kitten positive for FIP concerned for other cat

siameselady

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My 10month old kitten tested positive for FIP and I have some concerns. I have another cat, a 2 year old, and I want to know the risks of him having it too. He spends most of his time outside (maybe 15 hours a day) but when he's in he sleeps on my bed with my kitten. He is a big healthy boy and has shown no signs of sickness. Should I get him tested anyway?
 

stephenq

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My 10month old kitten tested positive for FIP and I have some concerns. I have another cat, a 2 year old, and I want to know the risks of him having it too. He spends most of his time outside (maybe 15 hours a day) but when he's in he sleeps on my bed with my kitten. He is a big healthy boy and has shown no signs of sickness. Should I get him tested anyway?
FIP is a very difficult disease to diagnose.  There is no specific test for it, it is usually diagnosed by symptoms and when the cat is near death.  If all the vet said was that there was a positive titer test for the Corona virus, that is not a test for FIP.  Many cats have a positive result for Carona virus, it simply means they've been exposed to a common cold.  In very rare cases, the Corona virus will mutate into FIP, when that happens the cat is usually deathly ill.

I'm not challenging your diagnosis, but we have seen here on TCS that cats have been misdiagnosed  with FIP occasionally.

Can you give us a bit of background that lead to this diagnosis?  Also was your cat diagnosed wit the effusive (wet) form of FIP or the non-effusive (dry) form of the disease? How is the current health of the kitten?   Edit: Also i've looked at your other threads and I see you are reporting that he has the dry form and that you are fairly certain about this.

As to your question, FIP is hard to catch, and the method of transmission is not well understood, it tends to show up in colonies, and in larger cat populations, but the vector of the disease (method of transmission) is believed to be cat to cat.  Personally I would be concerned having an FIP cat in my home with another cat, and I would want professional advice.

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/brochure_ftp.cfm

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/cat-fip-feline-infectious-peritonitis
 
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walden

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Hi siameselady -

Steven Q who answered above was a huge help to me when my kitty was diagnosed with FIP and I truly value his advice, but I also wanted to throw in my 2 cents in answer to your question as a multi-cat owner.   I'm not a vet, nor an expert, and I would definitely advise you to take your other cat to the vet if there are any signs of sickness, but I have to beg to differ with Steven Q a little bit as to how much you should worry about your other cat.  As Steven Q said, the current understanding of FIP is that is it a mutant form of the feline corona virus (FCoV) that occurs in some cats for unknown reasons.  It's likely that your vet based his or her diagnosis, at least in part, on the presence of FCoV antibodies in your kitty's blood test.  What this means is that the corona virus is present in some form.  This is a virus that is present an estimated 40% of domestic cats.  It's basically the cat form of the human flu - highly contagious but usually benign.  However, in some cats, it can develop into FIP.  According to <a href = "http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/CW_FIP.cfm">this page</a>, only 1 in 5000 cats in a 1 or 2 cat household develop FIP despite the high rate of FCoV infection.  The mutation from the relatively benign corona virus to FIP seems to be triggered by stress, especially the introduction of a new animal into the home, or a genetic predisposition to it. 

I have 3 cats myself, one of whom was diagnosed with dry FIP 8 months ago, based largely in part on an extremely high FCoV antibody (titer) count (400:1600).  I'm very grateful that it was likely a misdiagnosis and he's still alive and kicking, but given the number of virus particles he's likely shedding with such a high titer, it's also very probable that my other 2 cats are infected with feline corona virus.  However, neither of them have shown any signs of sickness, much less of developing FIP.  I think there's a good chance that as long as you keep your house stress free, and especially avoid introducing any new pets of any species for several months at least, you don't have very much to worry about.

Again, please, please take your kitty to the vet if he shows any sign of sickness, especially diarrhea or any upper respiratory or eye complications.  FCoV originally showed up in my supposed FIP cat as watery eyes that were diagnosed as allergies to birch trees.  FIP can never develop without a primary infection of FCoV, so as long as your cat continues to remain healthy there's a low chance of him developing FIP (although some cats can be asymptomatic).  I hope this was helpful and please feel free to IM me any time with questions.

--Walden
 
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