Well crud

[SarahMB]

The kitten we rescued a couple months back has tested positive for FIP. This is a contagious virus that is untreatable and fatal. It remains to be seen if any of our 3 cats got the virus from the kitten.

[Shadowspider]

Oh man, that sucks Sarah!
I hope your other cats didn't catch it.

[frankykeno]

Oh Sarah, I'm so very sorry to read this. I did do a bit of a search through a few sites and hope that this one might give you information and support. Big hugs!

http://www.dr-addie.com/

[Ladydragon]

Oh Sarah, thats terrible. sorry to hear about that. you and your kitty's are in my prayers.

[JLC]

Oh NO, Sarah!! That's terrible!! Is there any hope of a false positive??? I really, really hope the rest of your pets stay healthy!!!

[slartibartfast]

FIP is horrible.

However...there is no test for FIP.

There -is- a test for coronavirus, and some corona positive cats do go on to develop full blown FIP, but it's a very low percentage.

My first bottle baby kitten who I had raised from 3 days old got agressive FIP at 6 months old, and I held him as we euthanized him. Panicked, I spend hundreds of dollars testing my entire household, read up on all the latest studies, retested them...and then decided it was all a load of hooey.

One vet said 95% of cats in the US will light up a corona test, and only a tiny fraction actually get FIP. As my cats share litterboxes, I'd wager that all 8 of them are corona positive, and I'm not remotely worried about it.

As near as anyone can figure, it takes a particular cat's particular immune system reacting to a particular strain of corona to actually get FIP...and so far, nobody has pinned down the specifics on any of those factors. While corona is contagious, FIP is not and most corona positive cats live to a ripe old age and die of normal old-age stuff. Very few will ever get FIP.

Don't sweat it, and don't let the vet tell you otherwise...many of them still believe the older info that FIP is contagious and fatal. The reality is far more complicated than that.

[recycling goddess]

ah i'm so sorry to read this sarah. sending you hugs and hope that none of your other kitties got it.

[SarahMB]

Thanks, y'all, everyone here is pretty devastated about it. I had a few homes lined up to adopt her, but they all fell through. My daughter got attached to her and agreed to pay for her vet visits in order to keep her.
Of course, I didn't make her pay for this recent bit, as it did run into the hundreds!

Jess, the kitten is extremely bloated in the tummy, and the first vet I took her to withdrew some fluid that turned out to be straw colored. She diagnosed FIP off of that alone. After that, we took all our cats to our regular vet. He tested them all for leuk, which he said 99% of FIP cats will have that. They all came back negative. He then sent off a test to a lab that tests for heart, liver and kidney problems, as well as FIP (or coronavirus I guess?). That one came back positive.

There is really a lot of conflicting information about this virus, I have no idea what to think!

[slartibartfast]

Ahh...so your kitten is corona positive -and- symptomatic for FIP. :-(

I have never seen it treated successfully...The best you can do is keep him comfortable and let him go when it's time. I am so very sorry.

My gorgeous Frankie...a soft blue tabby...developed the plaques in his eyes at six months old, and we euthanized him before he developed neurologic problems. It was horrible and there was nothing I could do to fix it. (And the stupid cremation people lost his body!!!!)

The positive news is that your other cats should be fine.

[SarahMB]

Thanks, Jess. It's a sad thing to go through, I feel the worst for my daughter.

I'm so sorry about your cat, and then insult being added to injury. That is just really horrible