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FIP - Please advise, help, anything
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My cat has had 2 seizures in the past month. Otherwise he has been TOTALLY normal. I took him to the vet and they did blood tests. They called today and said he has FIP. I looked it up and he doesn't have any of the symptoms stated. He is totally normal. Except that he had 2 seizures.
Does this sound right to you? Or could the vet be wrong? Or do you think his symptoms will show later? He is going to be 2 years old next week. He's healthy, I feed him organic cat food. Please advise me.
with FIP, they use the blood panel to diagnose. the first dead give away is an obscenely high positive titre for coronavirus. next they check the hemoglobin, if it's low anemia is another clue. they also check for a bunch of protein values from the liver kidneys and other vital organs. they also check the white blood cell count. if it out of whack, that usually seals the deal. ask your vet to explain everything you don't understand. part of their job is to make sure the guardian has all the right information to care for the wee 1. FIP is aka the great imitator. at first i was told spike had asthma. no, it was dry FIP. every cat presents physically different. spike had anterior uveitis. others it could be CRF. others could be seizures if it gets in the nervous system. that's just dry FIP. the wet version makes the abdomen fill with a distinctive straw colored liquid. the poor kitty would have distended stomach and trouble breathing. also i hate to say this but 98% of the time FIP claims the kitty. rare instances of FOI causing a remission have been documented. and the most likely are cats under 2 or older cats with weak immune systems. FIP is the coronavirus mutated. in some cats it triggers an autoimmune response in the victim. thats when harmless FeCoV turns into FIP. an immature or weak immune system play into it. hope i was of some help.
My cat has dry FIP, and it took more than a blood test to diagnose it. Like your cat, one of his first symptoms was seizures, as well as lethargy and some other things (that was in 2006 so I can't remember very well all that was going on with him). He was first diagnosed with Feline Leukemia then a few weeks later with FIP. It's not an easy disease to diagnose. The blood test does not test for FIP; it tests for the presence of the coronavirus. There are many types of coronavirus; the test does not distinguish whether it's the one that causes FIP or not. The only way to have a 100% positive FIP diagnosis is necropsy. Usually vets use the combination of the positive coronavirus test with symptoms similar to those caused by FIP, after ruling out similar diseases.
Spike is right; FIP is almost always fatal. Wet FIP is typically fatal within weeks of the appearance of symptoms; dry is slower, and some cats (like Lucky Boo) can live a year or more with it. But it is eventually fatal, usually sooner rather than later, unfortunately. I hope your kitty doesn't have FIP. I'd definitely ask the vet to go into more detail about the blood tests that were done and how he ruled out other causes for the seizures (such as epilepsy), determining that it's FIP. Good luck! Keep us updated, please!
Gees. thanks you guys. The thing is that my boyfriend took him so it's hard to get the right answers. First he told me that the cat has water in his abdomen. Then today he said that the vet said that FIP means having water in the abdomen. So I don't even know if he has wet or dry!!
I called another vet to get a second opinion today. She told me that instead of wasting my money on a general practitioner, that I should just go to the specialist. She said it is very difficult to diagnose it. And, that the seizures could have been from the FIP, or not. She said he could just be a carrier of FIP and it not be active. When I told my boyfriend all this, he confirmed that was what the original Vet said.
So, Now I am thinking... If he does have FIP, what would be the point of going to the specialist if he's going to pass anyway? Shouldn't I just take care of him the best I could and give him lots of love and stuff? I don't see what the point would be to go to a specialist. If there were a cure, yes, but since there is none. What do you think? I really don't know.
We lost 2 cats in my house to FIP. One had wet FIP and one dry FIP. The cat with dry FIP lived for a year and 1/2. I exhibited occular symptoms of FIP (anterior uveitis and glaucoma) in both eyes when I was 9 months old. I was running a low grade fever and my coronavirus titer was 1:6400. I was diagnosed with dry FIP based on my CV titer and the loss of my littermate to wet FIP. That was in 2001.......I saw an opthamologist regularly and no longer have uveitis or glaucoma. In fact, no one thinks I have FIP anymore. It is nearly impossible to get an accurate diagnosis of dry FIP on a live cat. FIP can attack anywhere in a cat's body. Our cat, Gizmo, had it attack his eyes first, than his kidneys, and he died from kidney failure. I am doing pretty good, but I have bad kidneys now due to a vet giving me Metacam for pain, it caused acute renal failure. I survived, just like I survived the FIP diagnosis. My vet thinks that in rare cases FIP can go into sort of a remission period, but it is normally progressive, and fatal. I would say that the seizures alone are certainly not enough to diagnose FIP.....Bonnie
I forget to mention that my titer has NEVER once gone down, it has remained at 1:6400 for 7 years........my mom gets it checked every year. She is worried about my kidney problems causing FIP, since I was very sick last month, my kidneys were failing. Fortunately, my mom caught it early and my kidney function is acceptable...
Vet's always know best, but our mommy lost our brother Neo to FIP way before we even came into the picture too. And seizures does not seem to be one of the symptoms listed for FIP. As far as we know, Our mommy did major research on FIP and some of the symptoms that could identify a kiten/cat to have FIP are: lethargicness, anemia, paleness in the ears & face, dry & scaly paws, unhealthy looking coat, loss of appetitte of fluids, bloated belly which would identify the disease as the wet form of FIP. There is also a dry form of FIP which can take longer to show signs. Either way we do know that FIP is deadly. Neo passed away of the wet form of FIP. We soooo hope you'll be o.k, your so cute. We wish you lots of luck w/ this, and we pray for your health sweetheart.
Can you tell us what exactly in the bloodwork pointed to FIP?
Please know that an albumin/globulin ratio above 0.8 rules out FIP, so please make sure to check this value.
The following group can give you advice on diagnostic approach and meds for cats with seizures:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/epi-felines/
We can give you more support and advice through the FIP support groups, I sent you an invitation to join the Catster FIP support group. You can also join the following groups:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FIPCatSupport/
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FIP/
Renata (Dr. Diane Addie's translator) started a new FIP forum:
http://www.atfreeforum.com/fip/
My Italian friend Lory has made a beautiful and very informative website about FIP (and other feline diseases):
Thanks for all the information. I am in the process of trying to get the information from the vet. Im at work all day so I have to rely on others to make the phone calls. I can sneak messages in at work!
I have also read a few places that siamese cats are more prone to seizures, has anyone heard that before?
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