.
The research was published in JAMA Oncology.
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A young woman who started vaping at the age of 15 has been given just 18 months to live — after being diagnosed with lung cancer in her early 20s.
Kayley Boda, 22, of Manchester, in the United Kingdom, was engaging in heavy vaping on a regular basis when she started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in it in January 2025, news agency SWNS reported.
The retail assistant said doctors turned her away eight times, telling her she had a chest infection — until she began coughing up blood.
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After seven biopsies, Boda was diagnosed with lung cancer. She underwent surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy — and in February 2026, got the all-clear, the same source reported.
Two months later, though, doctors said the cancer had come back in the pleural lining. Now she’s been given 18 months to live.
Kayley Boda, 22, is shown in the hospital. She started coughing up a brown substance with “grainy bits” in January 2025, she said. She had been vaping since the age of 15. (SWNS)
The young woman has now issued a warning to others to be aware of the dangers of vaping.
Boda said she smoked a bit as a young teenager. She took up vaping after that.
Then, “a few months after I switched from reusable vapes to disposable ones, I started coughing up brown, grainy mucus,” as SWNS reported.
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“Doctors turned me away eight times with a chest infection. … Then I started coughing up blood, so they did an X-ray and found a shadow on my lung,” she added.
“They told me they were 99% sure, [since I was] so young, that it wasn’t cancer, so not to worry about it. When I got the results back, and they told me it was lung cancer, it felt so surreal.”
Boda said she was “very naive” before her diagnosis and thought that “something like this would never happen to me.”
She said that she had surgery to remove half of her right lung.
“After the surgery, I started chemo and I had a terrible reaction to it. I couldn’t lift my head up. I was throwing up blood. I was urinating blood. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep.”
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She said that when she got the “all clear [in Feb. 2026], it felt amazing, but just two months later I was told the cancer had come back, and I have 18 months to live.”
She added, “I’m 22. This isn’t meant to happen to somebody my age.”
“Stay off the vapes because they will catch up with you.”
She blames her cancer on vaping, she said.
“My symptoms started a few months after I started disposable vapes, and there’s no lung cancer in my family,” she said. “I haven’t vaped for three months, I’ve made my partner stop, I’ve made my mom stop, I’m urging all my friends to stop. Stay off the vapes,” she continued, “because they will catch up with you.”
When doctors did an X-ray, they found a shadow on Boda’s right lung. She was later diagnosed with lung cancer and has undergone surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
She said she’d been using reusable vapes since the age of 15 and began using disposable vapes a few months before her cancer symptoms started.
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In November 2024, when she developed a rash all over her body, doctors said it could have been due to shingles, chicken pox or scabies, she told SWNS.
‘Nothing worked’
“I got treated for all three, and nothing worked,” Boda said. “It got to the point where I was cutting myself from scratching so hard.”
A few months after that, she began coughing up a dark brown mucus, with “grainy bits, the consistency of sugar, in it,” she said. When the coughing continued, she visited the doctor’s office, but was told it could be scarring from pneumonia or a chest infection, she also said.
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It wasn’t until March 2025 that she began coughing up bright red blood. At that point, doctors gave her a chest X-ray and told her they’d found a shadow on her lower right lung.
Over the next four months, she had seven biopsies as doctors took samples from the “shadow.” In August, when she went to get the results, she was told she had stage one lung cancer.
Boda is shown in the hospital. She was diagnosed with lung cancer and had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, as well as chemotherapy. (SWNS)
In September 2025, she had surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, and the surrounding lymph nodes. During the surgery, doctors upstaged her cancer from stage one to stage three after finding cancer in six surrounding lymph nodes, she said.
Following the surgery, Boda was unable to breathe properly and had to learn to walk all over again.
“The oncologist said this is so rare.”
After finishing chemotherapy in February 2026, Kayley was given the all clear, leaving her feeling elated.
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However, just a month after that, she began experiencing extreme chest pains and was told by doctors she had a pleural effusion — a build-up of fluid in the lungs. She had the fluid removed, but when doctors tested it, they discovered her cancer had returned to the pleural lining of her lungs, giving her 18 months to live.
“The oncologist said this is so rare, and usually something they see in patients that are 80 years old,” she said, as SWNS reported.
Increasingly, vacation hot spots are enforcing strict bans on the use of e-cigarettes in public venues. (iStock)
Boda claimed that doctors were unable to pin her cancer to a specific cause — but told her that smoking and vaping definitely didn’t help.
Since her diagnosis, she has stopped and is urging others to stop, too.
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She’s hoping to raise the thousands of dollars needed for treatment to try to prolong her life, she said.
Last year, Fox News Digital reported on the case of a Pennsylvania woman, 26, who said she vaped for just one year before her lungs collapsed. She was 22 when she took up the habit, she said in an interview.
“Everybody warned me about it, but I didn’t listen — I wish that I did,” she said.
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Dr. David Campbell, clinical director and program director at Recover Together Bend in Oregon, told Fox News Digital at that time that signs of collapsed lungs include sharp chest or shoulder pain, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
Lung issues are just one of the many health issues linked to vaping, he warned. The habit can also increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as exposure to harmful heavy metals.
Melissa Rudy of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.
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The key to feeling better in a fast, overstimulated world might be surprisingly simple: Live a little more like your grandparents.
A growing social media trend, dubbed “nonnamaxxing,” draws inspiration from the slower, more intentional rhythms associated with an Italian grandmother.
The lifestyle is often linked to activities like preparing home-cooked meals, spending time outdoors and making meaningful connections.
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“Nonnamaxxing is a 2026 trend that embraces the slower, more intentional lifestyle of an Italian grandmother (a Nonna). Think cooking from scratch, long family meals, daily walks, gardening and less screen time,” Erin Palinski-Wade, a New Jersey-based registered dietitian, told Fox News Digital.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
Stepping away from screens and toward real-world interaction can have measurable benefits, according to California-based psychotherapist Laurie Singer.
“We know that interacting with others in person, rather than spending time on screens, significantly improves mental health,” she told Fox News Digital, adding that social media often fuels comparison and lowers self-esteem.
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Living more like previous generations isn’t purely driven by nostalgia. Cooking meals from scratch, for example, has been linked to better nutrition and more mindful eating patterns.
Adopting traditional mealtime habits can improve diet quality and support both physical and mental health, especially when meals are shared regularly with others, Palinski-Wade noted.
One longevity expert stresses that staying healthy isn’t just about food — it’s also about joy and community. (iStock)
There’s also a psychological benefit to slowing down and focusing on one task at a time. Anxiety often stems from unfinished or avoided tasks, Singer noted, and engaging in hands-on activities can counteract that.
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“Nonnamaxxing encourages us to be present around a task, like gardening, baking or knitting, or just taking a mindful walk, that delivers something ‘real,’” she said.
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Palinski-Wade cautions against turning the trend into another source of pressure, noting that a traditional “nonna” lifestyle often assumes a different pace of life.
The key, she said, is adapting the mindset, not replicating it perfectly.
Nonnamaxxing, derived from the name for an Italian grandmother, is a trend that incorporates lifestyle habits hundreds of years in the making. (iStock)
The goal is to reintroduce small, intentional moments that make you feel better.
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That might mean prioritizing a few shared meals each week, taking a walk without your phone or setting aside time for a simple hobby, the expert recommended.
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Singer added, “Having a positive place to escape to, through whatever activities speak to us and make us happy, isn’t generational – it’s human.”
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