Coronavirus

We have 6 cats (all indoor). 1 of our cats has the coronavirus. We tested Mickey because he had diarrhea when he was a baby. As soon as I found out he had this, I asked the vet what can I do to help him from getting FIP.

They gave me Immune System Support Pills to give him twice a day. I've been giving it to him ever since.

He is now 1 year 2 months old. We just had him tested again to see if he shredded it. He did not. 

Max is 3 years and 1 month old
Milo is 2 years 4 months old
Miles is 2 years 3 months old
Pumpkin is 1 year old
Millie (the baby) is 2 months old

I read that any cat with coronavirus can get FIP but it's most common with cats under 3 years old.

Does anyone know if that's true? Once they all reach 3 years old, they should be "out of the woods"?

I also read that they are more likely to get it with a household of more than 5 cats (we now have 6 cats).

I started giving all my cats the Immune System Support Pills (twice a day for the 3 youngest and once a day for the 3 oldest). Should I give them all this twice a day?

Is there anything else I can give them to help prevent them from getting FIP?

Any suggestions?

Thank You,

Bernice

Hi @children11

Unless you had a cat that actually had FIP you have nothing really to worry about, or put another way, there is no point in worrying.  Most or at least many cats will test positive for coronavirus (common cold), this is neither a test for FIP nor a meaningful predictor of FIP in the future.  FIP is an incredibly rare disease, and the reasons and method why some (virtually none) cats who have had coronavirus get it is not well understood.  Probably the biggest predictor for FIP is having had an active case in a given population.

FIP is seen in cat colonies and sometimes in shelters but unless you recently got a cat from a shelter or had a case in your home, you are as home free as anyone else who has a cat who had a cold once in their lives.

Your vet is probably trying to allay your concerns by giving out some "Immune System Support Pills" and while they might have some value in a cat's health they really have no real value for FIP unless your cat has a poor immune system or is FIV or FeLV positive which I assume isn't the case.   But the good news is, if you've never had a case in your house, then your cats are no more at risk than mine or anyone else's cat that had a cold in the past.

Some links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_infectious_peritonitis

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/brochure_ftp.cfm

Many cats have the Corona virus, that in itself is NOT a cause for alarm. The very sad and unfortunate news is that nobody can predict which cat will get FIP and which won't.
Younger cats (kittens) and eldery cats are more prone to developing FIP, but no one is ever out of the woods. I sadly had to put my 6 year old cat to sleep only 2 months ago because of wet FIP. It came out of nowhere, or so it seemed. I had 4 cats, all of them seemed healthy, and then one day my kitty felt a bit boney on his spine. He was still eating, sleeping, and acting completely normal. There was no weight loss that I could detect. Little did I know, he was losing weight rapidly and it was being replaced with fluid in his abdomen.
When the vet showed me the x-ray where none of his organs were visible, and she told me the diagnosis, I couldn't believe it! I thought how could this be happening? I take good care of him, he is an indoor cat, spoiled rotten, etc. The way the vet explained it to me is that a great deal of cats are infected with the Corona virus and it will never cause them problems. Most contract it, shake it off, and go on with their lives. Some cats can also be carriers of it, but never become seriously ill themselves. Then there are the unlucky ones. For whatever reason, the virus gene mutates in them and it progresses to FIP. Factors that are thought to elevate that risk are immune compromised kitties and stressed out kitties.
My vet believes that my 6 year old boy (very unusual age for FIP) had some kind of condition or disease working in the background that lowered his immune system. I could have done nothing to stop it. Even if you have a cat who dies from FIP, it does NOT mean that your remaining cats are also going to die from it. They have the same risk factor as any other cat with the Corona virus.
All you really can do is try to make sure that your cats get a nice healthy diet, keep the litter trays clean and scooped to prevent transmission (as some cats intermittently shed the virus), and try not to put them under too much stress (like continuously moving house or introducing too many new pets).
Good luck and please try not to worry. I was worrying myself sick after I put my kitty to sleep. I was so scared that my remaining 3 cats would also get FIP, but then I reminded myself that they have the same chances as the MANY other cats who are infected with the Corona virus. Also as sad as it is, there is nothing you can do to stop it even if it were to happen. All you can do is enjoy your kitties every single day that they are in your life.

My pure bred siamese cat died from dry FIP in March.  He died right before his 3rd birthday.  He came with the coronavirus from the breeder.  But they never told us he had it so it took a while to get it diagnosed.  I had never even heard of FIP or the coronavirus until then.  As a kitten he  was skin and bones and had frequent vomiting and diarrhea.  It took quite awhile for him to get better but he always had not the best immune sysytem.  He would get URI or eye infections once in a while.  My vet told me that while the majority of cats do not get FIP once a cat has been exposed to the coronavirus there is a chance they can get FIP any time in their life.

I am sorry your cat has the coronavirus.  It is hard because you always have it in the back of your brain wondering if it will change to FIP.

Hi.

If I understand this right, you had one of your cats tested a while back and he showed a positive titer to coronavirus and you tested him again and he was still positive. I think the test you are speaking of is the FIP (coronavirus) titer. All that test shows is that at some point in his life he was exposed to a coronavirus. It does not confirm current infection. You are worried about the coronavirus antibodies he is carrying around now mutating into FIP in the future, right?

It is a complicated disease and still they don't know all that much about it. Some think that there is a mutation in the dna of the cat and that causes it to mutate. Others think it is transferred from cat to cat.

See if you can get your vet to email you the test results, and then post them if you don't mind.

Most cats are exposed to a corona virus at some time in their life and will show a titer  1:400. My cat has that titer as do most cats. Just means they were exposed at some point in their life. It doesn't mean they will get it or are more prone to get it.

There is no definitive test for FIP ante mortem. The only way to confirm the disease is with a necropsy. But there are tests that can be done and things that will lead a vet to strongly suspect it.

1. Obvious signs of illness
2. a high FIP Coronavirus titer such as 1:1600
3. Elevated protein levels such as Globulin.
4. lesions on internal organs seen through ultrasound.
5. Straw colored liquid on the abdomen
6. fever intermittent

I am going to post some information here from AAFP website. Please when researching make sure that you be careful to only look at information that is from trusted sites such as this one and teaching hospitals etc. There is allot of misinformation out there and people trying to make a dollar on desperate people.

Just two weeks ago, I lost my cream point Siamese mix to FIP.  He was 7 years old.  I never suspected that any of my adults would get it.  In the past, it has only struck kittens.  It came into my house with a foster kitten I was handed in a carrier by the shelter director (I foster for them when I have room).  She had just come back from the vet where she didn't make weight (2 lbs.) to be spayed, and she was four months old.  "Here, take this one and get some weight on her.  Her first foster is moving and can't take her back and she isn't big enough to be spayed yet."  It didn't take long to see that this kitten wasn't well, she wasn't just a picky eater.  I called the previous foster and got a history an found out that yes, she had had a kitten with diarrhea who pooped all over the house and was eventually diagnosed with FIP and put to sleep.  Great.  The shelter took the kitten to their vet who diagnosed FIP and put her to sleep.  All was fine in my house for nearly a year.  Then I lost two kittens in August, unrelated to each other, but both had shared my bed.  (One is Lurch, my Avatar here.) It was calm again until December, when I lost another one who had been around for 8 months by then.  Her mom and 2 sisters are still here,still fine.  I thought we were out of the woods once all the remaining kittens from last year turned a year old (I had quarantined them and would not adopt them out for fear of FIP developing, but once they were a year old, I thought we were safe.)  They are all still fine, but my 7-year-old cream point suddenly dropped weight while I was on a 5-day vacation in July.  I took him to the vets about  week later since he had stopped eating altogether by then.  Blood work, x-ray and belly tap confirmed it, and he went to sleep in my arms that day and is buried with the others in what is now known as "FIP Corner" in my yard.   The rescue kittens have no contact with my adults, so they are safe and can be adopted out.  The others -- who knows?  They seem healthy as horses now, but Lurch was healthy on August 15 and gone on August 30, two weeks after the little Maine Coon kitten, 1 of 4, who got it.  The other 3 Maine Coons are still fine now, a year later.  In my experience, stress does seem to precedethe mutation from corona virus to FIP virus, but that's just my own experience.  Still, I would suggest going out of your way to avoid stressing ANY cat with corona virus.  Boarding them, bringing in a new animal, bringing in a new human housemate, or moving are all stressors.  Keep them calm and peaceful, it can't hurt and might actually help.