Foster Kitten with FIP- Spreading to other cats?

About a month ago I took in a feral foster kitten to adopt out. She was about 5 weeks old at the time and found living in the barn belonging to a lady that I know. It was raining that day, so the poor thing was soaking wet and covered in fleas. A couple of dawn baths later and she looked to be an absolutely gorgeous little torbie kitty. A vet got me in contact with a rescue group, so I agreed to foster her until she could get fully vetted and adopted out through the group. I kept her in a kennel in my extra bathroom for awhile, gave her access to the bathroom shortly after, and then opened the door up to the bedroom after about a week. She went in for her first set of shots that week, got dewormed, tested negative for FIV/FeLV, and was basically doing normal baby kitten stuff. She tamed up very nicely.

About two weeks ago I brought her in to be spayed (about 8 weeks at the time), but being she was barely over a pound the vet advised I wait a couple of weeks until she's closer to two pounds. She looked her over and gave her next set of shots while there, and said she looked healthy/didn't comment on anything being abnormal. Her spay was rescheduled for this week, but kitten still only weighed 1.7 pounds at about 10 weeks or so. She wasn't scheduled to go to an adoption day until next week, so decided after talking to the vet to postpone for another week. Her small size didn't seem that big of a deal- she didn't look thin, and the cat I believe to be her mother was quite small. She looked to have a bit of a wormy belly, so I figured I'd mention to the vet and ask about a fecal/different wormer when we're in next week. Nothing extreme or I would have brought her in to be examined.

Yesterday morning I was in a bit of a rush, so hurriedly put her food down and checked her water before leaving. That afternoon when I returned I went in to play with her and she was not right at all. She was just laying uncomfortably by the door on her side. She cried when I picked her up, and bit at me when I tried to feel her belly. I held her up and her abdomen was obviously distended to one side. Rushed her over to the vet that the rescue uses and they came to the conclusion that it's most likely FIP. Long story short, we opted to have her euthanized and looking inside the vet confirmed that it was almost certainly FIP. This almost literally happened overnight as far as I could observe. Earlier this week she was jumping around and playing like normal with what I would describe as a slightly wormy belly to really swollen, lopsided, and obviously in a fair amount of discomfort. I had no idea that these symptoms could develop so suddenly, but I guess tiny kittens don't have the best immune systems built up

Anyway, the relevant question to this back story is what should I do to ensure that this doesn't spread to my personal cat/any future foster babies? My cat is now three years old and was also captured from a feral cat population at about 5 weeks. So, I do suppose it's quite possible that she was already exposed to the coronavirus back when she was a little baby. The kitten has been living exclusively in my extra bedroom/bathroom that my cat didn't have access to. I suppose they could have swatted paws under the door, but the kitten didn't seem too interested in interacting with my cat. The kitten had a completely separate litterbox and food/water bowls. Should I be worried that my cat may have been exposed to the mutant virus through this scenario?

I'd also like to continue fostering kittens through this organization. The only place to keep them would be in the same bedroom/bathroom as the FIP kitten. I can pretty effectively disinfect the bathroom and all of the cat supplies, but what about the bedroom? It's carpeted, and I don't really know how to go about disinfecting that. Or is there a certain amount of time that I can wait before fostering again to ensure that future kitties won't be exposed? The last thing I want to do is get more cats and expose them to a virus that may harm them.

FFinally, should we avoid tryying to adopt out other cats acquired from the same population as this one? My friend and I are working on getting those cats fixed (the barn is owned by an old country lady who is stuck in her ways and won't get them fixed), but I was told that there is another litter there now. I would have been interested in fostering/adopting those out, but I don't want to adopt out kittens that are a ticking timebomb to their new owners. And what about the adult ferals? My friend was thinking about releasing a couple in her barn after trapping and neutering them, but doesn't want to expose the current barn cats to this. She already lost a couple of her cats to FIP (adopted them from out of state to live in the barn) and so is really wary about getting more potentially infected cats.

Firstly, I'm so sorry for your loss

I really don't know any thing about FIP other than it's a horrible disease, but I did find this thread on it, and according to this, it's not contagious, so if this is true, then there is nothing to worry about:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/261378/lost-a-kitty-to-fip-now-what.  But then I have found other things that DO say to wait a month before bringing in cats, so it's quite confusing.  Here's more info from   Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine:  http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/health_information/CW_FIP.cfm

mrsgreenjeens said:

Firstly, I'm so sorry for your loss

I really don't know any thing about FIP other than it's a horrible disease, but I did find this thread on it, and according to this, it's not contagious, so if this is true, then there is nothing to worry about:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/261378/lost-a-kitty-to-fip-now-what.  But then I have found other things that DO say to wait a month before bringing in cats, so it's quite confusing.  Here's more info from   Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine:  http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/health_information/CW_FIP.cfm

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Thanks, I appreciate the info. I do recognize that FIP isn't directly contagious and that a large percentage of cats have the coronavirus without it ever affecting them, but I'd like to avoid knowingly exposing my cat and any future fosters to the virus. There's just a lot of conflicting information out there so I was hoping some people had personal experience with adding new cats after FIP in their household.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

A kitten deteriorating that quickly may have had distemper too, only a blood test would confirm either disease. Older cats are usually immune to distemper and many other diseases because they have usually been exposed and lived through it. I don't have any personal experience with having a FIP cat in the house (that I know of) but I've cared for SO many cats in my 50 years of having cats that I'm sure I have had some. Many of these cats get these diseases by fighting and getting deep tissue bites, so if that can be avoided so can many diseases. I'm sure your cats swatting under the door is safe, unless one of them bites or it is a highly communicable disease like distemper. As fro adopting the other family members out, you can always have them tested. then your mind would be at ease. My heart goes out to you for losing that little one, and the stress you are going through, I pray every thing will work out, all the luck!

From what I gather, the tricky thing is that there isn't really a way to distinguish between a cat asymptomatically carrying the coronavirus and a cat that has or will get FIP. So testing for the virus could help prevent someone from getting a cat that MAY get sick, but then what to do with a seemingly healthy kitten that may or may not come down with FIP? Return it to the barn where it was captured? Vets and rescues always test for FIV and FeLV, but I've never heard of anyone testing for the coronavirus around here.

The vet didn't mention anything about the possibility of distemper or some other disease, but that's perhaps because they were fairly certain about the FIP. My cat is fully vaccinated and hasn't had contact with any other cats in well over a year, so I don't see any way that she could have gotten it from her. But, I highly doubt that the feral cats where the kitten came from have been vaccinated. They're just feral cats that showed up at this lady's barn because she puts out food. So, I do think it's possible that there are some contagious diseases floating around out there. She didn't have any wounds to indicate fights or bites with the adult cats there, but I'd imagine that stuff could be easily spread from the mother cat. The kitten was in my care for over a month from when she was captured until she died. What's the incubation time like for something like distemper? Would it be possible for the kitten to have carried the disease for that long without getting sick? I left the body at the clinic, so I'm sure it's since been disposed of and unavailable to test.

The distemper I dealt with this summer was quick in that it killed them in a week to 10 days from when they looked sick, but agonizing long when you think of the suffering. We tried to save every one of them, force feeding and giving pediolyte, but one by one they died. I still have nightmares. I agree with you though, I wouldn't return a kitten to a barn with a good conscious. I hope you find the answers you are looking for, you will  surely be blessed for the good you are doing.