Corona Virus

[Thekittyfamily]

I lost my 8 month old kitten approximately 6 weeks ago to FIP. I have another kitten who is now 7 months old and is exhibiting no signs of FIP. For my own sanity and before I brought another kitten in the house I had a titer blood test done and the results came back positive for Corona Virus. The vet said it was a "very strong" positive. Now, I'm worried sick she will develop FIP. Everything I've read indicates it's highly unlikely it will develop into FIP but the "very strong" positive comment now has me even more concerned. How long should the Corona Virus remain active or does it ever go away once exposed?

 

[denice]

What they are checking with a titer test is the antibodies to the virus. I don't think the 'very strong' really means that much. There is really no way of telling if a cat will develop FIP. The way I understand it the corona virus remains for life. FIP is caused by a poorly understood interplay between the virus and the immune system. That is why FIP is most common in kittens and geriatric cats, kittens have an immature immune system and geriatric cats have a weakened immune system.

Stop worrying, I know it's hard but it is what it is. The vast majority of cats that have the virus do not develop FIP. Stress is hard on the immune system and cats are very sensitive to us being stressed.

 

[abyeb]

The coronavirus will mutate into FIP 5-10% of the time, so just because a cat had coronavirus doesn't mean they'll get FIP.

 

[aelu]

We had a kitten that died from FIP a few months ago as well, she was only 8 months old and didn't grow past the size of an 3-month old kitty. Was the worst months I ever went through.
We've since gotten a new kitten, and he is also positive for the Corona Virus. He likely got it from our older cat, most cats have it (I think like 90% of cats have it but it rarely becomes FIP). Most kitties will have it their entire lives, and it just becomes a nuisance when it flares up.
Our kitten also isn't exhibiting any symptoms; He doesn't get eye gunk, he doesn't sneeze all the time, he's not anaemic and he doesn't get random fevers. He's also the right weight for his age. He does have digestive problems though, but thats because he came to us with giardia and we aren't sure if we tackled that yet. But I totally know how you feel, I worry about him everyday. But it's going to be fine! If he doesn't have any symptoms, he's probably OK. And if he does have symptoms, don't worry about that either, because its most likely something else.