Thread: Our three are going for blood tests tomorrow!

Oh yes, this was great fun! We had three disgruntled cats, much! We weren't sure whether they should have anything to eat or not, so decided on "not", and took their grazing bowls up last night.

Hobbes got crammed into one of the regular sized carriers (note to self: buy larger carrier soon) and wailed and wailed. Stuffed his paw through the mesh at the front and waggled it in desperation, then tried to dig his way out through the bottom.

Spike came downstairs and then went back up as soon as he saw his (giant) carrier. Got him in there in the end.

Whisper went in as she always does, with a whimper and a resigned look, bless her.

We did check their weights - Hobbes weighed in at 5.6kg, Spike is too embarrassed to confess his here , but the weight of cat and carrier combined came out arounf 15.4kg. Whisper is a slender 5kg,but then she has always been "small"

Bloodwork should be back by the end of the week, we hope. Keeping fingers x'd that their titres are low enough for them to be vaccinated and for us to look for a buddy for Hobbes but it is most likely that we will have to wait 3 months and get them tested again!

Paws & claws crossed they will all be negative or at the worst very, very low x

A few sleepless nights then,thinking of you all x

Good luck with the results - thinking of you

Thanks for your kind thoughts, guys - let's hope it is good news, the two "oldsters" are finding Hobbes a bit "active" LOL!

[QUOTE

Hobbes got crammed into one of the regular sized carriers (note to self: buy larger carrier soon) and wailed and wailed. Stuffed his paw through the mesh at the front and waggled it in desperation, then tried to dig his way out through the bottom.

Spike came downstairs and then went back up as soon as he saw his (giant) carrier. Got him in there in the end.

Whisper went in as she always does, with a whimper and a resigned look, bless her.

[/QUOTE]

Can picture the scene, especially Spike lol.
At least that's one trauma over with, keeping it all crossed it comes back ok Alison & Harry x

fingers crossed everything goes well.

Well, the results are back. Hobbes' titres are below 160 which is good, but Spike and Whisper's titres are 610 . The vet says we should (ideally) separate the cats, and then test 3 months down the road to see whether the "oldsters" titres go down. If they do, then we can probably get another kitten.

As we see it, this separation is going to be nigh on impossible! If we were a breeding cattery, with individual pens, then it would be do-able, but I can only see this stressing out all three cats (which is supposed to be one way that FIP develops from the coronavirus) and Hobbes is already lonely without Alice, so would be really sad without the others. The vet isn't sure whether the older cats have raised titres because they have been in contact with Alice and their immune systems are reacting this way because they are weaker (being older) or whether one of them gave Alice the virus and it then mutated into FIP.

What ARE we going to do? Does anyone have any advice, please?

I am curious exactly what the blood test is whose numbers you are reporting?

Separating your cats sounds virtually impossible. We would have no reasonable way to do it. Wonder if it would do any good to try to avoid sharing food dishes or litter (train youngster to go in his own litter)? I don't know much about FIP, but I thought it was not easily transmitted.

When we had something causing diarrhea that started with the new kitten and cycled through the three adults a couple of times, we finally started replacing litter more frequently (and disinfecting the litter trays). Don't know if that is what stopped it or if they just built up immunity (as vet suggested would happen), but it did stop. That is my only real suggestion. Still a lot of work and fair amount of expense (throwing out perfectly fine litter).

Originally Posted by NCarver

I am curious exactly what the blood test is whose numbers you are reporting?

The titre levels are for coronavirus antibodies, apparently.

Originally Posted by NCarver

Separating your cats sounds virtually impossible. We would have no reasonable way to do it. Wonder if it would do any good to try to avoid sharing food dishes or litter (train youngster to go in his own litter)? I don't know much about FIP, but I thought it was not easily transmitted.

You are quite right - FIP isn't easily transmitted. It is the FeCOV virus (the coronavirus) that is transmitted in infected faeces. It can be ingested when the cat/kitten cleans its paws after treading in or getting litter with faeces in/on its fur and then grooming. Most cats get the coronavirus, get over it and that's fine. Some remain symptomless carriers and shed the virus and others (like my sweet Alice) get the virus and are susceptible to it mutating into FIP.
We have bought new litter trays and poop scoops, we have always ensured the trays are cleaned 2x a day (often more, because I swear that one of our MCs is actually a German Shepherd - you should SEE the size of the Number Twos in the box sometimes!!) Confining Hobbes to one part of the house only would be impossible and I'm not sure how to go about training Hobbes to use just one tray, when he has access to all four trays currently.

Your suggestion about changing the litter frequently is a good one - also on Diane Addie's site Dr. Addie - How to prevent FCoV transmission, she has a "League Table" of litters and their ability to "kill" the coronavirus - we will be trying the EverClean Less Track to see if that helps.