Hi Michelle, Sorry to hear Lucy is having a tough time. I only have limited experience with wet FIP, (12 week old Ally) and that wasn't confirmed by necropsy, but Lucy's symptoms do sound a bit different from what I saw. Ally never seemed to be in any discomfort, even when her belly was quite distended. I found the inappetance and depression to be less of an intermittent problem, and more of something that became gradually worse. She responded very well to antibiotics for her initial URI, but within a couple of days of being off of it would start to sneeze again. Other odd problems cropped up as her immune system began to fail. She had teensy, pin-prick black dots of dried blood in one ear one day, than bright red swimmer's ear a couple of days later in the other ear, then began to get fevers that became less and less responsive to antibiotics. Somewhere between the swimmer's ear and the beginning of the fevers is when I started to notice her belly. It seemed slightly distended (like a wormy kitten), and the area just in front of her hip bones seemed slightly sunken in a triangle shape. It was very slight, but I was worried enough to mention it to the vet when I took her in, but the vet just prodded her a bit and didn't comment. That was on a Thursday, by Sunday there was no question that her belly was filling with fluid, the triangle depression was quite obvious,her spine was protruding, the fever became worse, the antibiotics and steroids were doing nothing, she was glassy eyed and just wanted to snuggle under my chin and purr. This is common enough that FIP is sometimes called "the purring disease". I believe that with FIP, once you notice fluid the progression is usually very quick (Ally was maybe 1-1/2 weeks). If Lucy is still eating that is good. Does her spine feels muscled-over and flat, or raised and knobby? I think that Ally's belly felt pretty firm. If Lucy hasn't had any other illnesses (other than the ibd) lately, is eating and active, I would bet that it is ibd discomfort and not worry too much about FIP.
Best wishes, Beth Original Message: I spoke to my vet about lucy, and he did not see a reason to bring her in. He agreed that her discomfort for a few hours in the evening is probably related to her ibd and to up her flagyl and pred a little. I have, though, probably irrationally, started worrying about wet FIP. Her sides look a little pooched out to me, which may just be that she had lost some weight for the couple weeks she did not want her turkey mush and looks a bit skinny all over and has just started gaining it back so may be gaining it back in her tummy first. But, not knowing why she is getting uncomfortable for a few hours a day, and being paranoid about fip, I started worrying that maybe the poochiness is fluid accumulation. I looked for a wet fip photo online but can not find one. I found info on wet fip symptoms, and it did say that fluid accumulation can happen slowly and that other symptoms can be intermittent inappetance and depression. Does anyone think she could have fip? When she is not having the discomfort, she is pretty normal, maybe a slight bit less active than usual, but she is eating quite a bit. When cats get wet fip, are the symptoms normally constant? Should I be worried about this? And is fluid accumulation very obviously fluid, or could it look sort of like tummy weight gain (i.e. when I look at her from behind, her butt looks thin and I can see her sides sticking out a bit, rather than just chubby all over like my other cats). Does the fluid feel mush like water, or firm? If I press on her belly, it just feels like her stomach is bigger. Thanks for any thoughts or advice. I think if I call my vet and ask him this he will think I have gone round the bend, but I am feeling anxious. michelle
