FIP = no new kittens for a while?

Hi all, sad to say I lost my cat Ally the day after Christmas. I was lost without her. Eight days later I adopted a kitten. She brought the joy back into our lives. Less than 3 months later we had to put Skyrocket down, I'm having trouble understanding our vet. She said no more kittens for 1 to 2 years should be brought into our home because the virus can infect them. What does that mean? We even asked what if we had the house fumigated answer negative. Skyrocket was healthy one day and gone the next, she had FIP. My heart is broken. Does anyone know about the no kittens for 1 to 2 year rule. My baby is gone and the idea of not having a kitty to love is unbearable. Thank you for your time.

FIP is a little researched disease, and the mechanisms for infection are still hotly debated. It is caused by the Corona virus, which is carried by a large proportion of cats, but this virus has to mutate inside the cat's body to develop into FIP. What causes this mutation is unknown, but stress, other viruses, failure of the immune system, these may all play a part. And some kittens may be genetically prone to it or have caught it from their mothers. At what stage it may be infectious is not certain, and some people deny it is infectious at all once it has mutated. Even diagnosis is not 100% sure till autopsy, though certain symptoms can make it a pretty definite bet.

So some vets err on the side of caution, advising complete isolation of all cats with the corona virus and of all premises where a cat with FIP has lived or died. You can only read up on all the evidence, most of it circumstantial, and make up your own mind. It is a horrible, 100% fatal disease, so not something to be taken lightly.

My own experience with FIP involves two cats who died from it, within weeks of each other, one an adult and the other a kitten, who may have been father and son as I caught both of them as feral/strays in my garden. They stayed together, isolated from my other cats while I socialised them and set out to get them adopted. Sadly, I had found homes for both when they became ill and then died, the kitten first. All my own cats are tested positive for the corona virus (as are 80% of cats in multi-cat households or colonies) but so far (this was 6 years ago) no-one has shown any signs of FIP. ANd I have had other cats stay in the rooms where the sick one lived, with no adverse effects.

Good luck with your decision. I agree it would be hard to be without a cat for so long, but the idea of FIP is worse.

I've read that painting the walls will seal the virus. I figure so long as you don't have carpeting, you clean everything with a well-ventilated area, with bleach double strength on the bottle, walls, floors, ceilings, disposing of bowls, litterboxes, toys. Repaint the walls to seal in the virus, I think it should be okay. I know of a rescue that used to do that in their sick room. I'm not sure about soft things such a sofa or a bed.

I found this old thread. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/185785/cleaning-up-after-fip

Thank you for your time. This is the first glimmer of light for me. I will definitely follow up.

You're welcome. An off topic pet though, if you like fish, you could get a betta to keep you company. I have one and he has such a personality. Only one thing, you can only keep one in a tank/bowl. Please keep us posted on how it goes.