FIP

Hi Abigail,

FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) is a viral disease of cats, it is caused by a virus called the ´Corona Virus´. It is an unusual disease as although many cats become infected with the virus, only a small percentage will go on to develop FIP. This means that if your friend has other cats, or your cats were ever in contact with the cat that died, although they may well have the virus, they will not necessarily go on to suffer with FIP. We do not know what causes the virus to mutate into the disease or why some cats are affected but not others. It is more common in young cats, or cats who love in multi-cat households. However, the incidence rate is about 0.02%, or 1 cat in 5000, so it is very rare.

FIP is a difficult disease to diagnose, it can have many different symptoms and affect different cats in different ways. There are two forms of the disease; ´Wet´ which will cause fluid accumulation in body cavities such as the abdomen and chest, and ´Dry´ which causes areas of inflammation within different body tissues, for example the liver, kidneys or eyes. In general, affected cats are lethargic with poor appetites, they will lose weight and often run a high temperature.

In order to diagnose FIP, firstly the vet will need to run several different blood tests and the cat would have to have symptoms suspicious of the disease. General blood tests may show inflammation, organ damage ( especially in the Dry form), or changes in the cats internal protein levels. If the cat has the Wet form of the disease the vet will analyse a sample of the fluid, which can be very helpful. They can also measure the level (or titre) of the Corona Virus anti-bodies in the blood. Cats with FIP are likely to have very high titres, as was the case with your friends cat.

Unfortunately there is no treatment or cure for FIP and all affected cats will need to be put to sleep eventually. Sometimes vets can temporarily alleviate the symptoms with other medications, but the disease always wins in the end.

I am very sorry for your friend´s loss, but I hope this helps you understand better what happened.

Cat

Sorry to hear of your sad Loss petal =( i dont have a cat at the moment but had ones before and av never herd of this but i did look it up.

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a viral disease of cats caused by certain strains of a virus called the feline coronavirus. Most strains of feline coronavirus are avirulent, which means that they do not cause disease, and are referred to as feline enteric coronavirus. Cats infected with a feline coronavirus generally do not show any symptoms during the initial viral infection, and an immune response occurs with the development of antiviral antibodies. In a small percent of infected cats (5 to 10 percent), either by a mutation of the virus or by an aberration of the immune response, the infection progresses into clinical FIP. The virus is then referred to as feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV). With the assistance of the antibodies that are supposed to protect the cat, white blood cells are infected with virus, and these cells then transport the virus throughout the cat’s body. An intense inflammatory reaction occurs around vessels in the tissues where these infected cells locate, often in the abdomen, kidney, or brain. It is this interaction between the body’s own immune system and the virus that is responsible for the disease. Once a cat develops clinical FIP involving one or many systems of the cat’s body, the disease is progressive and is almost always fatal. The way clinical FIP develops as an immune-mediated disease is unique, unlike any other viral disease of animals or humans.

Hope that helps you