What could it have been?

I will make my way over to the 'Over the Bridge' forum in a moment... but thought I would post here to see if anyone had ANY ideas what this could've been....


I took in a stray in mid-July. Vet said about 8-10 weeks old. I got her treated for fleas, ear mites and a URI the day I got her before I ever went home... Ear mites cleared up, as the did the fleas... but the URI didn't go away. After a month I took her to a different vet, got different meds, and still it didn't clear up. Being a volunteer at a shelter I knew this was not normal, but apparently there was nothing that would fix it. So she had it the entire time I had her...

At first she was a happy, playful kitten, as she should've been. Then I noticed she wouldn't go crazy over her lil snowman or a string or her mousie. She just slept. Walking around following me... and slept (and ate/drink/pottied of course). I figured, ok, she's just a chill kitten... whatever

Then I noticed her belly getting bigger and bigger and she was super skinny everywhere else. Not pregnant for sure, and no worms in her stool...

Yesterday morning before I went to work she couldn't really even use her legs. I put her down on the floor and she collapsed. She made it to a spot by the heater and practically put her head on it (steam heat, verrrry hot), so I moved her back some.

I don't recall where she was when I left her, but I came home and looked on my bed, the floor, the bathtub, by the heater and in the sink..... all her favorite places to sleep. Nothing, so I got to look under the bed (she NEVER went under there) and saw she had died inside her litter box... and at only about 6 months old

So now I have no idea what it is, and I am worried about my other two cats because they usually roam the apartment together (except yesterday because I had shut the kitten in the bedroom/bathroom)... one of my cats even licked the kitten a lot. Which made me realize that I can't remember the kitten ever giving herself a bath, at least no where in the recent past.

Thoughts?

Originally Posted by musicobsession

Then I noticed her belly getting bigger and bigger and she was super skinny everywhere else. Not pregnant for sure, and no worms in her stool...

Thoughts?

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I've seen on here that this could be one of the signs of a cat with FIP and once it kicks in, there isn't much that can be done.

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss.
Welcome to TCS, even under such sad circumstances.

Originally Posted by tru

I've seen on here that this could be one of the signs of a cat with FIP and once it kicks in, there isn't much that can be done.

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss.
Welcome to TCS, even under such sad circumstances.

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Thanks... I actually used to come here quite often when I got Stella in the summer of 04... since then I also took in my aunt's cat 'Kitty Girl'

With that being said... I looked up FIP on kittencare.com and this definitely worries me:

FIP is caused by a coronavirus. The following is a partial list of FIP symptoms:

Lethargy

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Weight loss

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Eye disease

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Swelling in the abdomen

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All of that sounds like what Charlie went through. Now I don't know what to do about my other cats, since FIP is contagious and they have been around each other for 4months (and my aunt's cat has gone from a normal size to skinnnny, but with no swollen belly... and she will still play... and she does have some gookey eye but NOTHING like what Charlie had, mostly just like what we have when we wake up). Too late for a vaccination? The thing said that tests are not very accurate so I don't really want to waste money I don't have on that.

You did your research on FIP and it definately is a horrible horrible disease. I do cat rescue and also take kitties from our local shelter that are very sick with upper respiratory etc.. to my vet and eventually to my house in foster care with the hope of finding a new family. I am in Great Falls, Montana and we have an awful problem with this. I have lost 4-5 kittens/cats this year. It affects the young and the old. There are 2 forms of this a "wet" and a "dry". Unfortunately this can not be diagnosed until after the pet has already passed. But as of this date, if the Vet feels it is FIP there is no cure. Hopefully one day!!

Les

Not every cat that comes into contact with a cat with FIP will develop it, as it depends on how their immune system reacts to the virus, only poor and weak immune systems will allow the virus to mutate. Fingers crossed for yours, I know what it is like to lose a cat to this and have others to worry about.

one cat is about 2.5 yrs, the other my aunt thinks is 5-6... both pretty active in different ways... they eat a tonnn of food (they would eat the whole damn bag in a day if i let them I bet hahaha) and play and run around and are always inside... the kitten was living outside in the middle of a midwest summer (I thikn it was about 110 the day I got her) and obviously no steady source of healthy food... so yeah.

Originally Posted by leslie10

There are 2 forms of this a "wet" and a "dry". Unfortunately this can not be diagnosed until after the pet has already passed.

Les

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What does that mean?!

Which bit, the two forms or the diagnosis?

Originally Posted by booktigger

Which bit, the two forms or the diagnosis?

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What is wet and what is dry and why do they only know after kitty dies?

In 1992 my cat was diagnosed with FIP after 2 different vet evauluations. I understand it's hard to diagnose, He was very much alive when they diagnosed it. Red had the dry form of FIP. His belly didn't swell up. He lost alot of weight, he developed a hemmorage in his eye, and became almost blind. It was a very awful disease and it still hurts to write about it. This was the very first cat that I had to make the decision to put to sleep. He was 12 years old when I lost him. When they did diagnose him with FIP the vet told me to make him comfortable, and when the time was right to let him go I would know. I had a multi cat household when Red contracted the disease and none of my other cats got FIP.

I wish one day they will find a cure for this disease.

Will see if I can find an article later that better explains things, but the wet form is when the cat has an very poor immune system and the virus is allowed to mutate very rapidly - it is the kind which has the poorest prognosis, and I think some articles say it is a matter of weeks. It normally causes a build up of fluid in the abdomen or chest, but there are other symptoms. Dry is when they have a poor immune system, so the virus is mutating, but not as quickly, so they have a better prognosis, and I read one article that said they could have a year with it.
The main reason for it being hard to diagnose is that there is no conclusive test yet, all vets can do is pretty much guess with the symptoms, and poss if they have a high titre level - but lots of cats can have a high titre level and be healthy (although the virus can live dormant in cats), and a lot of the FIP symtoms can actually mean different illnesses - except maybe the fluid, as I think that has a distinctive colour. OTher symptoms are things like lethargy, depression, weight loss, it can affect the liver and kidneys - can't think of any others, but those few show that it can be quite vague and indicative of other illnesses - as FIP is a mutation of a virus, it affects cats in different ways, so there is no set things to look for like with other illnesses. I lost a cat to it, and the way I knew was she cried in pain when I picked her up one day, so she went straight to the vet, and she had fluid in her abdomen - although the titre test wasn't conclusive. My neighbours cat had a high titre test, but her symptoms were sickness and diarrhea, with poor fur condition.