Worried about Eye Infection

My fiance just called after getting back from the vet. She brought our 9 month old boy snarfie in becuase of some eye discharge and swelling of his lower eyelid.

The vet said that obviously it was an infection and gave us some eyedrops to give him for 6 days. He also said that if it doesn't clear itself up that we have to take him back for bloodwork to test for FIP.

How common is FIP? I did some reading, and it didn't seem ALL that common, but the fact that he mentioned it is getting me all worried considering it is fatal.

Eye infections in young cats are very, very common.

FIP, in comparison is very rare. Incidentally there is no conclusive test for FIP, only a test for "exposure" to the virus that occasionally mutates to FIP.

From the information you provided, I see no reason to make a connection.

Are there any other symptoms?

Are you sure the vet didn't say FHV, as in Feline Herpes Virus...it's a relatively harmless condition in comparison to FIP. FHV can cause on and off flare ups of "cold/flu" type symptoms throughtout a cat's life, but that's the general extent of it. FIV is another entirely different disease...lots of acronyms, it has the potential to be confusing.

Sorry for the delay, I'm out of town currently. I spoke with my fiance to get the details, the vet says that he has Uveitis. He's been on drops since Sunday and he's responded very well, and his eye is looking much better. He doesn't have any more discharge and isn't squinting anymore. He's still got a little bit of swelling, but it looks like it is going away.

What I'm worried about is what I've been reading about uveitis, and how a lot of times it is indicative of an underlying worse condition. I'm guessing that the vet mentioned FIP because uveitis is one of the early symptoms. The vet also said that uveitis is chronic and he could have flare-ups randomly for the rest of his life.

Not really sure what to think here, not sure if I should be worried, or just happy that it looks like it is clearing up.

From some quick googling, I do see what you are saying about the association between uveitis and FIP...but I still wouldn't be overly concerned. FIP is relatively rare. The cause of uveitis is hard to pinpoint in humans, and I suspect the same applies to cats. More often than not (in humans), the "cause" is never found. I had it for about a year. It finally just went away, which is typical (in humans at least). It can come back, but it's been a few years and it hasn't yet.

Please do keep in mind that there isn't a conclusive "test" for FIP. Some vets run the "test" and scare the owner for no good reason. The test just indicates exposure to the corona virus...which *can* mutate into FIP but usually doesn't. A lot of cats have been exposed to corona and never end up with FIP.

At this point, I would be happy that Snarfie's eyes are responding to the drops. What did the vet have to say, now that it's clearing up?