sick cat, took 0.75 L fluids from her body

Without having so many details, my biggest worry is FIP.
This cat was a stray I give away on adoption overseas, she is around 7 yrs old, spayed vaccinated only with FEL-O-VAX, always being healthy, just once she had a skin problem and the ocational worms treated with a drontal.

She got fatter and fatter and the new owners took her to the vet, he did anesthesia, took x-ray and all was white, so they took all the liquid out, the owners could not tell me where the liquid came from, stomach, lunghs, somewhere else....

she is in the clinic, tomorrow they will now more details, unfortunately there is a bareer in the language as her new parents speak german and their english is not so good.

Is there a chance that this could be other thing beside FIP ?? something less severe?vibes:

has anyone had an experience like this?:


Thank you !

Liver disease or blocked bile ducts may also cause fluid in the abdomen, but FIP is the first thing most people would think of, yeah. I do too.

Sometimes I think vets jump to the conclusion that it must be FIP rather early. Just last week someone on a Dutch board heard from her vet her cat probably had FIP, when she took him to the vet school they diagnosed a livershunt.
A friend of mine had a cat who had a lot of fluid around her lungs, they took the fluid out and it was yellow and stringy. So they thought FIP. Fortunately this cat was later diagnosed with pyothorax (pus in the pleural cavity) and succesfully treated (she has recently survived acute renal failure as well).

I hope it turns out to be something treatable.

There are actually many many things that can causes peritoneal fluid accumulation (ascites) in cats. FIP comes to mind first, probably because it is the most "popularized" reason, but this does not at all mean that it is the most likely reason. First it depends on the type of fluid buildup (its components, septic or not, bile or urine present etc), and until that is known, I dont think anyone can comment on a possible diagnosis.
For example, hypoproteinemia (intestinal malabsorption, globulinemias, improperly fed vegetarian cats) can lead to a watery (no protein!) fluid accumulation, that can be either acute or chronic. This is in contrast to FIP/pancreatitis/diaphragmatic hernia/cancers that leave what is termed a non-septic exudate accumulation (full of protein/cellular "bits"). Septic exudate build up can also occur, eg from a wound, migrating foreign body (kitty swallowed a pin, and then it "stabbed" through intestinal lining) etc etc.
Ok this is becoming rambling and not helpful, but I just want to caution you from jumping to any conclusions until you have much more information about what exactly made up the fluid that was removed from the cat. The possibilities I mentioned are not exhaustive, and I havent even begun to discuss major causes like congestive heart failure. Many vibes this kitty has a more treatable souce of his ascites! I have a good article on differential diagnosis of ascites in cats that I found during my paranoid research about my own cat. If the scientific lingo doesnt daunt you, I can email it to you if you send me a pm, or if you have access to veterinary journals, the article is
S. Tasker and D. Gunn-Moore (2000) Differential diagnosis of ascites in cats. In Practice (Companion Animal Practice) 22(8):472-479.

Good Luck

I have a pretty good article on the differential diagnosis of

Thanks for your answers, none of the other posibilities sound better so I will only have to pray that is something treatable. Poor thing, in one hand I feel sorry that I am not with her but maybe it was destiny for her to find a family now and have good treatment, I live in a Greek Island where vet care although existant is far from being good, they do not even have an x-ray !
And I feel sorry for the couple that adopted her, they only got her on Oct 1st and they were so looking forward to it... now they have worries....

so this morning news is that the cat has a tumor in the intestine and is cancer.
How treatable can that be? how dangerous is an operation?
Poor thing, she is so far from what she knew as her home, she is well treated, but in a selfish point of view, she is not with me... i am not with her.
Is there a possibility that this was caused by stress of being in a new home ? she's been there for a little more than a month.. is it like with humans?

THESE ARE THE LATEST NEWS -

Nov 13th -

Yesterday when we picked up Mami I spoke with the vet and she said to me that Mami must have got the cancer before she came to Germany. She also said that she hasn`t seen a cat with such a lot of water inside the body the last 15 years!

Yesterday she had a ultrasound and the vet found with this test the tumour, one about 2 x 2 cm, and another smaller one.

What about the operation, the vet said to me we can open the body only for to know what kind of cancer it is.

I think that`s not good for Mami to do this! The vet said to me if it runs good with the medicine and her body doesn`t fill with water again, she will live still some more months.

At the moment she doesn`t eat a lot (she eats smoked turkey !!!) but she drinks a lot of water, she is cleaning her body and she goes to the sandbox. I think, yesterday and today she is tired from the anesthesia and the stress at the hospital.


Nov 14th -


Next Wednesday in the evening we go to the vet again if nothing bad happens untill this day. It`s difficult to give Mami the pills because she is very intelligent and knows at once that the pill is inside the food. I give her 1/2 pill with 3-4 drops of warm water and cream. That`s the only way to do it. At the moment she doesn`t look ill ! This fact confirmed the vet, too. I`ll ask the vet about the blood tests and if it`s possible I send you the results.



WOULD U DO EXPLORATORY SURGERY, EVEN THOUGH THE VET SAYS IS NOT OPERABLE, JUST TO KNOW WHAT KIND OF CANCER IS IT? OR WOULD YOU JUST LEAVE HER TO LIVE A QUITE LIFE AS LONG AS SHE LASTS?
I WILL REALLY APPRECIATE ANY ADVICE !!

I'm so sorry for you and this poor kitty.

As for whether I'd do an exploratory surgery in this case, given that the vet said the tumors couldn't be removed anyway.........no, I wouldn't. The stress of being in hospital, anesthesia.....that to me would negatively impact her. Even in humans I firmly believe that stress can negatively impact a cancer patient's state of health, make things worse.

Plus, after surgery she'd have to recover, she'd be sore, she'd require pain medication, would likely have poor appetite for at least a couple of days....no, in all honesty, I wouldn't do it...........I would see no benefit. Judging by the location of the tumors, the Vet must be sure that removal is just not possible nor would it cure her.

I'm so very sorry.