5 Tips to Help Veterinarians Rule Out and Prevent FIP

We’ve rounded up five tips to rule out and prevent Feline Coronavirus from developing into the extremely deadly mutation Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP).

Read on to learn more about what you can do to help

We’ve recently covered the effects Feline Coronavirus (FCoV) can have on cats. In fact, a whopping 80% of multi-cat households are infected by Feline Coronavirus (FCoV).

Fortunately, most infected cats show no signs of illness and most remain healthy. But as you probably know, mutating FCoV into the putative mutation Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) can be fatal.

FIP usually affects 12% of FCoV-infected cats, and mainly pedigree kittens who are at a higher risk of contracting the disease.

That’s why it is important to know what to do in such a situation, not only help raise awareness among cat owners, but also to rule out and prevent FCoV-infected cats from contracting FIP.

Once a cat has developed FCoV, you should follow the next 5 tips:

• Tip #1: Use an FCoV antibody test to rule out FIP cats that develop signs of the disease.
• Tip #2: Test any new cat entering a household with multiple cats.
• Tip #3: Test for FCoV antibodies in young cats. This is extremely important!
• Tip #4: Test the cat before it experiences a stressful situation, as stressful environments increase the risk of FIP.
• Tip #5: Take into account the sensitivity of the FCoV antibody test since you don’t want to get a false negative result.

Learn more about what you can do to help protect your patients’ cats from FIP by checking out Dr. Diane D. Addie’s webinar, a trailblazer in the field whose been working hard on growing FIP awareness, as well as on finding ways to diagnose and prevent Feline Coronavirus and FIP.