Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First the background: About 10 years ago, one of my 6 indoor cats was diagnosed with fip, after escaping from the house and disappearing for several days. When he returned he was filthy, and a few weeks later I noticed he was getting very thin, though his appetite seemed normal. I took him to the vet, who did a blood test, and told me he had fip and would be dead within weeks.

That was 10 years ago. Casper is alive and well. We fed him a LOT of extra food for 2 or 3 years and he slowly regained weight. Seems fine now! And none of my other cats ever developed any signs of disease.

Here is the question: I recently rescued seven feral born kittens, from 3 litters, all in the same construction supply lot. Four have been adopted, but we kept 3. Could Casper still be contagious? (assuming he actually had the disease) Are they at risk from being in the same house with him? I am poor, and currently unemployed, so I can't afford to go have a lot of tests done. I have thought for years that it was most likely that Casper was misdiagnosed...but there's no way of knowing. Any opinions?

Hi There,

It was nice meeting you in chat tonight!

FIP is a disease that is very difficult to diagnose in a live cat. The standard blood test is not even a test for the disease itself, but for a certain family of viruses known as coronaviruses. A positive result means that the cat was exposed at some point to that family of viruses, not that the disease is present. Many, many cats are misdiagnosed, and some are even put to sleep as a result of this inaccurate test.

If a cat truly does have FIP, he or she has a persistant fever, not touched by antibiotics, and usually fluid build-up in the chest and/or abdomen. The fluid, if the cat is tapped, is very thick, and usually yellowish in color. There is a special DNA test that can be done on this fluid to test for FIP and that is the most accurate way to diagnose the disease. However, even this test isn't as accurate as we would like it to be.

Your cat never had FIP in the first place so you don't have to worry about the kittens contracting it. However, it would be a good idea to have the babies tested for FeLV, and vaccinated when they are old enough. Not necessarily against FeLV, but against distemper and upper respiratory viruses. You should be able to find a low cost clinic for the vaccines and speutering when that time comes.

Take care, and please feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

PHKitkat