please help

I am new to this website. I have a 10 year old Maine Coon that was just recently diagnosed with FIP. He doesn't show all the regular signs  of FIP. Can it be something else. If anyone has has any info please let me know.

How was he diagnosed?  Through blood tests?  What are his symptoms?

He had blood tests and an ultrasound. They also tested the fluids they found around his organs. He is not bloated and somewhat active.

Okay so we need more details, what the symptoms were, why did you take him to the vet?

What do you feed him?

What exactly did the vet say about the fluids? He has fluid around his organs? Was it tested? Yellow in color?

How long has this been going on?

It is not common for a 10 year old cat to have fip.

Not unheard of, but not common at all.

Is/was he healthy otherwise?

All the details including why your vet thinks it is fip will help alot.

FIP can't really be confirmed, there aren't any tests that will state positively a cat has it or doesn't, mostly go by the symptoms.

He was 15lbs in May and when we took him to the vet last week he was down to 11.5lbs.  This is why we took him to the vet.  He also became a little withdrawn, laying in bed more often but not "hiding".  Blood work came back normal for everything but high antibodies or elevated Globulin levels.  He has no fever, vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice or stomach distension.  Because of the weight loss and the Globulin, our vet recommended that we take him to a specialist for an ultrasound to look for tumors. Ultrasound showed that organs were fine, but did see a small amount of fluid in the abdomen.  He tapped the fluid, and said that the globulin/albumin ratio was consistent with FIP, therefore that was his diagnosis.  He prescribed 5mg of prednisone twice a day. He is still eating, again still fairly social and exhibiting no other signs.  I am concerned this may be something that could produce the same type of results, such as inflammatory bowel disease? He has had hairball issues for years, producing about 1 a week until recently.

It never hurts to get a second opinion, I personally would take him to a second vet.  Praying that your boy doesn't have FIP

Thank you.  I don't want to stress him out more and cause him to lose anymore weight so I have inquired with a local cat clinic if I can pay a consultation fee to review his results to see if they recommend further diagnostics.

I would also get a 2nd opinion.  FIP is very difficult to diagnose.  I don't think it is IBD, I hadn't heard of it producing fluid around the organs.

Is he anemic? Pale gums at all?

This is quite indicative for fip cats. Of course, indicative of many things, but you don't mention anemia at all so just wanted to ask that.

Here are some figures if you know or can see test results on paper to compare.

1. The cat has a low number of lymphocytes: 1.5x10³ cells/µl.
2. The cat has a positive FCoV test result (titer > 1:160).
3. The cat has elevated globulins in his blood > 5.1 gm/dl

If the cat meets all three criteria, the probability the cat has FIP is 88.9%. If the cat does NOT meet all three criteria, the probability the cat does NOT have FIP is 98.8%.

In those cats who have fluid in the thorax or abdomen that can be analyzed:

• • If the gamma globulin fraction in the fluid is greater than 32%, the chances that the cat has FIP are almost 100%.
  • If the albumin fraction is greater than 48% or the ratio of albumin to globulin is greater than 0.81, it is almost 100% certain that the cat does NOT have FIP.

Gums are fine, no anemia.  They didn't do a FECoVTiter, but Lymphocytes were 1400 and Glob was 7.0

Blood work a/g Ratio showed .4 as the result 

Also showed high TP and Amylase.

The tested fluid says TP 7.4 gm/dl  ALB 1.8 gm/dl GLOB 5.6 gm/dl 

I guess that's a fairly probable diagnosis then huh.

So I might be reading this wrong, but it looks to

me like the alb-glob ratio is greater than 0.8

If the albumin to globulin level is less than 0.8, there is a 92% statistical chance that the cat has FIP. If the ratio is greater than 0.8 there is a 61% chance the cat does not have FIP

Anemia is very common, almost always present in fip cats, as well as a loss of appetite, possible vomiting, diarrhea.

No jaundice.

I'm not so good at the scientific end of fip, more-so the symptoms.

I also know the fluid is thick and yellow, sort of frothy and accumulates in the abdomen most commonly.

If there is fluid accumulation in the chest, this can be fip fluid as well.

Gosh, we need LDG....(she is a member here and invaluable with her research and info on the science end of fip. (and everything else!)

I'm afraid to give you hope, but hate for you to have a misdiagnosis too. FIP is extremely difficult to diagnose, and is basically NEVER a confirmed diagnosis unless on a deceased cat with a necropsy.

The weight loss would be my big concern, but many things can cause this too.

The second opinion was also FIP but again so odd as his only symptoms are weight loss and the small amount of fluid they analyzed.  They said he doesn't have enough fluid to be wet FIP and its more of a dry.  How do you have both??!  This vet changed him from prednisone to prednisolone, but really couldn't tell me anything about what to expect.   He's doing great with the meds.  Out of the bed in the closet now and being much more social, ate a TON of food yesterday, although he never really stopped eating.  I am now just going with a lot of hope and a lot of research.  Going to try and work on getting the weight up and spending all the time with him that I can. Has anyone heard of Vitality Science products and their immune support program?