4.5 month old kitty had FIP

Hello all,

I just joined this message board today as I am a big cat lover and have enjoyed the company of cats all of my life so really, I couldn't see myself living without cats!

Anyway, here is my story. My husband and I moved here from another province about a month ago. We just purchased a house and already have an adult cat whom we brought with us when we moved. We decided since we had our own house that we should look at adopting a kitty. We found the perfect one - actually he found us. His name (at the shelter) was "Simon". He was an orange kitty full of love but very thin. We fell in love with him and took him home late August 2009. We changed his name to "Jasper" as we thought it suit him a little better. About two weeks go by and during one lunch hour, my husband goes, "What's wrong with his eye?" and I look over and the protective layer of his one eye was covering part of the eye (creepy to say the least!).. we brought him into the vets office and they had no idea what was going on. He was very lethargic, not really interested in doing much and so the vet took some blood and said that he's not "knocking on death's door" and thought perhaps he had a parasite. He gave him some antibiotics and we were on our way. During that next two week period, we were in and out of the vets office basically on a daily basis. We even tried giving him some laxative as he wasn't really using the litter much and not eating either. Perhaps he had something caught in his tummy? Anyway, one night we get a call from the vets office and they leave a voicemail saying they're concerned that it may be "FIP" (Feline infectious peritonitis) which is fatal. Around the end of September, Jasper had a seizure near midnight (and was panting and couldn't breathe) so we rushed him to the vets office just down the street and they stabilized him. The vet managed to stabilize him and gave him some food and water droplets (or whatever it's called where it goes directly into his skin) and said to come back first thing in the AM to get some x-ray's to find out what's the matter with him. He had four more seizures in an eight hour period that night and by 7am the next morning, he was gone. His eyes were open but no one was home. We decided it was for the best and had to put him down. It was exactly a month after we adopted him we had to put him down. My heart felt like it had been ripped into pieces it hurt so much. From what we can gather, we're assuming he had FIP which from what I heard attacks the nervous system (or there's two types of it at least). We have since adopted another kitty (whom was actually at the same shelter the day we adopted Jasper but was two months younger than him) and he has filled that void in our heart.

Absolutely. A few people criticized us for how much we spent on a cat that was dying (hey he was family plus it was less than $1000 which the shelter reimbursed us on) but it wasn't fair at all to just put him down without doing everything we could in our power. He was only four months old when we adopted him and 4 1/2 months when we put him down. I have lived with cats all of my life since being born and have never heard of FIP and my heart began to panic when I began reading about it and reading the words "fatal". No pet owner should go through that, especially having their pet have seizures (which I didn't see myself but heard about it from my husband as he was in the room when it happened).

I haven't! What is it?

KittKatt - do you know what the difference between the wet and dry form of FIP are? I tried to find out as much information about it before when Jasper was alive but it was too late to do anything plus I just became sick to my stomach anytime I read anything about FIP before he was put down. My husband and I even tried to ask our friends who were also vets in another city about FIP and they said there wasn't much that could be done about it, especially at Jasper's age. Looking back at photos of Jasper, he wasn't well at all. He was very thin - in the week before he was put down, I could really feel his spine and it got worse everyday... less eating and more weight he took off. I'm just happy we were able to give him a great chance at life for that one month he was with us. He deserved it! We even told him if he made it through that, we'd feed him tuna every day if that's what it took.

I don't think he had the wet form then. His abdomen wasn't filled out at all - he was skin and bones. He didn't eat much at all (and the kitty we have now just chows down!) only bits and pieces here and there. He was fine for the first two weeks or so and then all of a sudden he just became lethargic (but still active here and there) and then the protective layer on his eye just stuck out halfway (creepy!!). Once he had fluids (from the vets) in him and antibiotics, he perked up a bit but then bam, it just hit him like that and that's when he had the five seizures in eight hours and he was gone. I don't wish that upon anyone to go through what we did - especially having him be so young. I think the first day I couldn't stop crying - everywhere I looked I could see him still. I don't think I've ever felt that much pain! But we gave him a good home for a month (exactly a month - now that's weird!) and we spoiled him as much as we could.

Eek. Who knows really! The vet didn't give us an indication what type of FIP it was. They just "suspected" that it was FIP (according to two of the vets at our vet clinic). I have lived with cats all of my life and have never heard of FIP or known someone who has had a cat that had FIP until now. Even the vet (initially) didn't know what was going on with Jasper. The blood work didn't show anything, it showed the he was fighting something but the vet thought it was just a cold but Jasper had a VERY high temperature (I can't remember exactly how high it was but it wasn't normal). We even had friends and family members tell us at one point that we were overreacting about Jasper and that he was fine, he probably just had a cold. Even my husband agreed but I knew something else was going on. Jasper just wasn't Jasper (if that makes sense).
The funny thing is I came back to work the next day after it happened and one of the girls was asking me about what happened and I told her what the vet thought it was and she said that her friend had to go to the vet clinic that same week and while she was there she overheard that someone had to put their kitty down because that kitty had FIP as well. In the same week + in the same city!

I wasn't really able to find much info on FIP on the net when I was looking back when Jasper was still around. Nothing that really defined what it was. Again, I've lived with cats my entire life so I know when something is going on and if it's treatable but this was my first (and HOPEFULLY THE LAST!) experience I've had with FIP. I never want to hear my vet call me again and leave a voicemail saying, "We suspect it's feline infectious peritonitis after looking at Jasper's charts and blood work. It's a VERY dangerous illness" (the vet also had an accent so I couldn't understand what he was saying until I put it into google).

I'm so very sorry to hear about everyone's loss with their cats/kittens having FIP. I would never wish this upon any animal lover. I remember reading something before about FIP and how the development of fatal FIP occurs in 1 in 5000 cats in households with one or two cats. WOW! I also found this interesting tidbit: "Kittens usually start showing signs of FIP when they are between 3 months and 2 years of age. Most of the kittens with FIP die between 8 and 18 months of age."... Jasper started showing signs and then two weeks later he was put down it was that quick. But then again looking back he was also very thin. I read up on one article showing the symptoms of the dry and wet form and it looks like he had the dry form (loss of appetite, lethargic, non-regenerative anemia, eyes, diarrhea, and loss of balance and seizures). There were a few times we'd see him almost stumble as he walked or it looked like he had a twitch here and there (it just looked out of place if that makes sense).