Just left vet told possible diagnosis of FIP

Originally Posted by mews2much


Your vet is a idiot sorry to say.
She sounds like she wants money.

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Jackie - you are too much! Yep, the vet is an idiot... I think she should report her.

My first thought was something to do with her anal glands. Also, eating kitten food since she's not nursing and the combination of the spay have contributed to the big weight gain. She may also be constipated from the lack of play and stuff like that if she's gained some weight, too. That would cause the hard tummy.

I would follow the advise of the many posters before me and take her to a second vet, change her back to regular adult food, AND add some canned food to her diet to soften stools.

I would definately get a second opinion! I'm not a vet but it does seem as though your vet has not really looked into any other variables here and just jumped straight to the FIP diagnosis. If it were my kitty, I would be rund another vets giving all the info that you have given us, like, the kitten food which your kitty has been eating is a lot higher in calories so could well be the cause of the weight gain, no longer nursing kittens, maybe has worms or needs anal glands expressing due to dragging bottom along the floor. There are so many other reasons that your kitty could be like this that your vet really really should have looked into. I would def get a different vet. I hope you get a good outcome from this.

i just called the vet and got the results of the "FIP" test. They were negative. But, the vet said that her protein levels were slightly elevated so they weren't ruling FIP just yet...Does that make any sense?

I think your vet is just itching to find a case of FIP....I'd try to find another vet. Sounds like she'll diagnose FIP no matter what.

Have a thyroid panel run......hypothyroid can cause weight gain. Although the kitten food would explain that, too. Nothing helps put weight on a cat better than kitten food. I put my kittens on "all-life-stages" adult food when they're around 4 months old, otherwise they get too fat. It also has a lot of protein. Maybe that's why her blood protein was elevated?

Also, if she's too fat for her frame (12 pounds is just right for some cats, but heavy for others), she might not be expressing her anal glands by herself very well. So that would explain the butt scooting and brown leakage. A manual gland expressing might fix that problem.

here's a picture to give you an idea of the weight gain and her frame.

Also i went out last night and got adult cat food. I mixed half kitten and half adult and shook it. I will continue to decrease the ratio of kitten until they are off of it.

Please do your kitties a favor and find another vet.

2 of my cats gained a lot of weight after being neutered.

Hmmm, she doesn't look really too fat for her frame. Just looks like she filled out a bit after not having to nurse anymore. Nursing burns a LOT of calories. Is she really feeling sick or is it just the brown discharge you're worried about?

The vet (I am being generous calling her a vet) said that her proteins were a bit elevated - do you know by how much? Do you know the numbers?

No i don't know the actual numbers but i will def get them.

I hope your kitty is ok and you find a vet you're happy with.

I lost my Savannah, Samson to F.I.P. He was only 8 months old. His first symptom was hiding and lethargy. He then stopped eating. We took him to the Vet and he had a fever, it would not go down with antibiotics. All classic symptoms of FIP. At the time my Vet never mentioned FIP, I didn't know it existed. After still not eating we thought he must have ate something causing blockage and took x-rays, inconclusive. We had exploratory surgery done. The Vet found hardening of some organs and took biopsies. This is when we found out it was FIP.

There is no test for FIP, only for the coronavirus which most cats that use litter boxes in multicat homes will test positive for. FIP is when the coronavirus mutates and attacks the organs thru the blood stream. If your Vet did not get a biopsy then he/she could not diagnose for FIP.

Do you have an update? I'm with someone else; the discharge sounds like an anal gland problem (which smells extremely nasty). The weight gain sounds like normal gain on high-calorie kitten food.

The only other explanation that would even come close would be a fast-growing uterine tumor, and I just don't think that's what this is.

They had a rule in Intelligence called "Occam's Razor." It says, "The simplest explanation that fits all the facts is almost certainly the correct one."

I would find a new vet asap. My cat died from what I'm pretty sure was FIP- he LOST weight dramatically- not gained.

And there is NO FIP test! A good vet diagnoses FIP by first ruling out every other possible thing and the last conclusion would be FIP, kwim?

They can test for the coronavirus but like 99% of cats have it. Only a small percentage actually mutates into FIP.

My vet saw 2 cases of FIP in their entire office in 2008 just to give you an idea of how rare it is.

About a year ago my vet gave me a diagnosis of FIP for Taz. He was about 1 year old and had a file as thick as most 10 year old cats. He was constantly sick, but also had a very rough start in life. Since then he's never been back to the vet and is doing just great. I sweated it for months.

I have always had cats, sometimes quite a few. (16 now) Over the years I've lost one to FIP. (My Cinder) So like SweetKara said, it's not something you see everyday.

How is Jasmine doing lately?

Sounds like a case of greedy vet to me. Have you had a chance to get your kitty to another vet? How old was Jasmine when you had her spayed? In the picture she still looks like a kitten. Part of the weight gain could be that she's simply still growing.

I had my three adult cats spayed in November and two of them gained quite a bit of weight. I'd heard of cats gaining after they're spayed, so I just assumed it was a combination of hormonal changes and the time of year. They were also putting on their winter fat. They're indoor cats and we don't get much in the way of winter weather, but they still store up fat for it. They're starting to drop a little of the winter fat now, but I don't think they're ever going to go back to being skinny little girls.