How worried should I be about FIP?

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perididdle

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Hi guys! I'm a total newbie, but I'm in a bit of a minor panic and this place popped up in Google searches....so I thought a few thoughts from the well-experienced here might help. =) Sorry for the length, I'm just worried about leaving out any useful details!

My mom got a 1 year old FIV cat from a rescue in mid-September. Little guy was very shy but very active, and ate like MAD. We took him to the vet for vaccines and deworming a tummy full of roundworms. Over the next two weeks, came out of his shell quite a bit -- still skittish but wandering around, meowing a lot, hanging out with us, etc. We took him for his follow up and he got a different kind of deworming to knock out some lingering parasites. 

About a week ago he started to eat a little less and stopped coming out to spend time with us. We had just switched his food, so we brushed it off as tummy distress. Over the week he stopped coming out to see us, no happy meows, hiding under the bed 24/7. He was still happy to snuggle when pulled out, but he seemed more listless and lethargic. He still eats regularly, but only bits and pieces. A HUGE difference from his snarfing down all the food he saw, and much less than even after we got rid of the roundworms.

We took him into the vet today. His fecal is negative. Heart sounds good, a bit of straining in his breathing but nothing bubbly, vet noticed nothing strange when palpating, but he had a 106 fever. Our vet did not push bloodwork on us at this stage as she had no signs of worrying about kidney/liver/so on. We're treating him with a round of antibiotics, fluids, and an NSAID. The vet said it could easily be just a bug or similar-- but, she did add that there's a chance it's FIP. She noticed ZERO signs of the 'wet' kind, for what it is worth.

Of course, I'm now a mess. All of the symptoms match what I can find, but they're just the symptoms of a fever, essentially. I noticed that a 'tipsy gait' came up in a few places. This cat has a very silly way of going when he runs, with his back legs wobbling to keep up, but he has had that since we got him and it has not changed over that time, so who knows. We opted to forego the expensive bloodwork *for right now* under the impression that tests aren't 100% reliable and if he does have FIP, there's not much we can do. We're going to wait and see if his fever responds to meds.

My question -- should I be worried right now? How likely is it that an FIV positive cat would just get a little bug that turned into a fever? Is it 'probably' FIP, or do I need to relax? I'm a nervous nellie, if you didn't notice, but I'd just love to get some grounding in what to expect. I hadn't even heard of FIP until today....ooof!
 

axlroz

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Hello, I would like to jump on this thread for some answers. I'm hoping your kitty responds to meds. But that is how my kitten started out, lethargic with fever. I have a kitten from a rescue who is extremely lethargic with fever unresponsive to meds (3 rounds) negative for fiv felv and parasites. Now her eyes have changed, pupils non responsive to light, cloudy with spots on outer layer, and now iris turning red. Rescue thinks she has fip. Not sure what to do? Is it worth it to get another opinion or just keep her comfortable?
 
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perididdle

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Bump! Sorry to hear about your kitty, Axlroz. =( I hope she stays comfortable and happy for as long as possible.

I drove to my mom's house today to try and give the dude his NSAID. He wouldn't come out from under the bed. I tried to lure him out with lots of goodies but he wasn't interested. We had a very traumatic time getting him out from under there for the vet, so I'm sure part of it is that, but it wasn't encouraging. I opted to let him do his thing instead of wrestle him out, as I don't want to stress him out even more. He ate last night but hadn't since this morning. We'll know more about his energy/food intake tomorrow.

I'm super, crazy paranoid that I'm going to get my cats here at home sick. That probably shouldn't happen even if it is FIP, right? Research says it's not very contagious, but I never want to go through this twice! They all probably have the original virus in their systems already, and as long a I wash my hands/don't bring bodily fluids home, I assume they should be okay...but a little reassurance wouldn't go amiss.
 

axlroz

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No I understand why you're concerned. I have another cat here and I'm concerned but the vet told me it's not contagious so I'm hoping that's the truth. So far my other cat is ok still and they've been in extremely close contact... Like same litter box, food, etc. Hope that helps at all. So the kitty is not responding to meds at all? I thought mine would get better for maybe a few hours then she was back down. I've only gotten about ten minutes of play and activity out of her for the entire 6 weeks.
Originally I had a gut feeling the kitten was fip prior to really any symptoms... Everything that has happened afterwards has just been confirmation after confirmation.. Without actually being confirmation since there's no test. So frustrating. Poor kitties. I hope yours gets better with meds.
 
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perididdle

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Kitty got an antibiotics injection yesterday, so less than 24 hours with those. Hard to tell if they're helping or not yet. =/ I know I feel pretty gross right after I get a big helping of meds, so I'm hoping that's it. He seemed to feel a little better with the anti-inflammatory he got at the vet (he ate last night after all), but by now it has worn off. I understand why he feels crummy. I'm a bit torn up over whether I should've stressed him out for the benefit of the meds, but since it just makes him feel better temporarily and isn't fighting anything actively, I figured it might be a flat trade off in the end. Hopefully he feels a little better tomorrow and will come out for some petting and

Thanks for the encouragement about the other kitties! I'm talking houses half an hour away, with only my mom and I being in and out of them with no fluids/food/etc. transferred, so I'm hoping probably letting anxiety get to me more than any reality! It just sucks to have sick kitties. =( Crazy how you had a gut feeling about your little one. I knew it'd be touch and go with his FIV, but I didn't expect such a quick issue to crop up. Sigh.
 
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perididdle

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So-so. He's still eating and drinking some, and using the litterbox without sign of major GI distress, but also still quite reclusive. He let my mom pull him out for some petting and snuggles, which he purred for, though he didn't get very "into" it or stay out once he was let go. 

He's out of NSAIDs now, so we'll see how he's feeling off of his kitty advil. I'm hoping it wasn't just that making him feel better. =/ Thank you for checking in! I just wish we knew for sure what it was. It's such a rollercoaster wondering if it's FIP or just a big out of control.
 

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P perididdle , is kitty still running a fever? I have had experienced with both FIV and FIP, but never together.

FIV causes the immune system to be weak, so a typical viral infection can certainly cause more problems for these kitties.

I would have done a full blood panel on kitty to check white blood count, GGT, etc...
Blood work tells much more than just kidney and liver function. This would have potentially given a little better picture of what was going on with kitty.

The fever this kitty had was higher than normal with FIP, though we are dealing with a cat that has an autoimmune disease, so not sure how that affects things.

If the kitty is responding to antibiotics and the fever is gone, less likely you are dealing with FIP.
 
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perididdle

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@Perididdle, is kitty still running a fever? I have had experienced with both FIV and FIP, but never together.

FIV causes the immune system to be weak, so a typical viral infection can certainly cause more problems for these kitties.

I would have done a full blood panel on kitty to check white blood count, GGT, etc...
Blood work tells much more than just kidney and liver function. This would have potentially given a little better picture of what was going on with kitty.

The fever this kitty had was higher than normal with FIP, though we are dealing with a cat that has an autoimmune disease, so not sure how that affects things.

If the kitty is responding to antibiotics and the fever is gone, less likely you are dealing with FIP.
I plan to take his temp tomorrow, I will know more then. He's still pretty run-down like he is sick, but he is acting a less dire than he was. He got an antibiotics injection that is supposed to last for two weeks, so I'm trying not to put all my hope in him getting better 'instantaneously', especially with his compromised immune system. And if it's some little virus or another, we'd just be waiting it out anyway I suppose. I guess the thing I'm having trouble finding online is how often "nonspecific" viruses creep into our kitties, even FIV ones. Is that a common thing that can happen outside of an easier to spot respiratory infection/UTI/etc?

We skipped the bloodwork for the time being in a mix of advice from the vet (she didn't feel like it would tell her significantly more at this stage that would help her change how she would treat it) and -- I wince as I type this -- to save a bit of money if it didn't seem necesary. At this stage, of course, if he doesn't improve we will absolutely take those costs to get him back to normal again.

So an FIP fever is often more low-grade than this? That's interesting. The vet certainly sounded "impressed" by how high it was, but I wasn't sure what that meant in the scheme of things.

@axlroz, your kitty looks so cute. I'm so sorry you're going through this. =(
 

catwoman707

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True, a fever that responds well to antibiotic treatment is likely not fip, however this fever will go up and down, never really down to normal, a low grade fever at the lower end, and a high temp on the high end.

Towards the end of fip though their temp actually drops below normal. Go figure that.

I would say move forward if fever does not respond to med, but given a covenia 2 week shot, I would add another oral antibiotic too after a couple more days.

The covenia should be enough to break the fever though, but to me, I would want to know clearly whether the fever is responding or not.

FIP is not contagious, only the coronavirus, which is only a mild virus which runs it's course then gone.

FIP happens in an individual system that, for unknown reasons does not leave, but rather settles in and begins to wreak it's havoc and destroying kitty internally.
 
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perididdle

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Thanks for the info, catwoman!

Unfortunately, I can't get my hands on kitty to take his temp. He's tucked up under the bed (too low to crawl under, too far to reach). I spotted him behind a chair in the living room when he thought we were both asleep and tried to snag him, but he got away. It was, on one hand, heartening to see him out and about. On the other, as he walked away he was very unbalanced. Just sort of wobbly. He has always had a very silly walk to him since we got him, but not quite this badly, and usually it's more at the run and the jump. Would the movement problems common in FIP have preceded his fever, etc. by so much? Before he took a turn, I was wondering if he had cerebellar hypoplasia.

He's eating a little, drinking a little. Still using the litterbox. Definitely not interested in us, at all. It has been four days since his his vet check. No major turns for the worse...but no major improvement. But not eating will, of course, take its toll on his weight, and that's always a spiral. I'm not sure what to think. I feel so bad for him, and so sad. I put out an array of foods for him to eat, hoping he takes to at least one. 

On one hand, I want to take him back to the vet. On the other, it's so difficult to get him in the carrier and so stressful on his tiny system to go through the process. I'll give them a call in the morning and see what they say, I suppose.
 
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axlroz

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P perididdle I apologize I had responded to you on a different thread I guess. But I wanted to say I understand the roller coaster you mentioned and I have anxiety as well which does not help this... It's so hard to watch and wait it out.
I've suspected fip for over a month with kitty having fever and just now noticing she is falling all over the place ... She fell out of the window sill twice... Fell off my husbands lap... And fell when she was trying to walk over me. I guess she wasn't walking too much before but what I always noticed is her walk and movement has always been gingerly for lack of a better word. She doesn't run and jump on things like a cat.
So I don't know if this helps but like I said I just now noticed the uncoordination. But maybe with fiv it can happen faster. I hope neither one of our kitties has this in the end...
 
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axlroz

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Oh and I decided I'm calling the vet in the morning as well. Maybe at least ask about pain meds
 

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I wouldnt have FIP as a main suspect just yet :) All sorts of viral and bacterial infections will be ready to jump a cat with a compromised immune system. Id have a full bloodwork, inc SAA, white blood cell count, red blood cell count, and the lot. This to look for signs of an infection. It could be a lung infection (in cats lower respitory infections arent always followed by the sympthoms you'd assume, but rather more just lethargy, inappetite, fever and such). Or it could be something different. You wont find out unless you keep looking. There are different antibiotics for different infections, so you need to find out what you are dealing with. My Kitty recently still ran a fever on antibiotics, because the type of antibiotics given to her, wasnt the right one for the infection in her body,
 
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perididdle

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@Perididdle I apologize I had responded to you on a different thread I guess. But I wanted to say I understand the roller coaster you mentioned and I have anxiety as well which does not help this... It's so hard to watch and wait it out.
I've suspected fip for over a month with kitty having fever and just now noticing she is falling all over the place ... She fell out of the window sill twice... Fell off my husbands lap... And fell when she was trying to walk over me. I guess she wasn't walking too much before but what I always noticed is her walk and movement has always been gingerly for lack of a better word. She doesn't run and jump on things like a cat.
So I don't know if this helps but like I said I just now noticed the uncoordination. But maybe with fiv it can happen faster. I hope neither one of our kitties has this in the end...
I saw your post axl, but must've forgotten to respond. Your sympathy with all of this has been so nice. Having anxiety AND sick kitties is really the pits, isn't it? I keep oscilating wildly from "it's definitely awful and we're going to lose him" to "no, no, calm down, it's probably going to be okay" to "that's a lie, it's...." well, you know. Your poor bub. I hope she gets comfortable soon. Pain meds seemed to help our guy perk up a bit and eat more. It might help your kitty just feel a little better if a fever is a problem.

Our dude jumps up on stuff when he's feeling well, but he would have a bit of trouble doing so gracefully. Multiple times he jumped from one side of the leather couch to the other, only to slide and go flat off the other side and tumble to the floor. =P He also "prances" when nervously moving from place to place. 
 
I wouldnt have FIP as a main suspect just yet :) All sorts of viral and bacterial infections will be ready to jump a cat with a compromised immune system. Id have a full bloodwork, inc SAA, white blood cell count, red blood cell count, and the lot. This to look for signs of an infection. It could be a lung infection (in cats lower respitory infections arent always followed by the sympthoms you'd assume, but rather more just lethargy, inappetite, fever and such). Or it could be something different. You wont find out unless you keep looking. There are different antibiotics for different infections, so you need to find out what you are dealing with. My Kitty recently still ran a fever on antibiotics, because the type of antibiotics given to her, wasnt the right one for the infection in her body,
Thanks for your supportive and encouraging words. I had no idea a respiratory infection could show no breathing/etc symptoms. Like I said upthread, I had some trouble finding sites that talked about the "non-standard" infections FIV cats could get (because everywhere always seems to list 3 or 4 easy to spot diseases before going straight to the scary stuff....such is medical info on the internet!), so I wasn't sure if it was a pipe dream. I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and see what they say! At this point, I do wish we'd just done the blood work panel last time -- the sticker shock and our vet suggesting it could be easier to try and treat the fever more generally first swayed us away. Now the idea of loading the poor guy up into the carrier again...traumatic for both of us, hah.
 
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carinajosefine

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@axlroz  

@Perididdle

I just brought up my cat as example, as the sympthoms were very much the same, and we couldnt find anything wrong with her, exept that she was lethargic, didnt eat, had a fever and eventually she was also dehydrated. Due to weakness it sometimes looked as if she could barely walk. Her blood tests showed that she had an infection in her body - somewhere. We just couldnt figure out where. I read way too much about FIP, to the point where I was just panicking. She was misdiagnosed with gallbladder inflamation and put on Flagyl. She did not get better on this, the fever did not go down, as this type of antibiotica didnt help with what was really her problem. A CT-scan showed us she had a masive lung infection. It had gone quite far, as it took so long to diagnose, still she had no "typical" airway sympthoms. After a couple of days on Veraflox however, the fever went away, and we started on the long road to (hopefully) recovery.

Im sure this would be the case for many types of infections. Im using my cat as an example to show you infections can hide where you dont really expect. It can be treatable, even when the first type of antibiotics dont work. You need to know what youre up against, to get the right type. I also did the FIP-panick thing, because there was no obvious sympthoms, apart from the "general" ones, that easily could have been FIP, or ofcourse any number of other illnesses. We just tend to jump to the worst conclusion.

I wish both your kitties the very best! Keep us updated <3
 
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axlroz

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Thanks carinajosefine carinajosefine I appreciate the information about the meds so I can explore those as well. So far we have tried 3 meds but not that one. My biggest concern is her eyes. Going back to the vet tonight.
P perididdle did you call the vet as well?
 
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