Kitty has either FIP or toxoplasmosis

I have a 1 year old black and white female cat. Most adorable cuddly kitty ever. A little less than 2 weeks ago l noticed my cat was losing some weight. She was completely fine other than that. She was eating and drinking. Never had any diarrhea or vomiting. Well not even 2 days later I realized her eyes were cloudy and it was like she wasn't seeing like she should be. Over the next few days I noticed more and more about her vision. She would bump into things and paw at the air looking for her next step. My ottoman wasn't more than 2 feet away from my couch and she jumped and fell right in between. My playful kitty would walk so slow across the house. A little less than a week after noticing her symptoms I took her to the vet. She said because of the symptoms she was having it could either be "dry" FIP or toxoplasmosis. She said they both are similar and hard to diagnose. She explained both diseases to me and that FIP is fatal. She said the only way to tell for sure is if we start her on antibiotics and if she improves it's Toxoplasmosis. I drive home with tears in my eyes but still a little hopeful. It has been 3 days since she started her antibiotics. I haven't noticed any improvement but she's now sleeping more than she's awake and not eating. ive tried canned cat food as well. Nothing. I'm just wondering now if she has FIP and not toxoplasmosis. Has anyone ever dealt with a cat with FIP? I've never heard of it before this. What should I expect? Will she improve at all or is it just gonna get worse from here?

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. My 6 months old blue persian was just diagnosed with FIP and is now in kitty heaven. She went down hill very quickly. After I knew the diagnosis and the fatality of it (and seeing her only suffer) we decided to let her go in peace. It was the most difficult and heartbreaking thing I've ever had to do.
As far as the possible diagnosis you've been give, I don't know much about the second diagnoses, but I can tell you if it's fip she will get worse. Usually once they begin to fade, the decline is a quick and brutal one, at least in my Izzy's case. Lose of activity, almost to the point of sleeping all the time and not wanting to move much except the eat drink and use litter box. Dramatic weight loss. Now mine never had diarrhea or vomiting but my vet was surprised about this. And since my kitty was soooo fluffy and little I didn't notice the weight loss until the end. Right now this is all I can think of to tell you to watch out for. Mine had wet fip. So her belly was big and round (also one reason I thought she was gaining weight) but at the end I could tell her belly was like a water balloon rather than full from a healthy appetite. You also might notice sneezing and watery eyes. This is more so with dry but wet has these symptoms as well. Since my baby was persian those are pretty common for her breed, other reasons I failed to pin point the problem early on. Sometimes with dry they can show symptoms similar to an upper respiratory infection.

The receptionist at my vet told me not to lose hope bc she had a kitten they suspeted to have FIP (since they only true test is postmordern you can't truly know) but hers made it through and lived 19 long happy years . I tried my best by giving my baby hills a/d wet food plus neutra-cal and it did help, but in the end it wasn't enough for my baby. I think my vets cat was simply exposes to fip which is why the teter test came back positive for fip. Being exposed to it can cause a positive test result on the tests they do have to , but again, those are not 100% accurate until after death. I hope that last part made sense.

I hope this helps.

So is apparent blindness her only symptom,other than the weight loss?  Was she lethargic or have any respiratory issues?    Are her eyes cloudy, pupils completely dilated or what?  And is she now on Clindamycin or some other antibiotic?   It is true that with toxoplasmosis she should be showing some improvement within just 2 - 3 days if she is on the right antibiotic, BUT, I've never heard of blindness being a sign of FIP, so unless she's got other symptoms, I'm really questioning THAT possible diagnosis.  Did your Vet run any blood tests?  Do you have a copy that you could post here? 

The reason she may be so lethargic and have no appetite NOW could be the antibiotics    I had a cat once who we actually thought was dying simply because of the side effect of an antibiotic.  I would talk to the Vet about this complete loss of appetite and seeif they want to try a different antibiotic. In the meantime, you need to make sure she is getting food so you may need to force feed her.  Here is how to do that:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/227858/syringe-feeding-lucky-video-if-your-cat-is-not-eating

Pancakes passed away this morning [emoji]128546[/emoji] I tried everything that I could to help her. Since the day of my post she deteriorated quickly. It's a Sunday so my regular vet wasn't there but I was directed to their emergency line. The day I posted on here looking for answers or maybe a miracle cure, I felt as if she was running out of time. Friday morning she didn't eat or drink anything (that I had noticed) but I did see her at the food and water bowl later that day for a brief second. She slept most of the day without moving. When she finally got up I noticed she had soiled her bed. She was kind of staggering as she walked. Her eyes were kinda watery and it sounded like her nose was stuffy. Saturday- the same thing. Slept a majority of the time getting up only after she soiled her new blanket. I made up a nice soft bed on top of puppy pee pads for her in the bathroom Saturday before I left for work. I returned home around 1am and she had pooped off to the side of the pad. It looked kind of bloody and like mucous. I cleaned her up and put her back on her bed and I laid down for the night. I had to return to work at 8:30 the next morning. I checked on her before I left and she was sitting beside her litter box. She responded when I called her and as I petted her. I left for work and then my fiancé called me around noon today to tell me she had passed away in his arms. The vet that I spoke to believes she went into respiratory distress. I have to call my regular vet in the morning. But eye issues are a symptom of FIP. When the vet examined her eyes she had no pupillary response and the irises of pancakes eyes had a brownish look to them. She also said something about blood vessels in her eyes. She was on clindamyacin. But it had no effect. I trust my vets diagnosis. It's pretty much spot on to what she told me. I have a follow up appointment on Tuesday. I was supposed to bring pancakes in and we'd see how she was doing. If the antibiotics didn't help then we knew the diagnosis. She was going to talk me through all of the steps after that. I didn't think she would decline that fast and I was just trying to research as much as I possibly could about FIP and hear input from others that had experienced it before.

I am so sorry to hear this. The only relief is that she did not suffer too long. I have lost two cats in the past to FIP and it is a terrible thing, though I must say I have never heard of blindness as a symptom. But it does affect different cats in different ways.

Normally, when the moderators hear of a cat passing, we close the thread and invite the member to open a tribute thread in the 'Crossing the Bridge' forum. But as I think you might in the circumstances welcome other comments from anyone with similar experience, I will leave the thread open a little longer to allow people to respond if they wish.

Oh my gosh, I'm SO sorry she's gone .   

Thank you everyone who tried to help me through this. In my 25 years of life I have only had my 2 childhood dogs cross the rainbow bridge. Both from old age. This was entirely new to me and devastating. I hated being in a position that I couldn't do anything to save her. She was so young and had some much life ahead of her that was taken by this awful disease. It's something I hope I never see or hear of again. I'm sorry to anyone that has ever lost a pet to this. And to all of the innocent pets that have lost their lives to this. It's tragic. And here's to the future that someone can figure out a way to cure it or even better, prevent it. Thank you again.

I think it is now time to close this thread out of respect for Pancakes and her owner. The Moderating Team offer their condolences and we hope that when you feel ready you will open a tribute thread for Pancakes in the 'Crossing the Bridge' forum, where members can also pay their respects. RIP little girl.