When Zilla was about 6 months old, she developed a cough. Coughs in cats are always a reason for concern, as cats do not tend to cough idopathically. We took her to the vet and for the next couple of weeks tried antibiotics.
Her cough got better.
for the next few months her cough came and went and her adult teeth came in. I also noticed uveitis ( http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Proceedings/PR05000/PR00526.htm ) in her eye.
By this time, I had already lost several cats to "disease" and upon necropsy of the second and third deaths, knew we were dealing with FIP. But I really did not comprehend the scope of the difficulties to come, but it was at this time my research into FIP really began.
Zilla's uveitis was intermitten and not severe, but clearly there none the less. IF you look at her eye in this photo, you notice that aside from it being slightly closed, it has a small discharge, but more importantly it looks slightly cloudy. Zilla's uveitis was very faint. It can be much more severe and is very typical of cats with FIP.