The dangerous cat illness known as FIP is as
insidious as it is deadly. FIP stands for feline infectious
peritonitis, also referred to as feline FIP. It is the most feared
disease in catteries, as it is the leading infectious cause of cat
death.
This is a tricky disease to diagnose. If your cat has been
exposed, you might not know it until years later when your cat starts
showing symptoms. It has been said that the most reliable confirmation
is done during autopsy.
The symptom list for this disease ranges
from sneezing, to fever, to personality changes, to entire body system
breakdown. There is weight loss, anemia, depression, and the list goes
on.
FIP is caused by exposure to a coronavirus infection (FCoV).
Infected cats, symptomatic or not, will shed coronavirus in their feces
and saliva, so crowded conditions allow the virus to easily spread from
cat to cat. This creates a huge problem for catteries. Not all cats who
come in contact with the virus will experience symptoms, however, and
only a percentage will develop Feline FIP.
Typically, a healthy
cat will shed FCoV for up to two months, and fight off the virus. Some
exposed cats will become carriers. Others, however, will develop FIP,
sometimes weeks, months, or years later.
The feline FIP symptom
list includes symptoms common to many other conditions. In addition,
symptoms can be very individualized which may not raise a red flag
right away. To make things a bit more complicated, there are two types
of the disease. Also, different areas of the body may be affected,
depending upon the cat. It is therefore difficult to speculate about or
diagnose this disease on symptoms alone.
A cat may produce
antibodies when exposed to the virus, but this does not mean the cat
will develop FIP. Testing for the presence of antibodies, therefore, is
not conclusive for diagnosis. A positive antibody test simply means
only that the cat was exposed to the virus at some point. Since control
of the spread of a disease like this is dependent upon diagnosis, this
makes FIP that much more dangerous.
Some cats will exhibit
symptoms indicating a mild respiratory infection, but overall symptoms
are all over the map. In younger cats, the most common symptoms are
failure to grow, lethargy, and a recurring fever that is non-responsive
to antibiotics. Other symptoms may including nasal discharge, sneezing,
watery eyes, and intestinal disease.
Additional symptoms will
depend upon what form of the disease is present, wet or dry. Some cats
may have combinations of both forms.
For example, the wet type of
FIP, also known as effusive, is characterized by the presence of a
yellow fluid in the abdomen or chest. This can cause swelling in the
abdomen and difficulty breathing.
Symptoms for the dry, or
non-effusive type include the growth of masses in the eyes and brain,
the kidneys, and lymph nodes. In addition, there may be signs of
neurological disorders such as loss of balance, and eye problems with a
change in color or cloudiness in the iris of the eye.
The only
real prevention method against this difficult to diagnose disease is
limiting your cat's exposure to infected animals. While a coronavirus
infection (FCoV) does not ensure that your cat will develop FIP, it's
best not to take the chance.
Feline infectious peritonitis has no
cure, and is considered to be fatal once a diagnosis has been
confirmed. Since this disease can show up many years after exposure to
the virus, a diagnosis may come as a surprise. Perhaps of some comfort
to cat owners is that feline FIP is relatively uncommon, as it affects
less than one percent of the general cat population. In catteries,
however, the rate of infection can reach 20 percent as the disease
spreads from cat to cat.
