FIP

[Desley (booktigger)]

I forgot about that study, but did find it interesting. I Think the other reason we are hearing it more is due to the number of posters/cats on the forums, and as FIP is so hard to diagnose, and is so like other illnesses, it is mentioned by vets more - my cat wasn't the right category for it, and tests weren't conclusive, but she did have fluid in her belly - so she may not have had it, but meds given in case they were wrong didn't help. It was the first time my neighbour had come into contact with it, and she had done rescue work for 10 years, and mixed a lot of cats in that time - she dealt with it for the first time last year, and that was after over 30 years of cat ownership, including the years when she had large numbers due to rescue work.

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

http://www.moggies.co.uk/articles/fight_fip.html

[Gillian Harvey]

We were told to clean litter trays with BLEACH while the virus was still alive at the cattery.
I am sure i have read that somewhere too (i will try and find it)

Yep, thats on Dr Addie's site, she recommends bleach - I've been using Milton since reading that.

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

We were told to clean litter trays with BLEACH while the virus was still alive at the cattery.
I am sure i have read that somewhere too (i will try and find it)

[Gillian Harvey]

I found the litter study interesting Gillian, it seems clay is the next best thing to soil. I would have thought that it would live in the soil easily like campylobacter can.

Don't know, I guess not, maybe exposure to the elements kills it? and less likliehoold of other cats coming into contact with it outside, as they would choose a different place to go - whereas indoors, they don't have all that much choice I suppose, even providing lots of litter trays. I've added more (yet more!!) trays in different places around the house, as before they were mainly concentrated in a large walk in cupboard.

[Millys Mum]

I found the litter study interesting Gillian, it seems clay is the next best thing to soil. I would have thought that it would live in the soil easily like campylobacter can.
I think we hear more of it as its commonly mentioned for sick cats, most of these cases turn out to be something else as tho as the symptoms are so similar.

Mark, does the bag say whats it medicated with? Triclosan?

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

Having worked at a cattery where the cats mixed and yes shared litter trays I am sad to say that over 10 cats died from FIP.
I remember getting the first phone call to say that a kitten, who had been in our care, had died from FIP - after that the phone calls kept coming for about 6mths.

[Gillian Harvey]

I hope that chick crumb is on the list of good litters!

Sadly, no! On the list on Dr Addie's site a brand of chick crumbs didnt kill ANY of the coronavirus - the problem is, that we don't know if all chick crumb brands act the same, because it looks like only a small proportion of cat litters were tested. Would you believe that Tesco Value was one that killed ALL the coronavirus - thats just an ordinary fullers earth litter. Everclean also killed it all - thats a fuller's earth clumping. What I found interesting about the list was that Cat Country (wheatgrass litter) USA killed ALL the virus, while Cat Country UK & Europe - killed none, figure that one out!! Also, some of the wood pellet litters killed more virus than others.

I wish there was a more extensive study, but I expect its all down to funding as I think Dr Addie relies on donations for her research.

[Mark]

I was going to post about co-op own litter as I have just changed to it from catsan. It is actually medicated and has a really nice smell when it gets wet and only about £2 for a 6L bag  - as it doesn't smell like wee, I can only assume it kills the bacteria - Clapton's wee is really smelly with CRF and it helps a lot.

[Dawn F]

thanks, that is really helpful, I did think that I should try and understand a bit more about it, I hope that chick crumb is on the list of good litters!

[Gillian Harvey]

there has been a lot of talk about this lately and I know that Lesley has just lost the lovely Pagan to it, I know it is a horrible disease and can be caught through sharing trays and food bowls and things but basically I suppose what I want to know is where does it come from?  Is is an airbourne thing or does one of the cats have to have it already?

As Des mentioned, FIP itself isnt 'caught' as such, it is the coronavirus which can be 'caught' and its the coronavirus that can mutate to become FIP, although rarely as I understand it. Coronaviruses are extremely common and many multicat households, breeding catteries and rescues have the virus (lives in the intestines) which may cause no problems at all, aside from perhaps a mild diarrhea outbreak and sometimes sneezing. The coronavirus can be passed on via infected poo - hence the problem with sharing trays - but not only that, the virus can live a fair time in litter particles, which of course can stick to paws and coat (especially with longhairs). I think sneezing can pass the coronavirus on, too.

I've done a lot more reading about it since my scare with Gwynnie and Dr Addie's site is one of the best about FIP, she's done extensive research into coronavirus and how FIP develops http://www.dr-addie.com/ - interestingly, she's also done research into how the virus reacts with certain cat litters  and the results show that some cat litters can actually kill the coronavirus.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Here are a couple of articles that explain it better than I can - it is a rare illness, it only affects 3% of cats, but we do seem to have heard it a lot over the past few months. There is no way of knowing what cats will get it, and despite its name, it isn't infectious, and isn't 'caught'. I had 2 cats when I dealt with it, only one became ill (and out of the 2, she was the wrong 'category' being the youngest). There is a vaccine in the US, but it isn't widely used due to the side effects, one of which being the cat will develop FIP.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1322&articleid=212

http://www.mypetspages.com/petinfo/feline/feline%20infectious%20peritonitis.php

[Dawn F]

there has been a lot of talk about this lately and I know that Lesley has just lost the lovely Pagan to it, I know it is a horrible disease and can be caught through sharing trays and food bowls and things but basically I suppose what I want to know is where does it come from?  Is is an airbourne thing or does one of the cats have to have it already?