Dry FIP often has different symptoms, commonly neurological issues, and they usually survive longer than the wet FIP victims do. Dry FIP usually presents with vague clinical signs, Like anorexia, losing weight, depression, anemia, fever, and a dull coat (sometimes with a "greasy" look). Many cats with dry FIP become jaundiced, and get various eye problems, usually the iris (the colored part of the eye around the pupil) changes color, parts of it may appear brown. The cat may bleed into the eye, or white precipitates appear on the cornea.
Wet FIP usually results in organ failure, due to the nature of the disease, the organs just "seep" serum like fluid (not sure of the actual terminology off the top of my head) out into the abdomen and chest cavities, often death from wet FIP is caused by respiratory failure, combined with anemia, and other conditions caused by organs failing to perform their functions. I, personally, feel that humane euthanasia IS a valid course of action for a cat that is highly suspected of being FIP positive IF (NOTE THE IF) the cat is showing symptoms and is ill. Obviously, any cat that has been diagnosed as FIP+ MUST have clinical symptoms, otherwise it's just a Corona infection, and NOT FIP. I think euthanasia should definitely happen BEFORE the cat goes into multi-organ failure, FIP is 100% fatal, prolonging the cat's life is not buying it much quality time in the end stages of FIP. I am NOT a hard-core picket sign toting vegan no kill activist (PETA comes to mind) though, I feel that suffering needlessly is cruelty, not a humane and peaceful death. Unless you are using the cat as a test subject to try to develop new treatments for FIP (sadly, often cats MUST suffer in the name of science), then I don't think the current treatment options buy enough quality time to justify allowing the cat to suffer needlessly in advanced stages (and with wet FIP, we're talking a matter of a few weeks commonly). Hopefully, in a couple of years, I will have changed my mind on this topic, because new treatments will be produced, and enough trials will have been run to show that treatment is a viable option for symptomatic FIP cases. It would be interesting to know if this kitten's brother had wet or dry FIP, if that information is available... Phaewryn Please save Whitey! http://ucat.us/Whitey.html VT low cost Spay&Neuter, and Emergency Financial Assistance for cat owners: http://ucat.us/VermontLowCost.html Special Needs Cat Resources: http://ucat.us/domesticcatlinks.html
