Ive had 8 healthy litters over the last several years.. The 9th & 10th litters are throwing me for a loop! After seeing my vet, reading every thread, article & any information i can find, i still have questions about what to ethically do about the possibility of FIP in my kitty crew.
Firstly, all of my breeders tested negative for FIV/FeLV and are seemingly healthy & UTD on vaccines. All litters are kept seperately. I wash my hands about 60x a day with antibacterial soap. Litter boxes in queens rooms are cleaned daily & literally thrown out every few days as necessary (i use disposable turkey roaster tin pans from the dollar store). The kittens room floors & walls were freshly painted a month before births. All new bedding, newspaper on the floor changed as needed.
Its been a rough 5 days!!! 3 kittens in one litter of 5 passed away quickly this weekend- all within 2 days, they were 5 weeks old- slightly underweight so i was supplimenting with KMR & dewormed them & mama. They passed with jelly belly type FIP symptoms, basically overnight with no warning-- mama had diareaha but no other symptoms. One vet recomends putting down the other 2 kittens & mama... Even though they seem fine so far (ive read siblings can pull through to live long lives even though theyve been exposed...?)
Today a kitten from my other litter (the runt) passed away in my arms even though the litters were all seperated & used different litterboxes, food & water bowls... Her mama is very healthy. Could be just fading kitten syndrome or FIP, she did have a soft belly but no bloated belly like the others. Different fathers too.
Is it useless to do a necropsy, tests or vaccines since all have inadequite findings & false negatives & false positives and id just be confirming what we already know, but cant do anything about?
And even if the littermates test positive it may never develop into full blown FIP & it seems like its too late to do much about it if all have been exposed? Apparantly most cats are exposed no matter what their backround, it just depends on their immune systems... Some can fight it & others cant?
I want answers but dont want to waste money if theres nothing i can do anyway. I feel helpless to basically wait & see which other kittens may pass from this terrible mystery disease with no conclusive tests, no early symptoms & no cure!;-(
My question is- if siblngs of the ones that have passed seem ok & dont pass now, what are the chances that they will live long healthy lives? Ive seen where theyre more likely to pass by 2-3 years and ive also read its just basically survival of the fittest immune systems? Research says most cats are exposed to the virus at some point in their lives and some pull through & some dont, so do you think i should put down kittens just because theyve been exposed & had a sibling pass --- (seems that if everyone put down siblings of kittens that have passed we would have no cats left in the world!) or since theyre pulling through, that its ok for them to be rehomed if theyre not showing symptoms by 10 weeks old? I want to do the right thing, i dont want any kitty to suffer, i dont want to rehome "sick" kittens, but i also dont want to needlessly put kittens & mamas down that may have built up immunity & can live long happy lives. I also dont want to live in fear of holding & playing with kittens & my other cats for fear of cross contaminating. The mamas mostly have run of the house except the last week of pregnancy/first 5 weeks after birth. So i guess that means every cat i have has been exposed & all adults are seemingly doing great. Do i just need to let nature take its course knowing that ive done my very best to keep a sanitary environment & have all kittys utd on vaccinations... Is there anything else i can/should do? Any imput, stories, advise? Thank you...
Firstly, all of my breeders tested negative for FIV/FeLV and are seemingly healthy & UTD on vaccines. All litters are kept seperately. I wash my hands about 60x a day with antibacterial soap. Litter boxes in queens rooms are cleaned daily & literally thrown out every few days as necessary (i use disposable turkey roaster tin pans from the dollar store). The kittens room floors & walls were freshly painted a month before births. All new bedding, newspaper on the floor changed as needed.
Its been a rough 5 days!!! 3 kittens in one litter of 5 passed away quickly this weekend- all within 2 days, they were 5 weeks old- slightly underweight so i was supplimenting with KMR & dewormed them & mama. They passed with jelly belly type FIP symptoms, basically overnight with no warning-- mama had diareaha but no other symptoms. One vet recomends putting down the other 2 kittens & mama... Even though they seem fine so far (ive read siblings can pull through to live long lives even though theyve been exposed...?)
Today a kitten from my other litter (the runt) passed away in my arms even though the litters were all seperated & used different litterboxes, food & water bowls... Her mama is very healthy. Could be just fading kitten syndrome or FIP, she did have a soft belly but no bloated belly like the others. Different fathers too.
Is it useless to do a necropsy, tests or vaccines since all have inadequite findings & false negatives & false positives and id just be confirming what we already know, but cant do anything about?
And even if the littermates test positive it may never develop into full blown FIP & it seems like its too late to do much about it if all have been exposed? Apparantly most cats are exposed no matter what their backround, it just depends on their immune systems... Some can fight it & others cant?
I want answers but dont want to waste money if theres nothing i can do anyway. I feel helpless to basically wait & see which other kittens may pass from this terrible mystery disease with no conclusive tests, no early symptoms & no cure!;-(
My question is- if siblngs of the ones that have passed seem ok & dont pass now, what are the chances that they will live long healthy lives? Ive seen where theyre more likely to pass by 2-3 years and ive also read its just basically survival of the fittest immune systems? Research says most cats are exposed to the virus at some point in their lives and some pull through & some dont, so do you think i should put down kittens just because theyve been exposed & had a sibling pass --- (seems that if everyone put down siblings of kittens that have passed we would have no cats left in the world!) or since theyre pulling through, that its ok for them to be rehomed if theyre not showing symptoms by 10 weeks old? I want to do the right thing, i dont want any kitty to suffer, i dont want to rehome "sick" kittens, but i also dont want to needlessly put kittens & mamas down that may have built up immunity & can live long happy lives. I also dont want to live in fear of holding & playing with kittens & my other cats for fear of cross contaminating. The mamas mostly have run of the house except the last week of pregnancy/first 5 weeks after birth. So i guess that means every cat i have has been exposed & all adults are seemingly doing great. Do i just need to let nature take its course knowing that ive done my very best to keep a sanitary environment & have all kittys utd on vaccinations... Is there anything else i can/should do? Any imput, stories, advise? Thank you...
