Cat has FIP - any experience?

butler_helen

His symptoms are

Weight loss (4.5kg to 3.25kg in two months but 4kg to 3.25 in two weeks.
Listless
High temp (40+)
Fluid on his chest and brain
Cloudy eyes
Wobbly
Drunk head - wobbly and not looking at anything
No eating/drinking
Anaemic
Low potassium (from not eating).

He was rushed in Saturday but he started going down hill on Friday night, today he is worse. I just feel guilty as he was under the weather in July but it was put down to stress from moving.

butler_helen

He's got a drip from dehydration too. It's keeping him going for a little while more.

MissMitch

Poor little thing! a lot of those symptoms are certainly consistent with my experience of FIP, but as far as I know fluid and tissue analysis is the only way to be 100% sure. Please don't blame yourself for not noticing sooner. I felt exactly the same but if it is wet FIP, as far as I'm aware, catching it any sooner wouldn't make much difference. I had a better idea with my second kitten because I knew from the first, but it didn't change anything other than taking a very painful decision out of my hands. Unless you'd heard of FIP before you wouldn't believe such a nasty disease existed.

I really hope the diagnosis is wrong and it's something that is easier to treat. X

moggymutt

We had a cat that we thought was very depressed because of losing his home. When we found a home for him we actually even took him to the vets that very day, who checked him over (again) and could find nothing wrong at all. So homed him, new owners had to taker him as an emergency to the vets that very night and he was pts- postmortem revealed dry FIP. Not even the vet had spotted it.

moggymutt

From your desription of his symptoms, its time to have a really frank talk with your vet- really sorry.

Muppet81

So very sorry to hear what you and your baby are going through.
My thoughts are with you both. xx

butler_helen

Well they did a chest X-ray again and his lungs are full of fluid. They can drain it but all we are doing is making him comfortable, myself and my partner have decided its the end now. We are just torturing him and wasting time by keeping him with us.

5:45 shall be a sad time tonight in our household.

What I don't understand is why his matey back at home hasn't reacted and doesn't seem to care? Does it take a while for them to notice their pack has halved?

MissMitch

Aw! Best of luck, I will be thinking about you and I think you're right for what it's worth. I did for my second kitten because I couldn't let it go too far after seeing what his brother went through.

All animals react differently I've found, some really mourn & others don't seem to care. Were they very close?

One thing, if you have a litter tray and they shared it please clean it out and disinfect it with Milton fluid, or better still buy a new one. The likelihood of your exisiting cat contracting anything is very slim but not unheard of!

All the best. x

edit - sorry if bits of that come across a bit insensitive, I don't always express myself well but believe me everytime I hear about another kitty going through FIP it breaks my heart!

osian

So sorry to hear about your cat.

I think my cat died of FIP four years ago. I say 'think' because the vets that were treating him did not pick it up. They just thought he had an infection and gave him some doses of antibiotics.

I only came across FIP when I registered my surviving cat with a new vet (after being very disappointed with the first). I explained what had happened and he said it sounded exactly like FIP. I read up on the disease and the symptoms and he was right.

With my cat I first noticed that he was not eating his food. I took him to the vet - he had a temperature so they gave him antibiotics. He had a few more days of not eating despite me trying my hardest to help him. He had lost so much weight you could feel his spine and bones.

In this timeframe, I had been begging the vet to help, they eventually put him on a drip but he unfortunately had a fit at the vets and died.

At the time, I was not aware of the disease and just thought he was ill with something that could have been cured. If I had known what disease he had and how ill he was going to be I would have made the decision to put him to sleep fairly early on. He went for just over a week with the illness and it was awful seeing him like that.

Since his death, my other surviving cat has been fine. In some ways he has been happier as he does not have to share anything. He didn't really react at the time or since.

Again, I'm so sorry for you and your cat, but if I had the time again I would have put my cat to sleep fairly early on before he really suffered, so I think you are doing the right thing.

butler_helen

Thanks guys, I know it's really the right thing. Doesnt stop it being so hard, I think I will give my cuddles and say goodbye to him, I can't watch him die - I want to remember him as he was

We have disinfected and washed his stuff so te other cat is ok.

Blooming pets - sch heartache when their time ends!