As I promised, the purpose is to share information about FIP so we can all be better educated.
Dora was exactly the same size as her three brothers when she came to me. But she didn't grow much. Her top weight was about 4 lbs.
When I did most of the spaying and neutering, we skipped Dora to give her more time. She never went into heat, and never grew anymore.
We have seen this pattern with FIP kittens several times now. I would have to say that is a clear indication of FIP.
One of Minga's kittens is small and she hasn't grown much. I worry about that in her, as I also worry about Minga's rough looking coat and inability to gain weight. Minga however has gone into heat and despite the unknown factor, I am going to have her spayed.
One the biggest problems I see with making well informed decisions about the FIP is the lack of a difinative test for it. That really is frustrating and it makes me wonder about the science behind the disease.
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I'd just like to say a couple things which will probably just muddy the waters. I had a cat we named Miss Piggy because she ate like a pig. She was probably about 4 weeks old when I found her and her sister on my front porch. She never got over 6 pounds and she lived to be 18 years old, finally her kidneys gave out. Her sister Miss Priss didn't go into heat until she was around 5 years old, surprised the heck out of me when she finally did. I did have her spayed then and they removed a pre cancerous growth on one of her mammalary glands at the same time. She also lived to be 18, then I had to have her put down due to cancer. I would also like to add that it was very hard on Priss when I had her spayed and I think it was because she was older. Harley who was FeLV+ had a hard time when he was neutered too. It surprised me because my male cats have always kind of acted like nothing happened when they were neutered. Although I wonder if there's a relationship between him being neutered and then about 6 months later getting so sick from the FeLV that I had to have him put down, it's also possible that the surgery weakened his immune system enough to let the FeLV get a good hold on him. I have also wondered if he didn't get the FeLV at the vets when he had his surgery since up until then all my cats had tested negative for the virus. Harley however had never been tested before his surgery so I really have no way to know.
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