Prevent Feline infectious peritonitis(F.I.P)
Have a cat that had or passed from FIP and considering adding a new member to your fur family? Here are some tips and more information on how to prevent it.
Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is caused by a spontaneous mutation of the benign feline coronavirus (FCoV), a highly infectious virus transmitted mostly indirectly, by sharing litter trays with a FCoV excretor.
Majority of FCoV-infected cats remain healthy, with up to 12% developing FIP.
While any age or breed of cat can develop FIP, the majority of kittens being treated or diagnosed FIP are pedigree kittens, FIP occurs in both pedigree and non pedigree kittens but this high percentage of cases in pedigree cats maybe due to most pedigree owners having the relevant insurance and resources to pursue a course of treatment : most studies found that approximately 70% of FIP cases occurred in cats under the age of 2.
Diet high in Arginine is crucial. Research has shown that cats fed a diet specifically formulated to be deficient in arginine exhibit signs of ammonia toxicity which include drooling, vomiting, lethargy and even convulsions within hours of consuming the diet.
Getting enough arginine in your cat’s diet is not a problem if your cat is on real proteins source. Raw proteins, beef, chicken or rabbit has plenty of it. Proteins start to denature at 41 degrees C exposing the meats to temperatures above 41 destroys naturally available and easily absorbed amino acids that play a crucial role in your cat’s diet.
Automatic litter boxes are a good way to minimize cats from being in contact with soiled litter.
The next best possible way to prevent the occurrence of FIP is to obtain a cat litter with a higher ability to inhibit FCoV. Certain cat litters have been shown to have different abilities to inhibit FCoV in vitro.
Litters made with Fuller’s Earth have shown the ability to prevent infection of cell culture, whilst others like pine or sawdust-based cat litters had little inhibitory effect on the virus.
Fuller’s Earth, is a term used to describe clay minerals capable of absorbing their weight in liquid.
The most common clays used in cat litters are bentonites, such as sodium bentonite or calcium bentonite, that can swell up to 15 times their original volume. Other common clays added to cat litter mixtures are sepiolite, montmorillonite and kaolinite.
Calcium Bentonite however is the compound that is credited with the ability to inhibit the spread.
Calcium bentonite clay is an absorbent kind of clay that typically forms after volcanic ash ages. It’s named after Fort Benton, Wyoming, where the largest source of the clay can be found , but calcium bentonite clay of different qualities are found all over the world. There are many beneficial detoxifying and health benefits to Calcium Bentonite.
Stress is increasingly being recognized as being an important factor in triggering the mutation. Cats which develop FIP frequently have a history of stress shortly preceding the onset of FIP clinical signs (Rohrer, Suter, & Lutz, 1993; Riemer, Kuehner, Ritz, Sauter-Louis, & Hartmann, 2016).
When the development of FIP often occurs shortly after a visit to the veterinary surgeon, often for routine vaccination or neutering (Riemer et al., 2016); it would be a reasonable question: did the cat become infected there or then?
One quick way to establish whether that was possible is to look at the incubation period: From becoming infected with FCoV to the development of FIP takes at least 3 weeks, so if a cat has been spayed, then is noticed to have an effusion a week later when the stitches are being removed, she must have been already infected prior to the operation.
This is why some clinics force kitties to undergo extensive tests including FCoV antibody test along with the routine pre-anaesthetic blood tests, to cover themselves as well as establish whether there was any risk in performing the surgery. This is not a usual practice, it is stress inducing and is not entirely necessary.
If one of your kitties has FIP or has been lost to FIP , it is probable that all in-contact cats of an FIP patient will already be infected with FCoV.
Therefore, your other cats will either already have some immunity to FCoV, or will be in early stages of developing FIP.
FCoV is a moderately resistant virus, surviving up to seven weeks in dried-up cat litter particles (Scott, 1988)
FCoV can be killed by most household disinfectants, such as bleach (Addie et al., 2009). Therefore, after the death or diagnosis of a cat with FIP, the litter tray can be disinfected using bleach, and soft furnishings can be steam-cleaned. To be 100% sure that all coronavirus has gone, it is best to wait at least 2 months before obtaining another cat.
If there existing cats in the household who were in contact with the FIP cat, those cats should be tested for FCoV antibodies. Only after the existing cats have tested seronegative, which may take some months to occur, should a new cat or kitten be introduced