Stray cat with feline coronavirus living with non-coronavirus cats

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treehouseofhorrorv
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Stray cat with feline coronavirus living with non-coronavirus cats

Post by treehouseofhorrorv »

Hi all! After some advice and info from those of you knowledgeable on this.

We have taken in a stray cat, who is currently quarantined away from our other 4 indoor cats. We got his tests results back, and he has feline coronavirus. I'm finding it difficult to find concrete info online about whether it is possible for him to live with us still with this, without putting our other cats at risk?

From what I understand it's very rare for cats to develop FIP from catching it, right?

He is staying in our bathroom currently, but is very eager to get out, and we want to be able to introduce him into the rest of the house as soon as possible as he is starting to get restless, and him being quarantined is really not a long term solution at all.

I'm also confused about the period of time he will be infectious to our other cats with this. Some websites are saying some cats end up having shedding of the virus in their poop for life?? Some sites are saying 7 weeks. Others are saying months. We can't realistically keep him cooped up in the bathroom for months.

Our other cats are two sets of siblings. The one set are about 2 and a few months, the other are just coming up to 2. We have no idea if they also have been exposed to feline coronavirus before, we haven't tested them. They are indoor cats though, so really haven't come into much contact with other cats apart from through nose-bumping with outdoor strays through the catio fencing.

Actual accurate info, and the sharing of experience of this would be very helpful. Thanks all.
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Mollycat
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Re: Stray cat with feline coronavirus living with non-coronavirus cats

Post by Mollycat »

I could only regurgitate what is freely available on the web but my understanding is that FCoV is rampant and only a small minority of cases mutate to cause FIP. Your vet should be able to advise and be bang up to date as well. I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that a new treatment offered better hope for FIP, Ramdesivir rings a bell but whether that was the existing one or a new one I couldn't be sure. There was a paper on it in NCBI.

Sorry that's not the definite details you're looking for but it doesn't make much sense for me to search and repeat!
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Kay
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Re: Stray cat with feline coronavirus living with non-coronavirus cats

Post by Kay »

I lost a cat to F.I.P and was concerned about my other cat, who had been in very close contact with him and had all the symptoms of the coronavirus. I was advised by the Bristol Veterinary College, to whom Boycie had been referred, that the main trigger for F.I.P in a coronavirus positve cat is stress. Trigger remained healthy and the virus cleared after several months.

Unfortunately it does sound as if your stray boy is under some stress, and perhaps this is the main area for you to concentrate on. I'm wondering if you have an outbuilding you could set him up in for now, giving him access to the outdoors, but only minimal contact with your other cats. This would probably be less stressful for him than being confined to a small room indoors, and you can look after him just as well until he is virus-free.
Sniper1
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Re: Stray cat with feline coronavirus living with non-coronavirus cats

Post by Sniper1 »

It's very likely your mistakenly thinking of your established cats as coronavirus free unless they come from screened breeding households,coronavirus is very common and it's likely they've come across it as youngsters from their mothers,other cats in a household or even other kittens in a rescue depending on where you accquired them. Coronavirus is not a specific virus there are different strains some more serious in terms of developing to fip than others there is also some genetic predisposition to some cats developing fip.Its the cats immune response which causes the fip to develop not the actual virus itself so good care and feeding a clean environment and lack of stress can be very helpful while an infected cat builds it's immune response but there's still no guarantee and as a virus it stays with an infected cat forever but in most is kept constantly at bay by their immunity.There is no difinitive time for a cat being infectious the best way to asses this is test for antibody levels if they're high it's likely a recent infection and after a couple of months test again if they're falling the immune response is working and the viral load decreasing but there is no set rule as to when a cat may be shedding the virus only guidelines as again it's down to individuality.Its generally said that fip is rare but there isn't always difinitive diagnosis due to the many and varied effects. I have known it wipe out all related cats in multicat households but the unrelated ones have been fine and likewise with feral colonies but in feral colonies there's always more possibility of other problems such as fiv and other factors having more influence also certain breeds and cats with certain breeds in their mix can be more succeptable.I doubt a lot of this is much help. To really asses the risk as best you can I would be considering firstly if your assumption of your established cats being coronavirus free is actually realistic
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