Possible FIP diagnosis; please help me decide =(

I’m hoping someone with a clearer head than mine will help me make the right choice for my little 1 year old guy, Stinker.

Stinker frequently “hacks” after he drinks water. He also frequently vomits partially digested food with a small, ½ or ¾ inch piece of a hairball in it…not the whole thing, but what looks like just a part of one. I have tried hairball control remedies but it doesn’t seem to solve anything. On Friday, Stinker started “hacking” after a drink of water again, but this time vomited froth. He did that 3 or 4 more times during the morning and afternoon. He also would go to drink, then just stare at the water fountain, then drink briefly and continue to sit there.

He wasn’t eating his usual food and he was acting very withdrawn, so I got worried. I fed him some tuna; he ate that willingly, but an hour or so later threw it up…again, with a small piece of a hairball in it.

I took him to the vet, and their examination leads them to believe he may have FIP. They can’t confirm it yet; a specialist is to do an echography on him tomorrow, so he is staying at the clinic meantime. I’ve read about FIP; it’s incurable. He’s the “right age” to have it, only 10-14 months or so. He was an outdoor stray I rescued. He had lots of time to get it.

I’m faced with the prospect of putting him down, and it’s killing me. I’ve tried to make a list of the “for and against” diagnosis of FIP; I need help deciding what to do!

For FIP:

The vomiting and lethargy on Friday.

Lack of appetite.

Slight fever when admitted to the clinic.

Blood tests showed “slightly high” globulin.

He was a bit dehydrated (probably due to the vomiting).

They said he seemed very highly stressed.

My sliver of hope that it’s not FIP:

This morning, 36 hours after being admitted, his fever is gone (he was admittedly being rehydrated however).

He ate this morning and did not throw it up.

I stayed with him for 30 minutes (we were left alone); he was affectionate, purring, nestling next to me…and then, after a while, he got up and started cautiously exploring the room, sniffing, investigating, then coming to headbutt me. He seemed almost relaxed. I am hoping his high stress was just because he’s in an odd place and I’m the only human he has ever known…and only for 6 months now, at that.

I’ll probably know tomorrow if it’s FIP, and if it is…my Stinker is condemned. But should I take him home, and let him live out his life, or should I have him put down tomorrow? I can’t decide. I guess I don’t want to decide. =(

I don't know if you've found this site:  http://www.dr-addie.com/

It's the best one I know about FIP.  There's a huge amount in it, all well worth reading.

If you can keep him comfortable and he is eating, sleeping, drinking, and happy, I would take him home and let him live out his life.  If his quality of life deteriorates and he is no longer comfortable, I would then consider letting him go.

Any extra day is a blessing, in any cat's life (and ours).  Just my opinion.

Thanks for the replies, and thanks for that link, I will go pore over the site right away. I'm hoping it's just some common bug or a blockage or whatever...anything but FIP.

FIP is a roller coaster disease. They get better, then worse then better, raising hopes over and over. As far as I know there is no way to confirm this disease. If no other positive diagnosis is found really all you can do is treat palliatively and keep him happy and comfortable until the bad days out number the good ones. I'm so sorry, and pray they find some other problem.

Indeed I was told that the only way to confirm FIP in a cat is to deduce it...you check certain signs and come to a "logical" but not foolproof conclusion.

I just called the veterinary clinic and they said that he ate much more food this afternoon than he did even this morning, and that his litter habits are normal. He's due for his echography tomorrow, and if they don't find lesions in his gut...it won't mean it's not FIP, but it would reduce the likelihood of it being FIP.

I appreciate the replies everyone. I figured that the reason for my panic, beyond the obvious fear of losing an adorable friend, is that I am pretty cowardly in the face of such loss. I don't want to face it; I am afraid to see my little friend die. I should feel awful at thinking of my own feelings more than his. But when I visited him today, it was so obvious that he was unhappy where he was, and that he was telling me he wanted to be with me and trusted me. I can't let him down. If they say he has FIP, I will bring him home, treat him as well as I can, and give him as much love as he can handle. If he doesn't...

Either way, this awesome friend, my l'il Stinker is going to be spoiled rotten.

Stinker at about 5-7 months when I was feeding him on my back porch...

I'm sorry you are going through this.

My experiences with FIP are as follows. One foster who went out for adoption, got a URI at the adoption center and never bounced back. I brought her home and after a few weeks the vet diagnosed probably FIP. She gradually ate and moved around less and less, then one night had a seizure after which she had become blind. She was euthanized that day. She had the dry FIP, which can go on and on. Another foster from the same litter was adopted while still recovering from a URI. She developed the wet kind of FIP and had to be euthanized only days after adoption.

My Thisbe, many years ago when veterinary medicine was less sophisticated, was diagnosed with FIP from a blood test and the vet recommended euthanasia. It turned out she had a virus which caused extreme abdominal pain and a very high temperature. She recovered and lived another 14 years.

In Stinker's favor is the fact that he has bounced back so strongly, and also that he was a stray through kittenhood during which time he would have been exposed to the many viruses that decimate very young cats.

I hope he goes on to get completely well.
 

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement Simka. As I mentionned, I think a large part of my fear is just the fear of loss. Some people are strong enough to cope with it with dignity, but I'm terrified of that sort of pain...and it almost made me decide to have Stinker put down then and there if the diagnosis was FIP.

In the end, now, 4 days later, they still do not know for sure, and that upsets me. I'm encouraged because he was fever and symptom free, eating and drinking normally after just 36 hours. Today, after his inconclusive exams, they fed him and he wolfed down his can of fancy feast and half of another (Stinker has always had a TREMENDOUS appetite!). I am going to take him home tomorrow morning, and even though I don't know what his problem really is, I'm going to continue to hope everything has returned to normal and he is going to be ok. And if he should indeed eventually pass away from this...it will be after staying at home, with me and his adoptive brothers and sisters who all miss him and love him very much.

I'm going through the same thing with my cat They have no idea what's wrong with him. He is having constant muscle spasms, but other than that he seems okay. All tests come back normal. They can't find anything wrong, so they've concluded that it must be FIP. Who knows right? No one knows! So I have him home now, and as long as he still seems happy, I will try not to think about it. I'll worry about things later when he's not happy. I wish they had an actual diagnosis for FIP and that it wasn't just a name they through on conditions that they can't explain. I hate having to worry that he is dying and I can't do anything about it. I hate wondering if maybe that is something else that I could help him with, but I just don't know. Poor little guy I'm sorry for you and your cat, and for my cat Lycan. 

We always lose our cats, eventually.  Some go too early which in my experience is far harder to bear than one that has clearly become a geriatric.  But we always lose them in the end. 

However, the pleasure they bring so vastly outweighs the grief that I for one cannot imagine a life without cats.

Thanks all. Stinker has been home since Tuesday, and he's doing well. He eats hearty, drinks well (but I am feeding him mostly just wet food so he doesn't need to drink TOO much), but he hasn't been playing much. Nor does anyone else in the family heh...it's stupendously hot and humid here. We're all just lazing about waiting for it to pass.

I'm haivng a hard time giving him his antibiotics at regular intervals because he just will not let me gget close enough to pick him. Sometimes I'll pill him after supper, then again near 11 the next morning, 6 hours later than I should have. It's far from ideal, but it's the best I can muster.

Other than that, he seems fine. I'm just going to hope it stays that way. Again, thanks for the kind words all.

Just read through this thread now. Glad he seems to be improving and I hope it stays that way. He's such a sweet looking boy.