Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) has previously been an invariably fatal disease in cats. Now there is a new treatment available in England which has been used successfully to treat many cats with this disease and get the back to a normal life.
What is feline infectious peritonitis (FIP)?
Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is an immune mediated disease triggered by a viral infection in cats. It is caused by an infection of the feline enteric coronavirus (which is different from Covid-19 in people). Feline enteric coronavirus commonly infects cats and in most cases only causes a self-limiting diarrhoea. In rare cases the virus mutates to a new strain, it is this that causes feline infectious peritonitis. This new strain of virus spreads throughout the body causing disease. It is more commonly seen in younger cats and those which are from multi-cat households.
What are the signs of feline infectious peritonitis?
There are a wide range of signs that can be seen with feline infectious peritonitis. To start with cats may show mild respiratory signs such as sneezing and watery eyes. This may be followed by loss of appetite, weight loss, fever and depression. This can develop into fluid in the abdomen, peritonitis (inflammation of the lining of the abdomen) and fluid in the chest cavity, causing breathing difficulties and a pot-belly appearance. FIP can cause inflammation in the brain, eyes or other organs in the body. These areas of inflammation can lead to tumours of inflammatory tissue developing, reduced blood flow to organs and even seizures.
How do we test for feline infectious peritonitis?
Definitive diagnosis is difficult and requires a biopsy of tissue or sample of fluid to be sent away for further testing. Most cases are provisionally diagnosed by having matching clinical signs, a high coronavirus antibody level and characteristic fluid sampled from the abdomen. A high coronavirus antibody level shows that the cat has been exposed to coronavirus in the past. It does not mean that they have an active feline infectious peritonitis infection.
How can this disease be treated?
Up until recently FIP was regarded as untreatable and affected cats were often euthanised. A new treatment is available to treat these cases that has been shown to be very successful. A combination treatment of daily injections of remdesivir followed by daily GS-441524 tablets is used. Cases of FIP with fluid accumulation in the chest and abdominal cavities (wet form) respond more favourably than those seen without fluid accumulation (dry form). The treatment is long usually spanning three months. It is also costly and currently costs thousands of pounds to treat each cat. Some cases treated also may relapse. Most cases will require a short period of hospitalisation for supportive care and to drain the fluid that has built up to improve their ability to breathe. However for a disease that was once fatal it is wonderful that we are now able to offer treatment for those cats affected.
