Start of FIP or am I overreatcing?

Hi guys, I'm new here. I need some cat people like myself to hear me out because so far, everyone thinks I'm a bit crazy

My 6 month old persian kitten started developing an eye infection in his left eye two days ago. The cornea was cloudy and he kept patting at it with his paw. He had been scratching his face (found out later that he had fleas) with his hind leg the day before, and reddened the skin next to it. Naturally, when I saw the cloudy eye, I panicked. Meanwhile, when I googled "kitten eye infection" I came across a lot of references to it being one of the first signs of FIP, and naturally that scared me. He is a persian from a cattery that I am still in contact with, I know he was weaned very early (some 4 weeks, I got him at 6.5 weeks old). Previously the only issues we had were ringworm and earmites, both of which were taken care of.

The next day, I took him to the vet who ran a green dye test and saw some scratches on the cornea. He was given an antibiotic ointment, and a day later, it seems to be clearing up. He is not liking the e-collar, but is still playing and eating...although sleeping a bit more than usual.

Still, I am finding myself worrying about that pesky FIP. I raised these concerns with my vet, but she said that we should not worry about it yet- he is energetic, is gaining weight and has a healthy appetite...

My question is: what is the difference between an eye infection in a kitten indicating the start of FIP, and just a regular eye injury? Should I be worried?

Any info would be really appreciated!

feleenipovski said:

 
Hi guys, I'm new here. I need some cat people like myself to hear me out because so far, everyone thinks I'm a bit crazy

My 6 month old persian kitten started developing an eye infection in his left eye two days ago. The cornea was cloudy and he kept patting at it with his paw. He had been scratching his face (found out later that he had fleas) with his hind leg the day before, and reddened the skin next to it. Naturally, when I saw the cloudy eye, I panicked. Meanwhile, when I googled "kitten eye infection" I came across a lot of references to it being one of the first signs of FIP, and naturally that scared me. He is a persian from a cattery that I am still in contact with, I know he was weaned very early (some 4 weeks, I got him at 6.5 weeks old). Previously the only issues we had were ringworm and earmites, both of which were taken care of.

The next day, I took him to the vet who ran a green dye test and saw some scratches on the cornea. He was given an antibiotic ointment, and a day later, it seems to be clearing up. He is not liking the e-collar, but is still playing and eating...although sleeping a bit more than usual.

Still, I am finding myself worrying about that pesky FIP. I raised these concerns with my vet, but she said that we should not worry about it yet- he is energetic, is gaining weight and has a healthy appetite...

My question is: what is the difference between an eye infection in a kitten indicating the start of FIP, and just a regular eye injury? Should I be worried?

Any info would be really appreciated!

Click to expand...

Hi and welcome to TCS!  You do not need to be worried about FIP.  The info you found online is misleading. While there is a relationship between the corona virus that causes upper respiratory infections in cats (which can include eye infections), this relationship is so rare and hard to predict that you cannot use a corona virus test, nor the presence of an upper respiratory illness as any sign that FIP is going to develop.  End of story.

It's also true (this is mostly an analogy) that the common cold in a person can in theory lead to pneumonia and death, the chances of this happening are so rare that we don't even talk about it.  This is not dissimilar from a URI in a cat and FIP.

Cats who get FIP get very very sick, with very serious symptoms like serious lethargy, fever, loss of appetite, and in the most common version, a huge fluid build up in the abdomen.

Wikipedia says the chances in a typical home are 1 in 5000 cats.  I've worked with cats in shelters where there is a higher prevalence of FIP, and I've seen maybe a handful of cases in 11 years.

It sounds like your cat has a garden variety cold with some other minor issues, my advice is never read another article about FIP online or anywhere.  If your cat were to get it, you won't need any articles.  Your cat would be so ill that your first instinct would be to rush him to the nearest 24/7 emergency vet clinic.

Enjoy a wonderful and long life with your cat!

Thank you so much Stephen! It seems that I've started taking my mild hypochondria out on my poor little kitty.

He's really depressed about the e-collar and the eye ointments, and I keep waking him up to play (although he was sprinting for an hour around the flat and ate a bunch of food) just to make sure he is ok. I think it's that "dry FIP" that is the scariest thing because practically aaanything can be a symptom of it. Now every time he wants to sleep I get scared he is getting worse.

FIP would never even occur to me if it didn't pop up in EVERY damn article when looking for "what to do". They should really not be scaring people like that about a relatively rare disease. (kind of like when you google HIV and 'sore throat' is at the top of the list )

My current vet is an amazing person, and I have full confidence in her. The person that scared me was our old vet, who was a total nutcase (she couldn't diagnose ringworm, but kept giving our guy antibiotics for full two weeks! It was not until my boyfriend got the ringworm that she agreed she might be wrong) and claimed the antibiotics she was giving him were not working because he "might have FIP or leukemia or FIV" aaaand then suggested we run a series of super expensive blood-work. That's when I asked around and found our current vet who took care of his ringworm in a week. Even though this crazy old vet is out of our lives, her words sometimes come back to haunt me.

I love this forum, so many like-minded, caring people. I feel a lot better!

feleenipovski said:

 
Thank you so much Stephen! It seems that I've started taking my mild hypochondria out on my poor little kitty.

He's really depressed about the e-collar and the eye ointments, and I keep waking him up to play (although he was sprinting for an hour around the flat and ate a bunch of food) just to make sure he is ok. I think it's that "dry FIP" that is the scariest thing because practically aaanything can be a symptom of it. Now every time he wants to sleep I get scared he is getting worse.

FIP would never even occur to me if it didn't pop up in EVERY damn article when looking for "what to do". They should really not be scaring people like that about a relatively rare disease. (kind of like when you google HIV and 'sore throat' is at the top of the list )

My current vet is an amazing person, and I have full confidence in her. The person that scared me was our old vet, who was a total nutcase (she couldn't diagnose ringworm, but kept giving our guy antibiotics for full two weeks! It was not until my boyfriend got the ringworm that she agreed she might be wrong) and claimed the antibiotics she was giving him were not working because he "might have FIP or leukemia or FIV" aaaand then suggested we run a series of super expensive blood-work. That's when I asked around and found our current vet who took care of his ringworm in a week. Even though this crazy old vet is out of our lives, her words sometimes come back to haunt me.

I love this forum, so many like-minded, caring people. I feel a lot better!

Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay in replying, I'm glad you're feeling better about it. And i'm glad you like your new vet!

Please try and not worry so much. Hard to say because of what I'm going through with my rescues.

I have seen FIP wet strain first hand within the last 30 days in my rescued babies. Never the dry version.

I haven't ever seen any eye infections. What I have seen is once the neurological symptoms start to occur their eye sight will disapate and the pupils change from normal to thin vertical slivers. It's horrible!!! I agree with the advice that you have received on this thread :-) Don't worry about FIP.

My Story...
Wow, reading some of these stories brings my worst fears to light and a horrible hole in my heart for 6 abandoned feral babies I've brought into my home and bottle fed for 6 weeks. Even though I've been told countless times by wonderful experts, my highly trusted vets, hours of research that FIP is not contagious...my first baby, Trevor, was put down at 16 weeks about 3 weeks ago. Then less than 2 weeks later 1 of 2 orphaned kittens had the same symptoms, a swollen abdomen, neurological issues, not eating and lethargy. Toby had to be put down too at 14 weeks for wet FIP. Now the remaining 3 girls are (2) 20 weeks and (1) 16 weeks are all developing the same symptoms. I just know in my gut that it is FIP once the neurological disfunction and lethargy starts its a very rapid process that gets to their brain. I'm speaking of the wet version.

I've been rescuing kittens and cats for 35 yrs and never ever even heard of FIP until now. These kittens were born out in the country into a growing feral community.

Recently I found article that said cross infection happens when they use the same litter trays...no matter how clean you keep it. My babies had their own bedroom to eat, sleep and play. I wanted them to be together so they felt safer.

FIP transfers when the kittens use the litter trays and get litter and poop on their paws then proceed to grooming themselves and swallow the Coronavirus and apparently mutates into FIP.

I pray that my gut is wrong, but I foresee having to put them down too. They haven't comingled much with my older cats, but I can't imagine losing any of my adult cats I've had for 3 up to 8 years to this horrible disease.

Anyone lost full litters to FIP? Did any of your adult cats get the virus