Albumin/Globulin Ratio - IBD?

Hi all!

My 7 month old kitten is currently at the vet being treated for dehydration, legthargy, constipation, fever, and lack of appetite. Her general health has fluctuated over the last week, but I have definitely seen an improvement since her initial symptoms started.

Dry FIP has been a consideration. However, she has some of the symptoms (A:G ratio of 0.2 - A is low, G is high), fever that has not responded to 5 days of Amoxil tabs, high white blood cells) and does not have others (no ocular symptoms, no granulomas on x-rays, no amemia, no lymphopenia).

She has always had problems with diarrhea. When I originally got her at about 5 months, I found blood in her stool. Vet gave me a deworming pill, even though nothing was found in her stool sample. She got sick with a cold and still had diarrhea, so the vet put her on Prednisone and Amoxil. Her cold cleared up, but she always had diarrhea on and off. Since her health improved, I stopped paying attention to whether there was blood in it. The vet said there was blood in her stool sample that I brought in today.

My question is basically - can Inflammatory Bowel Disease (possibly from food intolerance) cause Albumin and Globulin levels/ratios such as her's? Or any other condition?

I'm not prepared to accept a diagnosis of FIP when a) she does not have all of the typical symptoms, and b) her condition has not simply been downhill - it has been up and down, with a general trend toward up since the onset. However, the A:G ration is worrisome, and I haven't been able to find a whole lot of info on them other than in FIP articles.

Thank you!

Edited to add: She tested negative for Feline Leukemia. She had an FIP test sent away on Monday, and it is taking forever to get back. However, given that she came from a shelter, I would guess that it will probably come back positive for exposure to coronavirus.

My cat Willow died from the dry form of FIP. I was also unwilling to accept the diagnosis (her primary symptoms were not eating and "giving me looks"--she seemed grumpy for no reason, and that was unusual for her). We did find suspicious areas using ultrasound and were able to get a tissue sample tested, and those results indicated that FIP was likely (even though she was the "wrong" age). I did everything I could in terms of supportive care while we ran all the tests we could think of to rule out other possibilities. When she passed, we confirmed that she was FIP positive through the results of the biopsy we sent to Auburn University.

There are other things that can cause the A:G ratio to be low, including other types of systemic inflammation and certain types of parasites. I did some searches on hyperglobulinemia (high globulin levels) and hypoalbuminemia (low albumin levels). I found this article about Ehrlichiosis and this one, which may be worth investigating depending on where you live. depending on the area where you live. IBS is definitely a possibility as well. This article has the following quote: "Inflammatory bowel disease and neoplasia may be associated with hyperglobulinemia as well as hypoalbuminemia." A third possibility is multiple myeloma, a form of cancer.

While my cat really did have FIP, I pursued every treatable possibility before she passed. FIP is nearly impossible to diagnose while the cat is still alive, so it made sense to me to try to determine if it was something else that could be treated. When she passed, I knew that I had done everything I possibly could to help her in her final weeks. I hope that your cat does not have this horrible disease--work with your vet (or find a vet who will work with you) to rule in or out other possibilities.