FIP

Daryl Bulkley ( sealegs@olympus.net )
Sat, 27 Feb 1999 17:14:46 -0800

I have a two year old female, formerely from California which is endemic
for feline leukemia. She was dumped, but in good condition. She was
examined for feline leukemia, spaded, and her shots given. She had her
third visit to the vets in Novemeber. January, what we think of as her
birthday, she exhibited a dialation of the pupil of the left eye. I
observed her breathing had changed, slightly labored. That was enough for
me to take her to the vets, the same office which saw her in Nove. and
declared she was in excellent health. Again, the vet saw nothing wrong
with her, and sent me home feeling very troubled.
A few days later this kitty was GRAVELY ill . Back to the vet for a full
panel of blood work, $127.50. It came back positive for feline leukemia.
Given anti-biotics, and I gave her vitamin C, the liquid kind, which I felt
very uncomfortable with, but the vet said some of his clients had some
luck with their cats on the vitamin. Then I discovered there is a pet
variety, and I have that now, but why the vet did not know this is beyond
me.

The initial onset of this disease portrayed itself with the pupil
dialating, and gagging in the early part of the morning. When I got up and
massaged her chest I heard a squishy sound(told this to the vet who said he
could not anything wrong with her) HE DID NOT LISTEN TO ME!

NEXT stage of this disease. Her hard breathing became so overt, I was sure
I was going to lose this cat from a cardiac arrest. Of course at this
stage I am totally ignorant of the way this disease progresses.

Back to the Vet. The vet, and he is a good one, who declared first nothing
wrong with her, and then after the blood work, declared she had feline
leukemia, was sick with the flu. The other vet looked her over, and
declared she had FIP, and he put her on a broader anti-biotic, which does
not seem to be doing enough for her. He also put her on a diaretic to
alleviate some of the fluid in the adominal cavity. So there we are.

FIP seems to manufacture many varieties, different strains. So I can see
there is no exact treatment answer here.

Perhaps there is someone out there who has had a cat with similar symtoms,
and may have additional information to give.

Much appreciated if there is......

Daryl Bulkley
Port Townsend, Washington