Corona Virus!

Hi all

My 3 year old boy Jinx has had anal gland problems his whole life and the odd blood in his poo. Vets kept telling me that was common and not to worry.
As time went on the blood got more frequent and larger amounts. It went on for over a year..about 10 vets later, I found a good one who took it all seriously and he went on a few courses of antibiotics etc. The blood was still there and even the new vet said not to worry. Then all of a sudden my 3 other cats started doing poo covered in blood! I freaked and demanded further testing.
The results for jinx were 2 virus', 1 being Corona. They all went on flagil liquid and all of the blood stopped. 4 days later,jinx started all over again. They are all back on the flagil liquid and Jinxie is on Tylan powder.

Im wondering what my next move is because none of the 3 vets I see (at the same clinic...they all have his notes and 2 are just fall back vets for when Nicole is away) seem to be very concerned. I know all about Corona mutating to FIP and I'm so worried. All my cats are very well looked after and I am at a loss.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! :chescat:

Good for you for being persistent!  The good news is that you don't have to worry about corona mutating. In theory its possible but unless you have a case of FIP in your home, its basically not going to happen.  FIP is very rare, many many cats test positive for corona, its a common cold virus and means nothing as a real predictor of FIP.  The only real predictor of FIP is an active or recent case in a given cat population, and even that is unreliable.

As far as the poop goes, the treatment sounds all correct, and sometimes it takes repeat treatments.  Jinx who has had this long term, is worth of discussing the possibility of inflammatory bowel disease, something that can usually be controlled with a combo of diet and medicine.

Stephen

Thanks very much! The vet has suggested a diet change. Different vets suggest different things so it might be trial and error. Im going to wait till this round of meds and assess it. Will keep you posted

If you are feeding all the cats the same thing, do you think it could've contributed towards the 3 cats' flare up?

I am just over all confused about it, do you mean sharing dishes or something in the food? :dk: when I was googling it, a couple of sites said not to let them share food because body fluid can pass it on but the vets said only sniffing infected poo or fur. So I am really not sure.

Diarrhea from parasites in the stool can only be caught by another cat via fecal-oral contamination (in other words fecal matter gets in their mouth via grooming etc) and not by food bowls or shared food.

Stephen

Well the do butt sniff all the time (the inside 3) but the outside girl hardly goes near the others. Also, all their poop is solid. The blood has stopped in the girls since the flagil but after 4 days Jinx started bleeding again. All his poo is normal until the last bit which is coated in blood. Then blood drips out his bum and I have to clean him! He hates his bum being touched so its hard

@Cass you may need a longer treatment of flagyl for Jinx - this is common to go a week or longer.  Please discuss with your vet.

Stephen

Thanks Stephen, this time we are going 10days with all 4 cats and the tylan and then a vet visit will keep you updated. Cheers for all help and suggestions! I really appreciate!