Greetings to all and thank you in advance for all the info posted in this group.
Like many of you, up until a couple of weeks ago i had no idea of what FIP was and i never thought one of my cats would end up being diagnosed with it.
I have two 11 year old british shorthair that have had a pretty much problem free life in terms of health other than a few bladder infections (Max) and stomach worms (Molly).
As is usually the case with this breed, my boys were a bit overweight so we put them on Hills r/d food to get them a bit back to 'normal' levels as per out vet's advise.
They gradually lost weight and were on good track. At a certain point i noticed Max lossing weight a bit quicker than Molly but i thought it was due to the fact that Molly is an eating machine so i thought she was getting more share than she should but didnt give it much importance since both cats were acting as good as always.
Last june i saw Max using the litter box and he was growling was he peed to i took him to the vet concerned about a bladder infection ( which it was) so with some antibiotics and antiinflamatories it was cured. I mentioned he was loosing weight and to be safe they made a blood test and it all came back good so i didnt think about it anymore ( he was still having normal behaviour)
a couple of months after i shaved my cats ( i do it once a year) and it is only then that i got shocked at how skinny Max was, i could see and feel his back bones. I started then monitoring his food intake and realized he was hardly eating so i took him to the vet.From the previous visit to the vet 3 months earlier he had lost 800 gr,
He was now 3.8 Kg.
She noticed he had a bit of yellow int he white membrane of his eye (more like an off white rather than really yellow) and she made a blood test (Geriatric Profile results attached below). And also noticed a murmur in the heart ( which has never been detected in previous visits to the vets ) I started feeding him Hills a/d with a syringe to make sure he gets enough food. She called a couple of days later to tell me that there were some abnormal results for the liver and asked me to do an Echo and when i took him they saw that they thought it was Lymphoma in this liver. They took several samples and sent them to the lab. Result for lymphoma came negative so now my vet thinks Max has FIP. He was put on Prednisolon. After a few days he started showing some interest in food and after 10 days of eating consistently he is a bit more 'active' he doesnt move much but at least he is not sleeping all the time.
I am concious that all the symthoms and test results do indicate FIP but the only time they were exposed to a multicat enviroment was at the breeder when they were born which is not very likely since the breader is very careful on breeding cats with no health problems and good genetics, and 10 months ago when i left them at a cat pension during my vacation ( pension is a profesional one, clean and not overcrowded and upto date vaccination passport is required. i know there is a chance but also the chances of having another infected cat shedding the virus in the week they were there are also not so high ( i think .. or maybe i am just trying to fool myself). Anyways i am only wondering if there are other illnesses that are consistent with the test results and that are the signs i should be looking for in Max to either confirm that is FIP or to help my vet maybe treating another illness that mimics FIP. It is not that i dont trust my VET but she based her diagnosis looking at the internet and never asked me the background of my cats.
I have been reading a lot about FIP but the more i read the more confused i get. Also besides the fact that Max doesnt eat on his own and it is less active he seems to be ok
When i took him to the vet i was expecting fatty liver due to the fact he had been eating hardly anything and i also see judging by the test results that he is anemic.
At the moment i keep feeding him a/d and chicken liver and he eats some dry food a couple of times a day but not enough to stop feeding him with the syringe. My vet told me to day to start reducing the Pred dosis so that next week we can start with the medication for his heart.
What else could we check for? How can i help him. and in case it is indeed FIP how and when will i know that the disease is getting worse?
Many thanks in advance for your kind advise.
another heartbroken cat owner
G.
Geriatric Profile
Result Sign Reference Value Unit
T4 (Total T4) 21.9 10-60 nmol/l
Kidney
Urea (BUN) 9.4 5.7-13.5 mmol/l
Creatinine 67 <168 umol/l
Sodium 148 147-159 mmol/l
Potassium 3.7 3.3-5.8 mmol/l
Inorganic Phosphate 1.6 0.8-2.2 mmol/l
Liver
Bilirubin 21.4 + <6.8 umol/l
ALT (GPT) 45 <175 U/l
Alkaline Phosphatase 4 <73 U/l
GGT 2 <5 U/l
AST(GOT) 36 <71 U/l
GLDH 1 <11 U/l
Total Protein 104 + 59-87 g/l
Albumin 22 - 27-44 g/l
Globulin 82 + 29-54 g/l
Albumin/Globulin Ratio 0.27 - >0.57
Pancreas
Glucose 5.2 3.5-7.8 mmol/l
Cholesterol 6.8 <8.5 mmol/l
Fructosamine 229 190-365 umol/l
Muscle
CK 69 <542 U/l
LDH 163 <185 U/l
Calcium 2.3 2.2-2.9 mmol/l
Magnesium 0.8 0.6-1.1 mmol/l
Triglycerides 0.3 0.2-4.9 mmol/l
Haemogram
Leukocytes 21.4 + 6-11 G/l
Erythrocytes 5.9 5-10 T/l
Haemoglobine 5.9 - 9-15 g/dl
Packed cell Volume (PCV) 20 - 28-45 %
MCV 34 - 40-55 fl
MCH 10 - 13-17 pg
MCHC 30 - 31-35 g/dl
Thrombocytes 270 150-550 G/l
Reticulocytes (rel) 0.38 %
Reticulocytes (abs) 22000 /ul
Differential Blood Count
Basophils 0 0-1 %
Eosinophils 0 0-6 %
Band neutrophils 0 0-3 %
segmented neutrophils 76 + 50-75 %
Lymphocytes 22 15-50 %
Monocytes 2 0-4 %
Basophils (absolute) 0 /ul
Eosinophils (absolute) 0 0-600 /ul
Band neutrophils (abs) 0 0-300 /ul
Segm. neutrophils (abs) 16234 + 3000-11000 /ul
Lymphocytes (abs) 4699 1000-6000 /ul
Monocycles (abs) 427 0-500 /ul
Atypical cells 0 0 %
Anisocytosis + + 0
Poluchromasia 0 0
Like many of you, up until a couple of weeks ago i had no idea of what FIP was and i never thought one of my cats would end up being diagnosed with it.
I have two 11 year old british shorthair that have had a pretty much problem free life in terms of health other than a few bladder infections (Max) and stomach worms (Molly).
As is usually the case with this breed, my boys were a bit overweight so we put them on Hills r/d food to get them a bit back to 'normal' levels as per out vet's advise.
They gradually lost weight and were on good track. At a certain point i noticed Max lossing weight a bit quicker than Molly but i thought it was due to the fact that Molly is an eating machine so i thought she was getting more share than she should but didnt give it much importance since both cats were acting as good as always.
Last june i saw Max using the litter box and he was growling was he peed to i took him to the vet concerned about a bladder infection ( which it was) so with some antibiotics and antiinflamatories it was cured. I mentioned he was loosing weight and to be safe they made a blood test and it all came back good so i didnt think about it anymore ( he was still having normal behaviour)
a couple of months after i shaved my cats ( i do it once a year) and it is only then that i got shocked at how skinny Max was, i could see and feel his back bones. I started then monitoring his food intake and realized he was hardly eating so i took him to the vet.From the previous visit to the vet 3 months earlier he had lost 800 gr,
He was now 3.8 Kg.
She noticed he had a bit of yellow int he white membrane of his eye (more like an off white rather than really yellow) and she made a blood test (Geriatric Profile results attached below). And also noticed a murmur in the heart ( which has never been detected in previous visits to the vets ) I started feeding him Hills a/d with a syringe to make sure he gets enough food. She called a couple of days later to tell me that there were some abnormal results for the liver and asked me to do an Echo and when i took him they saw that they thought it was Lymphoma in this liver. They took several samples and sent them to the lab. Result for lymphoma came negative so now my vet thinks Max has FIP. He was put on Prednisolon. After a few days he started showing some interest in food and after 10 days of eating consistently he is a bit more 'active' he doesnt move much but at least he is not sleeping all the time.
I am concious that all the symthoms and test results do indicate FIP but the only time they were exposed to a multicat enviroment was at the breeder when they were born which is not very likely since the breader is very careful on breeding cats with no health problems and good genetics, and 10 months ago when i left them at a cat pension during my vacation ( pension is a profesional one, clean and not overcrowded and upto date vaccination passport is required. i know there is a chance but also the chances of having another infected cat shedding the virus in the week they were there are also not so high ( i think .. or maybe i am just trying to fool myself). Anyways i am only wondering if there are other illnesses that are consistent with the test results and that are the signs i should be looking for in Max to either confirm that is FIP or to help my vet maybe treating another illness that mimics FIP. It is not that i dont trust my VET but she based her diagnosis looking at the internet and never asked me the background of my cats.
I have been reading a lot about FIP but the more i read the more confused i get. Also besides the fact that Max doesnt eat on his own and it is less active he seems to be ok
When i took him to the vet i was expecting fatty liver due to the fact he had been eating hardly anything and i also see judging by the test results that he is anemic.
At the moment i keep feeding him a/d and chicken liver and he eats some dry food a couple of times a day but not enough to stop feeding him with the syringe. My vet told me to day to start reducing the Pred dosis so that next week we can start with the medication for his heart.
What else could we check for? How can i help him. and in case it is indeed FIP how and when will i know that the disease is getting worse?
Many thanks in advance for your kind advise.
another heartbroken cat owner
G.
Geriatric Profile
Result Sign Reference Value Unit
T4 (Total T4) 21.9 10-60 nmol/l
Kidney
Urea (BUN) 9.4 5.7-13.5 mmol/l
Creatinine 67 <168 umol/l
Sodium 148 147-159 mmol/l
Potassium 3.7 3.3-5.8 mmol/l
Inorganic Phosphate 1.6 0.8-2.2 mmol/l
Liver
Bilirubin 21.4 + <6.8 umol/l
ALT (GPT) 45 <175 U/l
Alkaline Phosphatase 4 <73 U/l
GGT 2 <5 U/l
AST(GOT) 36 <71 U/l
GLDH 1 <11 U/l
Total Protein 104 + 59-87 g/l
Albumin 22 - 27-44 g/l
Globulin 82 + 29-54 g/l
Albumin/Globulin Ratio 0.27 - >0.57
Pancreas
Glucose 5.2 3.5-7.8 mmol/l
Cholesterol 6.8 <8.5 mmol/l
Fructosamine 229 190-365 umol/l
Muscle
CK 69 <542 U/l
LDH 163 <185 U/l
Calcium 2.3 2.2-2.9 mmol/l
Magnesium 0.8 0.6-1.1 mmol/l
Triglycerides 0.3 0.2-4.9 mmol/l
Haemogram
Leukocytes 21.4 + 6-11 G/l
Erythrocytes 5.9 5-10 T/l
Haemoglobine 5.9 - 9-15 g/dl
Packed cell Volume (PCV) 20 - 28-45 %
MCV 34 - 40-55 fl
MCH 10 - 13-17 pg
MCHC 30 - 31-35 g/dl
Thrombocytes 270 150-550 G/l
Reticulocytes (rel) 0.38 %
Reticulocytes (abs) 22000 /ul
Differential Blood Count
Basophils 0 0-1 %
Eosinophils 0 0-6 %
Band neutrophils 0 0-3 %
segmented neutrophils 76 + 50-75 %
Lymphocytes 22 15-50 %
Monocytes 2 0-4 %
Basophils (absolute) 0 /ul
Eosinophils (absolute) 0 0-600 /ul
Band neutrophils (abs) 0 0-300 /ul
Segm. neutrophils (abs) 16234 + 3000-11000 /ul
Lymphocytes (abs) 4699 1000-6000 /ul
Monocycles (abs) 427 0-500 /ul
Atypical cells 0 0 %
Anisocytosis + + 0
Poluchromasia 0 0