Hi everyone

My beloved nine year old Birman died a couple of weeks ago, having been ill for a few weeks. The vet X-rayed him and did loads of blood tests and could not find anything, from the symptoms (off his food and losing weight, lethargic) and blood results they thought it was probably FIP. I have two other cats so now I am wondering if they might have this as well, also what would have triggered it in one cat but not the others? No-one seems to know much about this condition.

Does anyone know anything about FIP or know any good cat boards where I might be able to ask / find out? I am really upset at losing my cat, and also worried about my other two.

Thanks!
Alex

I'm so sorry you lost your cat. :( FIP is a complex subject and VERY VERY misunderstood even by many vets so first off, PLEASE don't panic and worry too much and above all don't listen to anyone who says your other cats will have it.

Secondly, FIP CANNOT be diagnosed by a blood test, it can ONLY by diagnosed correctly by post mortem once the cat is dead, so there isn't even a certainty your cat did have FIP.

Thirdly, FIP is NOT contagious. It is caused by a virus that around 90% of ALL cats will at some point in their lives have been in contact with, but for this to turn into FIP the virus has to MUTATE and the mutated virus is not contagious. It is however strongly believed that there is a genetic link to which cats are prone to have the virus mutate.

I'm not sure if I a mallowed to post it so PM me if you want details but I run a cat mailing list.

Here are some excellent articles on FIP by the foremost experts about it:

http://www.cfa.org/articles/health/FIP.html
http://www.fabcats.org/fip.html

I've encountered it a few times and it's a bit of a pet subject for me, ever since in 1999 a vet I now call Christmas Cracker (because I swear she found her qualification inside one as a joke!) told me , in the middle of the night when I was heavily pregnant and already upset, that my dying cat had FIP and ALL my cats would now die. Several of those are still here! Not one more died.

Hi Goldmali

Thanks for your reply, and the links. They were really useful particularly the FAB one, I had googled for info but I got so much conflicting stuff that I didn't know what to trust! It's comforting to know that my other two cats are not particularly at any extra risk after Leo's illness.

I had heard that PM is the only way to confirm diagnosis, and we were thinking it might be a good idea, but he died when we weren't expecting it, and then we ended up on the phone to the vet just as he was pretty much dying in front of us, and they were so unhelpful (me, all tearful & in a state: "Oh dear I think maybe we are too late, his breathing seems to be slowing, maybe we won't bring him in, or give it a few mins as I think he's near the end" and the vet: "well leave it and ring back in a few minutes if you want" me: "ok what's the number" Vet: "No you will have to go through the main switchboard again and leave your number and they will page me and I will call you", sigh) that we decided not to get a PM. I regret this now in some ways as it is driving me mad not knowing what he actually died of. And now we are wondering if we should change vets, but that's a different story :rolleyes:

One other thing I heard is that pedigree cats may be a bit more likely to get FIP, so that's a bit scary (as both my others are pedigrees - one a Birman as well - not related to Leo though). Are certain breeds more susceptible I wonder.

It seems like FIP it quite rare, thankfully.

I am so pleased to hear that your other cats didn't get FIP, must have been awful having the 'Christmas Cracker' (v apt :-)  ) tell you they were doomed Was the cat you lost a pedigree?

I will pm you about the cat mailing list, thanks :-)

Cheers
Alex

Hi Alex

No FIP affects pedigrees and moggies the same, BUT here is one occasion when outdoor cats may be less likely to develop it as corona virus is spread via feaces hence litter trays, so it's less likely to happen in cats that toilet outdoors and don't share with others in a small area. (Also it is therefore more likely to happen in multi cat households. Having said that, it CAN happen in single cats too.) But of course the corona virus infection doesn't have to mean it mutates into FIP and at this moment in time there is no way of knowing when it will and when it won't.

One thing that is believed to trigger the virus to mutate into FIP is stress, and this is one reason for why I am one person very much against early neutering of kittens (as in 10 weeks) -it's quite enough for a kitten to be vaccinated and go to a new home. Indeed in kittens it's most common for those that develop FIP to do so soon after they've been sold because of the extra stress involved. But sometimes it happens in adult as well of course and there is often no way of knowing for certain WHY. As I've had so many cats over so many years I've come across it a few times, twice in moggies , twice in Exotic Shorthairs and 4 times in Persians. :( I believe it is very true about the genetic predisposition to have the virus mutate and have noticed that it is vital to never breed two lines together that have had incidences of FIP, if one such line is to be bred from it has to be with a total outcross or it will happen again.

I am so sorry to hear you lost your cat.

Goldmali is much more "up" on this than I but thought it would comfort you to learn I also had a cat PTS due to FIP.  He was a rescued stray who consorted with my three all summer before we live trapped him, had him neutered and then got the results of the blood test which showed a very, very high titre.  Poor guy, he declined rapidly and we ended his suffering.  Like you I was in a panic about my own cats but all three are still fine, five years later, though at the least little sniffle or sneeze I still worry. 

A friend has a similar story and his three are all inside cats; he brought the stray inside.  He found the owner of the stray and he went back to his original home with two other cats.  All five unaffected cats are still fine and so is the stray.

And, after I socialized a feral kitten and found a wonderful home for him he showed a high titre to the corona virus.  Unfortunately the new owner's Vet was not as well informed on FIP as he should have been and the prognosis was dim.  Thank goodness the new owner was madly in love with his "Wee Willy" and listened to those of us who had been through this before, and not his Vet, and Willy is now a fine healthy young adult cat.  The Vet is amazed.

Several years ago I lost a Birman to suspected FIP.  I haven't been brave enough to have another once since.  He was a delight.

Hi Jackyjat

What colour was your Birman? I *love* Birmans, they were my favourite breed ever since I first saw them in my cat book when I was thirteen, and my husband agreed to get me one for my 23rd birthday, so I had quite a long wait! That was Josh our bluepoint, a couple of months later we got our redpoint Leo (pedigree name Firestarter chosen by hubby who's a bit of a Prodigy fan!) and they were (and Josh still is) fab. I love all the colours of Birmans and they are so fluffy, cuddly and laidback! People always think they are toy type cats until they see them bring in a dead mouse!

Cheers
Alex

Hi Jetstone Jewel

Oh dear sorry to hear about your cat too :-( I am glad your other three are OK though :-) I really hope my two will be as well, I also thought this might mean we couldn't ever get another cat but sounds like maybe we can one day (though TBH I don't want to at the mo, I just want Leo :-(  )

It seems like the relationship between coronavirus and FIP is a bit like HIV virus and AIDS, so that coronavirus itself doesn't mean doom and gloom / really bad illness, unless it develops into FIP.

Cheers
Alex

P.S. Like the name 'Wee Willy', cute

i too have lost  a cat to FIP-the vet suspected it, but couldn't confirm it until we opted for a post mortem. She had the wet form of FIP, and had to be put to sleep within 2 weeks of going to the vet after appearing off colour and 'bloated'. Its a horrible thing....

Oh no munkeemojo I am sorry to hear that :-( Leo had the other sort where he just stopped eating and went thin. The bloated wet form sounds really horrible :-( Was your cat a pedigree? Was he or she quite young or old?

Leo was a big active and strong cat, only nine, so full of life, always wailing (well he had a loud voice so that's what we called it! :-) ) and meowing for attention and wanted to be carried on our shoulder, he also used to wake us up in the night by grooming our eyebrows! Sometimes we'd wake up with him in between us under the covers He was always off to the farm next door for adventures, he just seemed so healthy and strong (the farmer asked the other day if anything had happened to him as he missed seeing him around his yard or asleep in his tractor cab!)

Cheers
Alex

she was a moggy-about 5/6 when she died, bless her (only had her a year-mine and rich's first joint pet too). She just stopped eating, had no energy and looked bloated. As soon as the vet saw her she warned me she may have FIP, but didn't really go into what that was, incase it wasn't. She stayed in for a few days for bloods etc, had titre tests (which are pretty useless), and was sent home on steroids and liquivite (that sludgy food). She was fine for about 5 days, then she just went straight back to square one, but lost all the sheen off her coat (she was jet black with a white bib and paws-and tiny too), so back to the vets she went, and that was the last time we saw her. She stayed in on a drip, but the vet couldn't say what she had and asked my permission to do an exploratory. I knew she had it (gut feeling), so just said not to wake her up if it was, and it was. Apparently her large intestine and rectum had stopped functioning (which explains the lack of presents in the litter tray!) properly, so....... What was more gutting was that her poor sister was left behind on her own, never being on her own since birth (we rescued her from the CPL after the pair of them were taken off a policeman-he'd been keeping them outside, but as she was all white bar a few grey pathces on her back, she developed sunburn which turned cancerous, and had to have her ears removed-she'd also broke her wrist and had never had it seen to, so it'd set funny with her paw sticking out to the side, the poor lamb) and she pined for days. After a few days she became a recluse and just lived in our bedroom. We got two young cats a few weeks after to try and give her some company, but she never took to them-she tolerated them, but that was about it. Whoever said owning animals was easy???