Hi there,
This is my first time posting and I'm hoping to get some feedback regarding my current cat-status. Last Spring I lost a cat (basically to old age) and in July I adopted a kitten from a local rescue group. I had the kitten for 6 weeks along with my other cat who is currently 5 and in good health. After six weeks of conjunctivitis, colds and coccidia, the kitten began to display some difficulty breathing.
Short version of this is that he had a lot of pleural fluid and the most likely diagnosis was FIP. I won't go into the details of the week but it was emotionally wrenching at best.
Now I have been doing a lot of research on the question of when it is safe to bring another cat into the house. I have asked around and read opinions and I cannot find any concensus (answers ranged from 3 weeks to 1 year.) My current feeling is that there is no point in testing my surviving cat for the corona virus because it will not tell me much about the risk for FIP. Also, I have trouble with the notion that my home will become jinxed by this powerful virus. I've read postings suggesting that I wait as long as a year to adopt another cat and that I throw out my cat tree (which is no small matter...it's a huge cat tree.)
I don't want to live in denial but I struggle with where to draw the line. Life doesn't offer guarantees when you bring home any animal and part of me thinks that I want to strike a compromise. Wait a month or two and clean my house really well and give a quiet, happy home to a cat who is currently living in a cage or a foster home which can easily expose the cat to other illnesses anyway.
Would anyone be willing to weigh in on this? Has anyone had experiences with transmitted FIP that they could share?
I really appreciate the anticipated help with this.
L. Simone
This is my first time posting and I'm hoping to get some feedback regarding my current cat-status. Last Spring I lost a cat (basically to old age) and in July I adopted a kitten from a local rescue group. I had the kitten for 6 weeks along with my other cat who is currently 5 and in good health. After six weeks of conjunctivitis, colds and coccidia, the kitten began to display some difficulty breathing.
Short version of this is that he had a lot of pleural fluid and the most likely diagnosis was FIP. I won't go into the details of the week but it was emotionally wrenching at best.
Now I have been doing a lot of research on the question of when it is safe to bring another cat into the house. I have asked around and read opinions and I cannot find any concensus (answers ranged from 3 weeks to 1 year.) My current feeling is that there is no point in testing my surviving cat for the corona virus because it will not tell me much about the risk for FIP. Also, I have trouble with the notion that my home will become jinxed by this powerful virus. I've read postings suggesting that I wait as long as a year to adopt another cat and that I throw out my cat tree (which is no small matter...it's a huge cat tree.)
I don't want to live in denial but I struggle with where to draw the line. Life doesn't offer guarantees when you bring home any animal and part of me thinks that I want to strike a compromise. Wait a month or two and clean my house really well and give a quiet, happy home to a cat who is currently living in a cage or a foster home which can easily expose the cat to other illnesses anyway.
Would anyone be willing to weigh in on this? Has anyone had experiences with transmitted FIP that they could share?
I really appreciate the anticipated help with this.
L. Simone