Feline Infectious Peritonitis and Coronavirus Web Site

Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is an unusual, but often fatal, consequence of coronavirus infection of the cat and ferret. The majority of cats and ferrets infected with coronaviruses lead perfectly normal lives. However, if you are thinking of buying a pedigree (purebred) kitten - INSIST that he or she is feline coronavirus (FCoV) free - otherwise you may be buying heartache.

1. to provide accurate and up to date information about feline coronavirus (FCoV), the cause of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) in cats and ferrets.

2. to provide a register of FCoV tested studs and queens so that enlightened cat breeders who know their cat’s FCoV status can contact each other. In the 1970s, Abysinnian cat breeders began testing for FeLV and eliminated it from their breed, other cat clubs followed suite. Now, at least in the UK, it is extremely rare for a pedigree kitten to be sold with FeLV, thanks to the dedicated testing of cat breeders. In Scotland, most Birman breeders are FCoV free. The war against coronavirus and FIP has begun - I hope you will join it.

Download a free sample eBook of "My Cat Has FI P - What Now?"

This book is written for anybody unfortunate enough to have had FIP diagnosed in their cat. It will help you through the maze that is FIP diagnosis, to decide what your options are for treatment and to safeguard your other cats, or how and when to safely add a new cat to your household.

Please note that this is a zip folder containing an .exe file and that you may have to alter your firewall or virus protection program to allow it to download. This is a new experiment for us, so please let us know if you encounter any problems downloading it (email e-books@catvirus.com). You can still use the regular Buy Now buttons below to purchase the e-book if you prefer.

At present, you can only buy the whole eBook directly (and within minutes) from the sample eBook in US dollars. To buy it in GB pounds or Euros, please use the Paypal links below and we will manually send you an activation key within 24 hours.

When I began this website, FIP was incurable. Now, with the introduction of feline interferon omega (Virbagen Omega by Virbac) into some of Europe we are seeing some cases enter remission and others being cured. In summer of 2009, an exciting paper appeared by Prof. Al Legendre of Tennessee Veterinary School in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery reporting cure of 3 cases of non-effusive FIP using Polyprenyl Immunostimulant from Sass & Sass. This paper is a hopeful pilot study and I look forward to a controlled clinical study. Unfortunately, Polyprenyl Immunostimulant does not work on effusive (wet) FIP cases.

My dream is for no cat ever to contract FIP in the first place, never mind die of it.

It has been known for a while that ferrets had a unique coronavirus of their own (ferret enteric coronavirus, FECV) which causes epizootic catarrhal enteritis [3,4]. They also suffer from a disease which looks very much like infectious peritonitis of cats [1,2] and I am most grateful to Dr Jerry Murray, a ferret expert in Dallas, Texas, for bringing this to my attention.

Reported clinical signs include anorexia, weight loss, diarrhoea, large palpable abdominal masses. Effusions have not been described. Antibody against feline infectious peritonitis virus can be used in immunohistochemistry to confirm diagnosis.

At present moment, treatment is similar to that of FIP in cats - prednisolone. It is unknown whether interferon would help these ferrets or whether Primucell vaccination (Pfizer) would be effective in preventing it, though there is no reason to suppose it would not be protective (however, it would be used off-licence).

1. Juan-Salles C, Teifke JP, Morera N, Jiminez J, Montesinos A, Ardiaca M, Loehr CV, Garner MM. 2006 Pathology and immunohistochemistry of a disease resembling feline infectious peritonitis in ferrets (Mustela Putorius Furo). Vet Pathol 43:5 p845

3. Williams BH, Kiupel M, West KH, Raymond JT, Grant CK, Glickman LT. 2000 Coronavirus-associated epizootic catarrhal enteritis in ferrets. J Am Vet Med Assoc 217(4):526-30.

4. Wise AG, Kiupel M, Maes RK. 2006 Molecular characterization of a novel coronavirus associated with epizootic catarrhal enteritis (ECE) in ferrets. Virology. 349(1):164-74.

If you have a cat suffering from chronic gingivostomatitis (FGS) and would like to help in research, please download 2 questionnaires and take them to your veterinary surgeon to complete with you - one is for the cat with FGS and the other is for a cat without FGS (we call this a "control" - it is an extremely important part of the study). This research is based at the University of Glasgow Veterinary School in Scotland but we are pleased to hear from cases from anywhere in the world. The aim of this research is to further clarify the causes of FGS which will help in our search for a cure.

Dr Addie will be giving masterclasses for veterinarians on feline chronic gingivostomatitis and feline respiratory disease infections in October 2009 and on FIP in spring 2010 near Swindon in the UK. These masterclasses are available singly or as part of a course for a certificate in feline medicine. For further details and to enrol, contact Improve International on 01793 759159 or by email: enquiries@improve-international.com. If you are an organiser of veterinary continuing professional development (CPD) or conferences, you can arrange for Dr Addie to visit your country to give feline CPD through Improve International.

Dr Addie is planning to give masterclasses on FIP and feline calicivirus and chronic gingivostomatitis in Spain in 2010.

I have joined up with Dr Nicola Decaro of the University of Bari, Italy to try to arrange a conference to follow the highly successful first and second symposia of the series begun by eminent veterinary virologist Dr Niels Pedersen. The first was held at the University of California, Davis, the 2nd in Glasgow, Scotland and we hope that the 3rd will take place in Italy in 2010.

These conferences are novel in bringing together scientists, veterinary surgeons, industry representatives, cat (and now dog and ferret!) rescuers and breeders. The symposia generally conclude with workshops to draw up recommendations by the group of experts gathered. Previous recommendations have been published in Feline Practice and JFMS:

Pedersen N.C., Addie D., Wolf A. 1995. Recommendations from working groups of the international feline enteric coronavirus and feline infectious peritonitis workshop. Feline Pract 23:108-111.

Addie D.D., Paltrinieri S, Pedersen N.C. 2004 Recommendations from workshops of the second international feline coronavirus/feline infectious peritonitis symposium. J. Feline Medicine and Surgery 6 125-130

Dr Diane D Addie is a veterinay surgeon and virologist who has spent the last 22 years researching feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) and feline coronavirus infection (FCoV). She qualified as a veterinary surgeon from the University of Glasgow, in Scotland, and spent 8 years in small animal practice in the north of England. She returned to Glasgow Veterinary School to research into FIP, her PhD was entitled "Studies on the humoral immune response to feline coronavirus." She is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, U.K and Director of the Feline Institute Pyrenees in France. Dr Addie serves on the European Advisory Board of Cat Disease.

Her dream is to eradicate FIP, at least from pedigree/purebred cats, and preferably also from rescue shelters, within the next 10 years. By becoming informed and spreading reliable knowledge, or by fundraising for research you can help her fight FIP.

She takes the stand that she prefers not to experiment on animals and all her studies have been on animals who have become infected or sick naturally and whose veterinary surgeons or guardians have contacted her.

In 2003 she received the Amoroso award for for outstanding contributions to small animal studies by a non-clinical member of university staff. She served on the council of Cats Protection for 20 years and is currently a patron of the Celia Hammond Animal Trust.

The opinions and recommendations given on this website are completely independent - Dr Addie is not in on the payroll of any corporation, nor does she hold shares in any company mentioned on this site, nor is she on any board of directors of any corporation or company whose products are mentioned on this site, with the exception of the ebooks for sale on this site, where she receives up to 65% of the income, this being her main source of income. Dr Addie takes no income from donations made to the Angelica Trust.

She is a member of the European Advisory Board of Cat Disease whose meetings are funded by Merial, but whose veterinary members are volunteer and are unpaid. Merial simply pays the travel expenses and hotel.

Your use of this website at your own risk. This site is for information purposes only and is in no way intended to replace a consultation with a fully qualified veterinary surgeon (veterinarian). The information in this site cannot and should not be used as a basis for diagnosis or choice of treatment. Dr Addie excludes all liability whatsoever for any loss or damage arising out of use of this site or reliance upon its contents and strongly advises all users with veterinary related queries to consult a veterinary surgeon.

Melody Amundson of Mariposa Creations made this site possible by generously offering her fantastic web designing skills free of charge as her generous donation to the cause of fighting Feline Infectious Peritonitis. She has given of her time and skills for over 8 years to keep this website working! You can see how artistic she is from the beauty of this website and the Orion Foundation website, and another example is her lovely colouring book for children, which you can purchase from her Devon Heaven website. Melody is a breeder of Devon Rex kittens and is active in the cat show world in the USA. She also forays into the world of cat rescue and any cat who crosses her path will benefit from the encounter!

Renata Fernandes of rftranslations arranged translations of the site into other languages. Each language had 4 translators working on the website's text plus a proofreader at the end. Over 30 people from different parts of the world were willing to help get rid of coronavirus by using their translating skills and did so ENTIRELY VOLUNTARILY! This was an astonishing donation to help spread the word on FIP!

Unfortunately I am unable to answer all the queries that come to my inbox. I'm very sorry, but I'm sure you'll appreciate that every moment spent responding to queries is a moment less to devote to research. In addition, it would be unethical for me to advise another veterinary surgeon's client without their consent. Time permitting, if you donate to FIP research and provide written consent for me to respond to you from your veterinary surgeon, I will try to answer some queries. Go to the Angelica Memorial Page to make a donation.

Forums and chat groups provide support and answer queries for people with a cat suspected of having FIP or for those who are unfortunate enough to have lost a cat to FIP. These are two that I personally recommend:

The beautiful Orion Foundation website will let you put up a photograph and story about your beloved cat.

The site is continually being updated and new material added. I hope that you will find the answer to your questions here and that you’ll come back soon.

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