I get inundated with queries and unfortunately cannot reply to all of them. However, the majority of answers to what people ask are actually here on the website, and in my book "FIP and Coronavirus" available from the Home or Downloads pages of this website or from Amazon. For people who want a personal reply, please either join the subscription only EndFIP Facebook group - where members have regular access to me - or send a consultation fee (you can choose the amount - you know how much my answer would be worth to you) and remember you MUST include permission from your veterinary surgeon for me to communicate with you (I am bound by RCVS rules). My email address is in my book but not on the website because of the horrendous amount of spam it would attract.
Below, are some of the questions I do get asked most often in relation to feline infectious peritonitis: I hope that you can find what you are looking for here.
Does a positive FIP test definitely mean that my cat has FIP?
This is undoubtedly the most important question that anybody can ask after their cat has been given a diagnosis of feline infectious peritonitis because the majority of FIP diagnoses are just plain WRONG! There is a great misunderstanding about so-called “FIP” tests, which are actually tests to detect feline coronavirus RNA (i.e. its genetic material: FCoV has RNA, not DNA), or antibodies to FCoV. The consequence of this mislabelling of FCoV tests is that a veterinarian inexperienced in diagnosing FIP may believe that a positive result to one of these tests means that the cat has FIP, when, in fact, the test is simply detecting either the coronavirus or antibodies to the virus—not the disease! Since FCoV is a ubiquitous virus, many cats who are perfectly healthy, or suffering from a non-FIP disease, will give positive results on these tests.
The following tests are the only tests which I would consider diagnostic of FIP:
- When a FCoV RT-PCR test has been performed on an effusion or sample (fine needle aspirate or biopsy) from an organ and been found to be positive
- When a histopathologist diagnosis FIP from sections taken at post-mortem, or by biopsy
- When immunohistochemistry (IHC) of a biopsy has been found to be positive PROVIDED the laboratory did an adequate control, using a non anti-FCoV antibody on a section of the cat’s biopsy tissue. Without such a control, this test is horribly prone to give false positive results
The following do NOT constitute a diagnosis of FIP:
- Raised globulins and a lower than normal albumin:globulin ratio
- A positive FCoV/FIP antibody test
- A positive Rivalta test
- A positive FCoV RT-PCR test on CSF, faeces or blood
- Positive IHC in the absence of an adequate negative control having been performed
Veterinary surgeons please see the What is FIP page of this website for details of FIP diagnosis. Cat guardians, you can find a fuller explanation of this reply in chapter 1 of my book "FIP and Coronavirus."
How can I get the best treatment for my cat who has been diagnosed with FIP?
Go to the FIP Treatment or Downloads webpage and download and print out the FIP treatment sheet to give to your veterinary surgeon. Also give the catvirus.com website address to your veterinarian so that he can read the details for himself – the download sheet is only a summary of dosages and mode of treatment. If there is a clinical trial ongoing somewhere, that will be mentioned on the FIP treatment page. HOWEVER, remember that the treatment will ONLY work if the diagnosis is correct: your first priority MUST be establishing the diagnosis. If you have not already done so, then download the FIP diagnosis algorithm and give that to your veterinary surgeon.
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!
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!
Can I visit my friend, whose cats have FCoV / FIP?
It is extremely unlikely that you could bring the virus home to your cats on your person, unless you actually had infected cat faeces on you. If it really worries you, set up a foot bath of bleach soaked newspapers or sponges in a litter tray, to dip your shoes into before re-entering your home, or even just leave your shoes at the door and wear slippers in the house. If you have touched another person’s cats, it is always a good idea to wash your hands before handling your own cats: but more because of feline calicivirus or other infections than feline coronavirus.
I've just FCoV 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 neutering and pregnancy are least stressful of the options, but would you have to take her far to the surgery or 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).
Is FIP an hereditary disease? Is it worth doing the FIP susceptibility genetic tests which are offered by some laboratories?
FIP is not a hereditary disease—it is a viral disease: cats who are never exposed to feline coronavirus will never develop FIP, no matter what their DNA or genes say about it. While there is some evidence that a susceptibility to FIP can be inherited, it has recently been recognised just how small a part genes and "genetic susceptibility" really play in disease: some epigeneticists put it as low as 5%. For example, it is being increasingly recognised how much nutrition during pregnancy and after birth can affect the long term health, even into adulthood.[Lillycrop et al, 2005]
If you are planning to buy a pedigree kitten and this question really worries you, you can either look at my web page on various cat breeds and check out the breed that interests you and whether or not any genetic susceptibility to FIP has been reported in that breed, or look at the disease page and the FIP section: although those pages are written for veterinary surgeons . Alternatively, you can read the “Which breeds are most susceptible to FIP?” section in chapter 9 of my "FIP and Coronavirus" book, which is written for cat lovers. Bear in mind that actually there is very little published about this subect, and the information has sometimes been contradictory in different publications, for example one publication says that Burmese cats are more susceptible, while another publication says they are less so.
Therefore to answer the second part of this question—which presumably refers to the interferon gamma (IFNγ) gene test offered by AnimalLabs, Croatia, and Genimal Biotechnologies in France—it is my view that it would be much wiser to test cats for FCoV antibodies and (unless antibody negative) do monthly faecal RT-PCR tests in order to eliminate FCoV from breeding cats and so prevent cats from encountering FCoV, rather than waste money on FIP DNA tests which will give you very little practical information.
Veterinary readers may be interested to read Dr Pedersen's views on this subject on his SOCKFIP website .
Lillycrop KA, Phillips ES, Jackson AA, Hanson MA, Burdge GC. 2005 Dietary protein restriction of pregnant rats induces and folic acid supplementation prevents epigenetic modification of hepatic gene expression in the offspring. J Nutr. 135(6):1382-6.
Should I give my cat L-lysine?
No.
From a veterinary surgeon: I have a question for you regarding the updated flow charts: for wet FIP, there's no box containing blood results, only fluid, and the cut off level for alb/glob is 0.8. For dry FIP, it says in the blood result box that 0.4 is the cut off level. It used to be 0.8 (in blood) for both forms of FIP. I'm a little confused over this and would appreciate clarification.
Thank you for this good question - most observant of you to note those things in the new algorithms. In effusive (wet) FIP there is a much greater chance of getting an accurate diagnosis if the effusion is analysed, rather than the blood. Since effusive FIP is the acute form, speed of diagnosis is of the essence. The 0.8 alb:glob cut-off ON EFFUSION is a cut-off ABOVE WHICH FIP is immediately ruled out - and also applies to alb:glob on a blood in non-effusive FIP (you see it on the left side of the blood box). Below 0.8 we only say that FIP is POSSIBLE, not certain. In non-effusive FIP diagnosis an alb:glob ratio between 0.4 and 0.8 tells you nothing but below 0.4 the chances of FIP are much higher.
My attention has been drawn to several veterinary laboratories, who should know better, offering FCoV RT-PCR on BLOOD samples - this is worse than useless! It is the effusion on which the RT-PCR test should be performed.
