Possible FIP Diagnosis - I'm Devistated!

[CrowneDragon]

I’m so sorry, Snowflake.

I had to have a lovely cat put to sleep last year due to FIP. It was awful.

I hope your kitty has something else going on that improves! Jingles for that…

[QUOTE=JumpQH;7973144]
Snowflake - according to the article, more diagnostics can be done. Are you able to do them to be absolutely sure? The vet said 80-90%, but if it was me, I’d want to know 100% what I was dealing with.[/QUOTE]
You can rule out other things, but there is no way to know 100% that you are dealing with FIP. There is no specific test for it.

[NoDQhere]

I will add that I once had a cat that had an FIP titer over 10,000. She never appeared sick, so I did not put her down. She eventually, 6 or 7 years later developed liver failure and she was PTS when she really started to fail. I would not give up hope until your kitty is no longer comfortable.

[JumpQH]

[QUOTE=CrowneDragon;7975179]
You can rule out other things, but there is no way to know 100% that you are dealing with FIP. There is no specific test for it.[/QUOTE]

OK. Knock on wood, I haven’t had to deal with FIP.

Snowflake, I agree with NoDQhere!

[Hulk]

I am just so sorry.

[CrowneDragon]

[QUOTE=NoDQhere;7975227]
I will add that I once had a cat that had an FIP titer over 10,000. She never appeared sick, so I did not put her down. She eventually, 6 or 7 years later developed liver failure and she was PTS when she really started to fail. I would not give up hope until your kitty is no longer comfortable.[/QUOTE]
Your cat likely was just carrying the coronavirus. There is no titer for FIP, only the coronavirus, and a high titer in the absence of FIP symptoms means the cat more likely than not did not have FIP at that time. Unless the coronavirus titer is zero, indicating no exposure, it has very little correlation with FIP status.

[grayarabs]

What about IVIG for this for cats? Any idea if would help/work?

[Snowflake]

[QUOTE=grayarabs;7975612]
What about IVIG for this for cats? Any idea if would help/work?[/QUOTE]

Vet did say transfusion is an option but might only perk her up for a week or so. Her anemia is non-regenerative - her bone marrow isn’t doing what it needs to do to make more blood cells. So, her body will use up what we transfuse but still not make more to sustain herself. She is eating well - paws at me in the kitchen to feed her. I’m concerned that her body is weak and she is unable to jump and this has been getting progressively worse over the last week. The gravity feeder with the cat food is on a dry sink in the hallway. I pulled the drawers out to give her “stairs” to be able to get to the food. I feed her canned food twice a day with salmon oil, probiotics and a multi-vitamin paste in it. I am stopping on my way home from the office today and getting her some sardines and chicken hearts to eat. She’s eating a large 14 ounce can of cat food per day along with whatever dry she wants and is still wasting away.

[JumpQH]

[QUOTE=Snowflake;7979347]
She’s eating a large 14 ounce can of cat food per day along with whatever dry she wants and is still wasting away. :([/QUOTE]

WOW, 14 oz can of cat food daily? My kitty that was wasting away is up to about 3 oz a day, plus whatever dry she wants (she eats very little of it) and is gaining weight. It sounds like you’re doing all the right stuff. I know it’s very hard to watch a kitty go downhill despite all of your efforts. My heart feels for you. : (

[SquishTheBunny]

Sorry that your kitty isn’t doing well have you gone to see an internist at all? We had a cat with similar symptoms not too long ago…this particular cat had a form of leukemia that was relatively uncommon in cats. Is currently doing well. Not saying your diagnosis is wrong at all bit hoping a second opinion from an internist (if not already done) may provide you with some more options. Jingles.

[BasqueMom]

More jingles for your girl!

[Snowflake]

Happy update! On the 29th of January I took her to see a board certified veterinary internist because after looking into things further, stuff wasn’t sitting right for me. Well, we reviewed the bloodwork and the vet immediately said “I don’t think this is FIP”. We did an ultrasound and thankfully she gave us a fecal sample at the office because we were able to determine that she has exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI). EPI is actually very rare in cats but her fecal color showed that she wasn’t getting the proper digestive enzymes to digest her food properly. So, treatment is twice daily supplementation with digestive enzymes before meals. She’s already gained about 2 pounds in the last month and is looking much better. She still has more weight to gain and needs to build muscle but this is something that is treatable and we will need to maintain for the rest of her life. I’m taking her back in for another checkup and run another CBC to check on that anemia in another week or two. We may need to supplement with some B12 for that for a while until her system recovers from essentially being starved of nutrition even though she was eating ravenously. This is a much better diagnosis than FIP for sure and I’m so thankful for an Internal Medicine specialist who, when I called her and told her what was going on, she asked me if I could come in that day because we both felt that this little cat didn’t have much time. The specialist spent over an hour with us and I appreciated her letting me be involved in all processes of the exam. The ultrasound was thorough and we looked at every major organ system which all looked normal and lovely. No fluid buildup, no thickening of the stomach or intestines and her kidneys were lovely! So if anyone in the Western NY area needs a specialist, Dr. Tamke gets high praise from Lucy and me!

[Zu_Zu]

Thrilled for both of you !

Thrilled for your cat and her family ~

Way to push for answers !!!

A diagnosis & treatment plan ~ be proud of your emotional strength and patience !

Your update brightened a winter’s day ~

[Polydor]

Yay! Great news!

P.

[jetsmom]

What a great update! Kudos to you for being such a good advocate for your kitty!

[clint]

What wonderful news! Good job.

[NoDQhere]

Yeah!!! Happy happy dance for you and your kitty!!! Please do keep up up to date on how she does, OK?

[Calamber]

That is great news and just goes to show. Good for you that you did not take that diagnosis as the final word!

[Romany]

Great news :).

I also wanted to thank you for following up, Snowflake, because there may be other COTH kitties in the future whose owners might be searching here for FIP info, find this post, and learn that there’s a tiny chance of it being something else, and not the horrid FIP after all.

[dungrulla]

Good news indeed! EPI is actually quite easy and inexpensive to treat when you nail it down from my understanding

[vxf111]

Awesome update!!!