I have lost a cat with FIP - how soon can I get another cat? How long will my house remain contaminated with coronavirus?

Answer: FCoV is shed in the faeces, so the main area of contamination will be the litter tray, so clean and disinfect it thoroughly with a household bleach, such as Domestos, or Milton. Remember that microscopic particles of infected, dried up, litter could have been blown around the house or taken into other rooms on feet - so do a thorough vacuuming. FCoV can possibly survive up to 7 weeks in dried up faeces. FCoV is only shed in the saliva for a very few days at the beginning of infection, so it is unlikely your cat's food bowls will be contaminated, and I expect you would give them a good wash anyway. Thankfully, FCoV is a relatively fragile virus and if you follow this advice, it is unlikely that your house will be infected for more than a few days. However, my advice would be to wait perhaps a month before introducing a new cat.

All the above assumes you only had one cat - the one who died of FIP. If you have other cats, it is likely that they, too, will be infected and you might choose to test them for FCoV antibodies every 3-6 months, keep them in small groups according to their antibody titres, and only get a new cat when your remaining cats' antibody titres return to zero.

Remember to test the new cat for FCoV antibodies too - you don't want to re-introduce the problem!

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 My cat has antibodies to feline coronavirus - can I still take him to cat shows?

Answer: Since 83% of cats at U.K. cat shows were found to have antibodies to FCoV, I don't see that one antibody positive cat more or less will make any difference!

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I've just antibody tested one of my girls she's come up again as >1280 which is what she was last time we tested her ........

Answer: this means she's 75% likely to be shedding virus - so you'll need to use a stud with antibodies. It also means she'll give her kittens great maternally derived antibody, so although they will need to be isolated and early weaned, antibody from mum may well protect through to 6 weeks of age.

..... and she is now 15 months old and calling - do I mate her? Do I spay her? I really don't know what to do for the best. If she'd never been tested, I'd have blithely gone ahead and mated her, but one of her siblings died in suspicious circumstances (no PM unfortunately) so we did a titre count.

Answer: this is a very difficult choice, because stress can push a cat over into FIP, and guess what - spaying, pregnancy and even calling are all stressful! In addition, call suppressants, like Ovarid, are immunosuppressive, and could precipitate FIP. Probably pregnancy is least stressful of the options, but would you have to take her far to mate? Travelling is stressful to cats. Have you got a stud of your own? If you opt for spaying, could your vet set aside a time apart from the rest of the routine surgery so that she's in and out (home) within a few hours? Although we have no actual evidence of its efficacy in FCoV infection,* it might be useful to use a Feliway (feline pheromone) diffuser to reduce her stress whatever you choose.

*The efficacy of Feliway has been shown to reduce the frequency of inappropriate urination around the house, which presumably indicates reduction in stress (Hunthausen, Veterinary Medicine, 95, 2, 151-155).

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