FIP

Hello. I am new here, referred from another group.

I had a kitten come thru my place who died of FIP. I have 3 other cats
who are young, in the susceptible age group of under 3 years. I'd never
heard of FIP before this episode, wish I didn't take this kitten home to
begin with (found her in the road, black kitten before Halloween).

I took her straight into the vet when we found her to get checked and
first shots. She showed no signs of any major illness until after she
was spayed a month or so later. After that her belly got bloated and the
vet kept telling me she had a bad case of worms. By the time I'd treated
her 4 times for worms (each 2 weeks apart) she'd been around the other
cats for a couple months. Then the FIP testing began. The first test,
which was of her abdominal fluid (she had the wet form), came back
negative and she ran no fever so the vet didn't she had FIP (plus she
had a heart murmur, so he seemed to think she had a heart-related
problem causing the fluid buildup). It was only after a second test,
this time a blood test, sent to a different lab, that the FIP was
supposedly confirmed. By the time the second test came back positive she
was dead.

My whole point of posting is to find out if anyone here is very familiar
with FIP. I am now worried about the other three. I have googled and
read all I can find on the subject, but was directed here as another
source of knowledgeable people who may have expertise on the disease.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

On Jan 26, 7:17*am, Poe wrote:
Hello. I am new here, referred from another group.

I had a kitten come thru my place who died of FIP. I have 3 other cats
who are young, in the susceptible age group of under 3 years. I'd never
heard of FIP before this episode, wish I didn't take this kitten home to
begin with (found her in the road, black kitten before Halloween).

I took her straight into the vet when we found her to get checked and
first shots. She showed no signs of any major illness until after she
was spayed a month or so later. After that her belly got bloated and the
vet kept telling me she had a bad case of worms. By the time I'd treated
her 4 times for worms (each 2 weeks apart) she'd been around the other
cats for a couple months. Then the FIP testing began. The first test,
which was of her abdominal fluid (she had the wet form), came back
negative and she ran no fever so the vet didn't she had FIP (plus she
had a heart murmur, so he seemed to think she had a heart-related
problem causing the fluid buildup). It was only after a second test,
this time a blood test, sent to a different lab, that the FIP was
supposedly confirmed. By the time the second test came back positive she
was dead.

My whole point of posting is to find out if anyone here is very familiar
with FIP. I am now worried about the other three. I have googled and
read all I can find on the subject, but was directed here as another
source of knowledgeable people who may have expertise on the disease.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

I'm sorry about the poor little kitten. Most articles about FIP
indicate that it is a mutation of the corona virus, which most cats in
multi-cat households have anyway. Apparently being around an FIP cat
does not increase the chances of your other cats developing FIP and
there are many instances cited in the literature where cats who lived
with a FIP cat were perfectly healthy afterwards. It's still natural
to worry and I would, too, but hopefully your other cats will be fine
and live long, healthy lives. It's good that the poor little kitty had
love in her short life even though I know it has cost you much worry
and, no doubt, $$.

Candace

Candace wrote:
On Jan 26, 7:17 am, Poe wrote:
Hello. I am new here, referred from another group.

I had a kitten come thru my place who died of FIP. I have 3 other cats
who are young, in the susceptible age group of under 3 years. I'd never
heard of FIP before this episode, wish I didn't take this kitten home to
begin with (found her in the road, black kitten before Halloween).

I took her straight into the vet when we found her to get checked and
first shots. She showed no signs of any major illness until after she
was spayed a month or so later. After that her belly got bloated and the
vet kept telling me she had a bad case of worms. By the time I'd treated
her 4 times for worms (each 2 weeks apart) she'd been around the other
cats for a couple months. Then the FIP testing began. The first test,
which was of her abdominal fluid (she had the wet form), came back
negative and she ran no fever so the vet didn't she had FIP (plus she
had a heart murmur, so he seemed to think she had a heart-related
problem causing the fluid buildup). It was only after a second test,
this time a blood test, sent to a different lab, that the FIP was
supposedly confirmed. By the time the second test came back positive she
was dead.

My whole point of posting is to find out if anyone here is very familiar
with FIP. I am now worried about the other three. I have googled and
read all I can find on the subject, but was directed here as another
source of knowledgeable people who may have expertise on the disease.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

I'm sorry about the poor little kitten. Most articles about FIP
indicate that it is a mutation of the corona virus, which most cats in
multi-cat households have anyway. Apparently being around an FIP cat
does not increase the chances of your other cats developing FIP and
there are many instances cited in the literature where cats who lived
with a FIP cat were perfectly healthy afterwards. It's still natural
to worry and I would, too, but hopefully your other cats will be fine
and live long, healthy lives. It's good that the poor little kitty had
love in her short life even though I know it has cost you much worry
and, no doubt, $$.

Candace


Thanks Candace. After posting I downloaded more headers and found
another thread in this ng earlier this month on FIP also. I am hopeful
things will work out because a number of factors must come together to
form the deadly disease, making it less likely (especially that the
virus has to mutate once a cat has been infected). And yeah, it can be
costly emotionally and financially, but keeping my critters healthy is a
small price to pay for their company :-)