Dash, may be exposed to FIP

I took my roommates cat to the emergency vet tonight because it was REALLY lethargic, the vet took out yellowish fluid from his abdominal cavity. I think the vet was sugarcoating it when he said it was possibly FIP. A lot of people seemed to think it was most likely FIP. Now Dash has been living in the same house with this kitty and his brother for about 2.5 months. He doesnt show any symptoms, and they very rarely share any food, water or litter. I am scared, I dont know what I will do if I lose my little man. I am worried for zeus too, and pray tonight that he doesnt have FIP and has something more treatable. What should I do with Dash, what should I look for, is there anything I can do...

I lost one of my cats to FIP in 1992. I had a multicat household at the time. I was very concerned about the welfare of my cats too. My vet told me that my other cats probably would not contract the disease unless he bit them. I don't know what research has added in information with this disease in 15 years. None of my cats that lived in the house with Red when he was sick ever contracted FIP. They lived long happy lives.

I would not recommend vaccinating them for FIP, until you did further research on that vaccination. I have heard that it can predispose that disease in cats. There is controversy about that vaccination.

I hope this helps you.

The vet told me to give him the vaccine asap, its via nosedrops..

Here's information about the disease, its transmission, and also about the vaccine, from a reliable source: http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/in...0.htm&word=FIP

I lost my kitty Mattie to FIP. She lived very intimately with Festus and Garfield. They shared litterboxes and food and water. Festus bathed Mattie often, in fact I didn't realize how sick she was because Festus was helping keep her clean.

I did worry for about a year, but neither Festus or Garfield got FIP. They were with Mattie until the last few weeks, when I was told to keep her separate. I have since learned that it was not necessary to separate them.

FIP is caused by the coronovirus, which mutates in the cat into FIP. The mutated virus is not passed from one cat to another, although the regular coronovirus is highly contagious. There is a higher incidence in multicat households where one kitty had FIP, but it is not real strong. The chances are that even if the other kitty has FIP, Dash won't get it.

Just do your best to keep your kitty in general good health. I'm very sorry about the roommates kitty. What an awful illness!

Thank you all for the information, I take some comfort with the information I learn. Perhaps it would be good for someone to make a sticky topic about FIP, because I know now from personal experience a lot of people may be scared when FIP is uttered from someones mouse

I'm sorry about your roommate's kitty and I sure hope Dash is okay. While I don't know much about the FIP vaccination I did discuss it with my vet and he told me that if I felt strongly about my cats having it I would have to take them elsewhere because he does not recommend it nor give it. He said that an FIP vaccination would be great but he's not convinced that it really works and can cause more harm than good. I also use a holistic vet and she also didn't recommend it.

Confirmed FIP, my roommate put Zeus down this morning

i am so sorry to hear about Zeus, I hate hearing those three letters. I lost my second to suspected FIP, and Ginger lived for 4 years and a few months after that, it all depends on how good their immune system is - a very good immune system will deal with it, a slightly good one will deal with it, but it may stay around as a latent infection, so could come back out in age, a poor immune system will allow it to develop slowly, so cause dry FIP, and a very poor immune system will allow it to develop rapidly, which is what causes wet FIP - although you can have both wet and dry.

Originally Posted by keeper130

Confirmed FIP, my roommate put Zeus down this morning

Click to expand...

I'm very sorry. Have you decided one way or the other about the FIP vaccine?

I took him to get the vaccine the day after the vet told us he expected FIP, I found one vet that said he wouldnt give the kitten it, but it couldnt hurt. But I could get the vaccine for free so I went ahead and did it. I figure if it was truly very dangerous, it wouldnt be on the market... or so i hope.

All three of our cats (Jamie, plus our two "half cats" [co-owned by our neighbor]) have had the FIP vaccine, due to a presumably mutant and very virulent form in our county that has killed an awful lot of cats. I get queasy when I wonder if vaccinating them was/is the right thing to do, but they can't be boarded even at a vet's without it, as things stand now. (I live in Europe, BTW). As one vet I asked put it, even => 60% protection and a very minuscule chance of the vaccine "perhaps" causing the disease is better than having to put your babies down because of FIP.

We were told that our Suzy probably has FIP on Tuesday but we are waiting for a complete blood panel to come back before making any decision. I feel for you though being worried about your other kitties. I have 8 others and I am just sick about them possibly coming down with the same thing Suzy has.

I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers because I know all too well what you are feeling.

Please keep us posted!