FIP: Feline infectious peritonitis

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akjijioeh - 16 Jul 2003 03:22 GMT

Has anyone ever came across Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) with their
own kitten or cat. My purebred Bengal was assumed to have contracted it.
There is really no definite test to find it other then an autopsy after she
has passed :( I was just trying to see if I could get any more information
on it from anyone who has experienced it. She had a really high fever of
106.8 and an enlarged tummy filled with fluids. Please help.

Soo worried :(

Ant

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Marie Lawrence - 16 Jul 2003 05:27 GMT

> Has anyone ever came across Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) with their
> own kitten or cat. My purebred Bengal was assumed to have contracted it.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Ant

Yes. I have lost a kitten to FIP. It is a horrible disease, and there is
no treatment for it.. I would advise that you have your Bengal put to sleep
before he suffers any more My sympathy to you. Marie from OZ

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Linda Terrell - 16 Jul 2003 18:15 GMT

> Has anyone ever came across Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) with their
> own kitten or cat. My purebred Bengal was assumed to have contracted it.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> Ant

If she is that far gone -- with such a high temp and enlarged stomach,
it might be kind to put her down now. I lost a kitten to FIP and it
was so
hard to watch him fade.I fear fighting the high temp will eventually
wear
your kitty down to where she won't be able to move or eat. 102 is
normal.

It's a disease with no cure. I'm sorry it's turning out this way for
you.
There is a test actually, it detects the corona virus however, but you
can have a titre done. Expensive to tell you what you already know.

LT

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m l briggs - 16 Jul 2003 18:54 GMT

A neighbor adopted a stray (several years ago) and after about five months it became ill. I took
her and the cat to the Vet who diagnosed FIP and told her the cat was pretty far gone. She did
leave it for treatment (hoping for the best) but the cat died. MLB

>>Has anyone ever came across Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) with their
>>own kitten or cat. My purebred Bengal was assumed to have contracted it.
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> LT

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akjijioeh - 17 Jul 2003 02:41 GMT

How far is far gone? My kitty still eats wet food and drinks some water.
Uses the restroom ok... They tests from the fluids from her stomach haven't
gotten back yet. She seems to be fighting her fever fine but she also does
sleep alot? Did you have a kitty with the wet version of this disease? Did
you have to put down your kitty? If the liquids keep filling up her abdomen
will she just die from the crushing force of the extra fluids? I hate to
think of all of this its just soo sad...
Thanks so much

Ant

> > Has anyone ever came across Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) with their
> > own kitten or cat. My purebred Bengal was assumed to have contracted it.
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> LT

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Troy - 17 Jul 2003 15:36 GMT

> How far is far gone? My kitty still eats wet food and drinks some water.
> Uses the restroom ok... They tests from the fluids from her stomach haven't
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> think of all of this its just soo sad...
> Thanks so much

I assume your vet has ruled out ALL other possibilities?

You might find this website informative:
http://web.vet.cornell.edu/public/fhc/fip.html

If it comes to having to make a decision as to when you should put
kitty to sleep the only important factors are: Is your kitty in
pain? Is your kitty happy? If the answer to these are yes then you
should not have her put to sleep.

Good luck with kitty, I know how hard it is to face this situation as
I'm going through a similar thing with one of mine, Typha, who has had
a chronic renal failure. Just remember, it is all about the quality of
life for your kitty...

Troy.

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akjijioeh - 17 Jul 2003 16:34 GMT

Thanks for your response,

The vet is still testing the fluids in her stomach to compare with FIP
infected cats' fluids. I mean, regardless of that, they still don't know
for sure. I'm really sorry to hear about Typha, My last cat Hobbs had kidney
failure too, I had to give him subQ fluids almost every day, along with
other things, he fought it strong but after months he acted like the fluids
were stressful and painful so we just stopped and let nature take its way.

:( that was about 2 years ago

Thanks again, hugg Typha for me

anthony

> > How far is far gone? My kitty still eats wet food and drinks some water.
> > Uses the restroom ok... They tests from the fluids from her stomach haven't
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> Troy.

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Linda Terrell - 17 Jul 2003 16:07 GMT

All I know is that when they get to the point they are fighting a very
high fever (106 in a cat is like you fighting 108 -- it will
eventually
kill you by burning out your immune system. Actually, 108 in a human
will cause the blood to clot) the White Blood count, which has been
30K
and more, will crash to nothing then the cat will be open to all kinds
of opportunistic
infections) Plus the cat gets dehydrated and the blood gets thick and
the heart has to pump harder and harder to keep the blood moving.
Is your kitty drinking? You may have to get a syringe and put water
into
her. They are so small, dehydration can take them quickly. How much
is
"some water"? Cats don't dfrink a great deal normally, but fighting
such
a fever she will need a cup or more a day to keep her hydrated.

If your Vet has ruled out *everything*, I fear your kitty could be on
the downhill
slope. You can provide love and comfort for as long as possible. I
know I did. The belly with fluid just adds to the pain. Now if kitty
didn't have
the fluids, you *might* get the temperature down, but it's unlikely.
Once FIP
set in like that, it just does not reverse itself.

It's that very high fever that worries me. My dear Burbank had the
same thing
and slept 26 hours a day. Eventually stopped eating. He gave up
before I did.
But I finally got my head about me and let him go so he would not
suffer.

Kitty is sleeping a lot because the fever is robbing her of every
ounce of
energy she has while the WBC tries to fight it off.

Good things do happen, perhaps it's not FIP. But if it is, please be
ready
to do that final thing for her. I know it's so hard. When I realized
I had
to put Burbank down, I cried for days trying to gird my loins to do
it. He just
looked at me one day and his look said "Goodby now. Let me sleep"
Simple
as that.

I still cry for him.

LT

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akjijioeh - 17 Jul 2003 16:45 GMT

Thanks for your response, I appreciate your time reading my post. :)

This morning she woke up with a slightly bigger stomach. However she hasn't
been sleeping all day like yesterday, I hope she is turning around! she has
been walking around outside with us sniffing things out. I think the fever
is under somewhat control due to the anti bioitics that we are giving her
twice a day.

> All I know is that when they get to the point they are fighting a very
> high fever (106 in a cat is like you fighting 108 -- it will
> eventually kill you by burning out your immune system. Actually, 108 in a

human

> will cause the blood to clot) the White Blood count, which has been
> 30K and more, will crash to nothing then the cat will be open to all

kinds

> of opportunistic infections) Plus the cat gets dehydrated and the blood

gets thick and

> the heart has to pump harder and harder to keep the blood moving.
> Is your kitty drinking? You may have to get a syringe and put water
> into her. They are so small, dehydration can take them quickly. How

much

> is "some water"? Cats don't dfrink a great deal normally, but fighting
> such a fever she will need a cup or more a day to keep her hydrated.

She is drinking, I think she is drinking about half a cup. I'm not too sure,
we just leave cups out where ever it is handy and she drinks as much as she
pleases. She is eating too. She really eats alot of wet food, she has
eaten some dry food this morning.
After she eats, her stomach becomes really full. It really worries me to
see her belly. I'm just hopeing that it will decrease in size. I mean that
would be the total turn around then... I fear it will increase to her chest
area and make it harder to breath.

> If your Vet has ruled out *everything*, I fear your kitty could be on
> the downhill slope. You can provide love and comfort for as long as

possible. I

> know I did. The belly with fluid just adds to the pain. Now if kitty
> didn't have the fluids, you *might* get the temperature down, but it's

unlikely.

> Once FIP set in like that, it just does not reverse itself.

My vet has not ruled out everthing, she first took an xray to see what was
inside her stomach. It was fluids, not good.... now they are testing the
fluids to compare to FIP infected cats' fluids. so we will see what the
results are today, but even tho it does test positive, they are still not
certain. As you probably know, they don't know until the biospy

> It's that very high fever that worries me. My dear Burbank had the
> same thing and slept 26 hours a day. Eventually stopped eating. He gave

> before I did. But I finally got my head about me and let him go so he

would not

> suffer. Kitty is sleeping a lot because the fever is robbing her of every
> ounce of energy she has while the WBC tries to fight it o

The only way i can fight the fever is by her taking her medication right?
and give her fluids. Is ther anything else

> Good things do happen, perhaps it's not FIP. But if it is, please be
> ready to do that final thing for her. I know it's so hard. When I

realized

> I had to put Burbank down, I cried for days trying to gird my loins to do
> it. He just looked at me one day and his look said "Goodby now. Let me

sleep"

> Simple as that.
>
> I still cry for him.

I'm sorry to hear about Burbanks. it really makes me sad just thinking about
it.

I'll keep you posted on here..

Thanks

> LT

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Rachel - 23 Jul 2003 08:03 GMT

> Has anyone ever came across Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) with
> their own kitten or cat. My purebred Bengal was assumed to have
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Ant

How is your kitten doing? I hope you haven't had bad news.

Rachel

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akjijioeh - 23 Jul 2003 14:28 GMT

Hey Rachel,

She is still hanging in there. Samantha's tummy is just getting bigger. The
vet just prescribed some medications that might help her urinate out the
fluids in her abdomen.. We are preying that she will make it through this
horrible disease.

I've done alot of research on this illness and some people have gotten good
results from holistic treatment such as herbs and vitamins. (homeopathy) to
strengthen her immune system instead of fighting the symptoms.

If you don't know much about this disease, please informed itself and don't
wait until its too late. Its so hard seeing her go through this :(

Prey for her.

Anthony

> > Has anyone ever came across Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) with
> > their own kitten or cat. My purebred Bengal was assumed to have
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Rachel

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Victor M. Martinez - 23 Jul 2003 14:37 GMT

Have you contacted the breeder? Has he/she had any outbreaks? If not, how on
earth did your cat get it?

Signature

Victor M. Martinez
martiv@FAKE.che.utexas.edu
http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

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akjijioeh - 23 Jul 2003 15:05 GMT

Hey Victor, Well I have contacted the breeder, and she hasn't gotten any
outbreaks. I did however bring home another kitten (greyzie) about a month
after she got here, I suppose there is a good chance he gave it to her. but
the corona virus FcoV infects about 95% of cats that are exposed to it. It
is only then that a certain mutant FcoV virus turns into FIP. This is
really rare and only happens to 1 in 5000 cats, or 1 in 500 (multi cat house
holds 5+) Or like catteries. The other cats will just fight off the corona
virus and show little or no symptoms. Greyzie is doing fine, jumping and
playing around. They also say that if a household has lost a cat to FIP,
then the chances of losing the other cats would be less then 5%, since they
have already fought off the disease successfully. He could be shedding the
virus so I have to wait until his titre count is zero before introducing
another kitten.

FIP also occurs when the immune system is weak, like after getting
vaccinations. So please be careful when vaccinating your kitty. The
breeder was very kind and told me that if I lose Samantha, she would like to
replace her for me!. Although that's really sad to think about:(

Sad days
Anthony

> Have you contacted the breeder? Has he/she had any outbreaks? If not, how on
> earth did your cat get it?

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