feline infectious peritonitis far too long a post, SORRY

[busydee]

Dear Ladies and Gents
haven't been on here for a good while, busy at work and home ,,,
I have a mother in law who is widowed, living on her own and 89. Her husband sadly died 2 years ago, He refused to have a cat so when he died, she wanted one. I resisted and resisted for ,, well 2 years as I knew that the responsibility would fall on me and frankly, I sometimes feel one more thing will push me over the edge.

anyway, I must have had been off my trolley but at the beginning of April I relented and found her an adorable black and white cat from a very kind local rescue. I had got my cat from there 3 years ago.

The cat hid to start with ( she thought it was lost ), we leafleted the street, and then it turned up. somehow she managed to keep it in for 4 weeks until its second lot of injections and then let it out. My OH and brother in law keep a good eye on their Mum and see her 3 x a week at least. I work in a school in exams and May June is incredibly busy for me so I hadn't been over for a while.

Little cat was apparently not so keen on the dry kibble food so she started to give him some wet food last weekend but brother in law reported on Sunday that 'Danny' was looking thin. so I made an appt to take him to the vet, tonight, Friday but went round on Wed after work anyway and found him looking v v poorly. Took to vet, who said, hmmm ? worms. ? something sinister? etc etc, slighly swollen insides and high temp. gave him worming tabs, anti inflammatory and took blood. We brought him home and waited blood results
on Thurs am Mum in law said he hadn't eaten nor used the litter tray. At that point, vet rang with bloods, v high white cell count, has infection, needs antibiotics. Taken back to vet, to give AB and observe overnight. They scanned him and found loads of liquid inside him. Liquid sent to lab .. ? FIP no cure, fatal.

Still poorly today but they were suggesting vet hospital over weekend until results back, If it is FIP , then PTS. Then vet hospital said almost certainly FIP , no point in bringing him to hospital, take him home till get fluid results, so Mum in law can say goodbye.

So after a full on day at work, I drove back to vets, crying all the way and back to mum in law, crying all the way and worrying about bringing the virus back into my house for my 4 year old cat.

Mum in law, is losing her memory and is pretty vulnerable, but cat sat on her lap for a bit and ate a bit of wet food and purred. She is now adamant that he is ok , which seeing as his belly is now swollen like a balloon, so much more since Wed, he clearly isn't but she doesn't understand.

We will visit at least 3 times tomorrow and Sunday to see what is happening, and vet said bring him back on Monday and if we have confirmation of the FIP, we will PTS.

good experienced people, did i do the right thing in bringing him home so she could say goodbye?
should I have had him PTS today and just told her, he died?

will my own little cat get the horrible horrible virus?

vet said to barrier nurse , whatever that means, but my husband won't do that if he visits, he thinks I am stupid as it is.
At the beginning of this story I said I did not want to get her a cat because I thought it was fraught with difficulties but,, my mother in law has absolutely idolised this animal and it has brought her into the here and now and made such a difference to her well being,, but now all to be undone.
and the little cat, Danny is the most soppiest, cuddliest, amenable animal you could ever wish for. there is only one thing he has ever wanted and that is a lap to sit on, and he has had that for the last 4 months. at least his last 4 months he was so loved and adored.. goodness knows what had happened to him in the past.

Vet says a week at the most if we don't PTS and that just prolongs the agony for Danny . I really don't want him to suffer .

do you know what, life sucks sometimes.
no one needs to reply, there are no answers, but thanks for reading, it helped to write it down.

[Hunnybunny]

Oh no. FIP is a cruel disease. There is no actual test that will give you a 100% accurate result as it is a complicated virus but if the tests have a high count along with the symptoms and the fluid build up thats pretty conclusive. Personally If the vets are sure and its almost inevitable I would have Danny PTS sooner rather than later. We can never know how much they are truly suffering as they never like to show us.

Regards the risk to your own cat.

FIP is a complicated virus that nobody really understands after many, many years of study. It is a mutation of a very common, almost endemic virus called Corona which about 80% of cats carry at some point, a bit like MRSA and Strep in humans, many of us have it on our skin but it never causes a problem.

In a small % of cats for reasons still unknown but assumed stress related the Corona virus mutates into FIP.

Your own cat may already have the Corona Virus like so many other cats and it will never mutate.

Corona is passed faecally - orally so good litter tray management and wash your hands. Your own cat is just as likely to pick up the Corona virus from the soil so don't worry.

On the occasions we see FIP in rescue foster cats it will usually be a single kitten out of a litter that will be effected and the rest have perfectly long and happy lives.

Talk to the vets in the AM, if they are sure its FIP then I'd make the decision tomorrow. You can only go on their professional opinion.

[busydee]

Thank you. My own little one is snuggled up in bed with me. She knows i am sad. I wanted to have danny put to sleep today but she is not my cat and i have to respect my m i l's right to see him . But she is pretty stubborn when she wants to be!
You have reassured me , thank you for reading and replying

[booktigger]

I'm sorry to hear this, I've had a cat with FIP and we tried meds for 2 weeks, if it happened again, I would let them go straight away, it is such a quick disease . As for the risk to your own, i had two cats at the time, and my remaining cat lived for another 4.2 years (he was 15 when he died), and they had shared a litter tray prior to Tig becoming ill, so the risk is minimal. Good luck with persuading your m-i-l, I know it can be hard for some people to accept it.

[Kay]

I had two kittens together, one of which got FIP - before the diagnosis he had terrible diarrhea, which the vet was treating, and Trigger used to wash his stained fur clean

but although he got terrible diarrhea himself, which would have been the result of the Corona virus - I didn't try to treat it as it can be nature's way of expelling bad stuff from the body, and it went on for 2 months, but he stayed well in every other respect, and did not go on to get FIP - he's still doing well 12 years later

I often wonder if Boycie would have been OK if his diarrhea hadn't been treated, but who knows now - I can reassure you though that although he got very very ill he didn't seem to be in pain, and still enjoyed fusses

[busydee]

well we took him back to the vets tonight and they confirmed that the fluid showed that it was v v likely to be FIP and they recommended that he be put to sleep. My mother in law held him whilst the procedure was carried out. We are all very sad. Play hard at the rainbow bridge little one, you are such a loving, gentle cat that you will have lots and lots of friends. She is going to miss you so so much.

[greenkitty]

So sorry to read this, a truly horrendous disease, better a day too early than a day too late.

RIP little puss x

[Crewella]

I'm so sorry, RIP little cat.