His coat also started to get dull and he didn't clean himself as well and tended to get knotted up each year. Again, we attributed it to his old age, so we take him to a groomer annually to shave his coat off and avoid knots (he hates being brushed or combed).

He stopped eating hard foods altogether, but loves his canned food and actually has a vivacious appetite. He tends to get constipated, a common thing in older cats, so we supplement with canned evaporated milk, and that seems to help.

His weight loss continued, so we were perplexed to the point that we'd be defensive whenever people come over and comment on him - we had a full blood panel and we were told he is healthy that it's just old age. We had this complex of being neglectful parents - by his appearance, you'd understand why.

Most recently, he's having trouble walking and balancing, and he looks emaciated, of course it doesn't help that his fur is cut down to the nub, in which case cats always look worse that way. We thought maybe he had knots in his fur on his legs, gave him a good combing, cut out any knots we could find, but nothing too serious that would impair his ability to walk.

Then most recently we notice his mouth is swelling and almost overnight there was an abscess. We soaked it with a warm compress and epsom salts, and before we could even get him to the vet it drained on its own, thankfully. The vet gave us some antibiotics and immediately told us that he has signs of FIP virus. Nobody ever noticed this before? We were stunned. He has all the classical symptoms, and we weren't even aware of this disease.

We just wanted to share our experience for others who may rely solely on the word of a veterinarian and a full blood panel -- FIP is not detectable through bloodwork, and my understanding is that there is no sure test for this type of virus. Some cats carry the virus without ever having the symptoms.

There was nothing we could have done for him regardless, but it would have been nice if our prior vet had noticed his condition and made us aware of the possibility.

We supplement his diet with Nutrical or Nutristat (exact same ingredients by the way, but differences in pricing), not to help him gain weight - the vet said no matter how much he eats, he won't gain weight and our efforts will be futile - it's part of the disease. But we give it to him to supplement the vitamins and minerals and amino acids he may not be receiving in his regular diet, some is better than nothing at all.

A symptom of the disease is a weakened immune system. He must have picked up the virus in a shelter when he was just a year old. Signs of his weakened immune system was evident over the years, even in his healthiest: every year he suffered from a cold - sneezing and runny nose - at least twice a year, and in later years had various growths throughout his body - a wart on his head, tag-like growths on the base of his tail which we had removed, and then the abscess. Of course the abscess could be an indication of something more serious like cancer, but at his age there's not much we can do and not worth it to put him through invasive procedures as he likely wouldn't survive anesthesia let alone surgery.

A very sad, degenerative disease which makes them depressed and lethargic, and can also affect their eyesight - another symptom which we attributed to old age.

We are also a multiple cat household, which is another thing to consider when bringing other animals into your home, not that I would ever discourage anyone from adopting animals, just a matter of awareness of the risks involved.

We adopted a cat years ago that we tried to integrate into our family, but she just wasn't the right fit. She belonged in a home without other animals. So we found her the perfect home and gave her to someone who has adored her and given her a wonderful life. Ironically, I just heard from her current owner this week that her health is declining (she's only a 10 year old cat) due to liver and kidney failure.

So sad that these animals touch our lives so deeply but are with us for such a short duration of our lives.

I would be upset at any vet that writes off major weight loss as a sign of old age. Have they check her teeth thoroughly and have any ultrasounds been done? Yes, he's old and there could be many things going on, but the symptoms you've listed don't add up to FIP for me.

Personally, I'd get a second opinion from another vet.

Laurie

Another characteristic of hyperthyroidism is their thirst and excessive drinking and urination, both of which are null in this cat.

And you are incorrect in that FIP in cats causes them not to eat, and there is plenty of literature available out there to corroborate this fact. There's the effusive form and the non effusive form, add to that various organs can be affected, liver, kidneys, lymph nodes, liver, eye or nervous system where this event is occurring or it might be a combination of any or all of these. In other words, the symptoms will vary from one cat to the next.

Nonetheless, no matter how much he eats he will not gain weight as a characteristic of FIP causes the inability to absorb nutrients. He also has the wobbly gait coupled with the changes in his eyes.

"FIP is a disease with extremely diverse clinical manifestations .... Unfortunately there are no clinical signs associated with FIP that are unique for this disease, and the diverse nature of the signs means that FIP must be considered a possible cause of many different feline disease syndromes"

However, since it is basically an untreatable disease, and there are more common though also nebulous illnesses that can present similarly, some which are treatable, I might have recommend continuing to look for other possibilities before giving up, unless his quality of life was so poor and worsening so fast that you feel it was not worth it.

When cats get very old, they begin to suffer a large number of degenerative maladies, the most common which are renal diseases, cancers, autoimmune diseases (most typically gastrointestinal... like IBD or similar conditions), various liver conditions, arthritis and hyperthyroidism. I would put FIP far down the list of debilitating diseases, though we know it is somewhat under diagnosed. Most cases we see of FIP or more acute and rapidly debilitating at younger age. We still do not even know for sure how it is passed on, and why one out of 20 cats in some households will get it while the other 19 do not.

There are few if any symptoms of FIP which are unique to the infection... all can be attributed to other disease possibilities as well, which is one of the reasons I would say making a diagnosis of FIP in a 17 year cat are pretty difficult, if not impossible thing to do, unless, as stated already, one biopsies a suspect tissue and recovers the virus (the virus is easy to recover from the tissue, if you get the right tissue). I have no idea how your veterinarian came to that conclusion and I think most other veterinarians would find that a very suspect conclusion.

We try never to attribute any problems to 'old age' but old age is often associated with diseases as the immune system begins to falter and organs age... but all diseases are due to some specific cause, not just 'old age'.

Either way, it sounds as your cat has passed on and for that I am sorry. You have to be somewhat happy your cat lived 17 years which is certainly beyond the average lifespan for a cat. So you must have taken good care of him.

I rescued a 7 week old kitten who was at deaths door and the vet I took her to immediately put her on antibiotics. After a couple of weeks he diagnosed her with possible FIP because she wasn't thriving and he then wanted me to spend a few hundred to try to rule out FIP, which I knew wasn't really possible.

I sought out another vet, a cat specialist, who discovered the kitten had giardia, ear mites, and URI. The vet prescribed a compounded antibiotic and within 48 hours the kitten showed 90% improvement. She's now 2+ years old and hasn't been sick since.