Dear Cherie: While FeLV is a horrid disease to deal with, with so few givens and so many unanswered questions, there ARE worse things to deal with. I haven't had any personal experience dealing with it, but if you were to ask listmember Denise Uriarte here in San Jose, I think she will tell you that FIP is even worse to deal with than FeLV. She has dealt with both.
Kittys who develop FIP (a mutated form of the corona virus) may exhibit none to mild symptoms in the early stages on infection, and that is when they are infectious to other cats. By the time they are actively showing classic symptoms of the disease, they are said to be no longer contagious. And some cats can evidently be latent carriers and never show symptoms, themselves. There is NO TEST which can positively tell you a cat has FIP...the only way to absolutely confirm it is through necropsy. A high corona titer may be an indication, but not absolutely as a cat exposed to it but not becoming infected may have a high antibody titer. There are two forms, the dry and wet form. With the wet form there is excessive buildup of a stringy proteinaceous fluid in the abdomen or chest and cats with this form succumb rather quickly. With the dry form, a cat can linger for several months and in the end stages there can be neurological damage which causes seizures and the cat may be disoriented and crashing into walls in its distress. Not a pretty sight to observe. Just as with there being no explanation as to why the FeLV virus mutates into one of its more virulent subgroups in some cats and not others, I've never seen an explanation as to why the corona virus mutates to FIP in some cats, but not others. Immuno-compromised cats, such as those with FeLV are said to be more suseceptible. In '03, Denise lost two kittens from a litter of three FeLV+ kittens to FIP, and three otherwise healthy "older" kittens. Two were feral from a mom whose previous littter had all perished and we have hypothesized she may be a carrier. Luckily this mom cat who had long evaded being trapped and produced litter after litter of kittens, has finally been trapped and spayed. After what I saw Denise go through with those kittys, I would take an FeLV+ kitty over that any day. Sally in San Jose
