New cat has tested positive for FIP - any experience?

[Archfarchnad]

We've had our gorgeous 3yo tabby from the rescue shelter for three weeks now. I had a thread about him a few weeks back and got some great initial advice. We're starting to let him out now because he's clearly getting very frustrated as being kept in the house, and he's proved so far that he's happy to come back home after a short while and get his grub.

Although he's clearly not feral, he was found wandering the streets four months ago unneutered and unchipped, and so we have no idea of his previous history. He had a blood test last week for FeLV (leukosis) and FIP, so that he could get innoculated against them. The vet kindly phoned Friday evening to say that while he's negative for FeLV, thank goodness, he had tested positive for FIP. Then she said: but he's healthy now, there's no reason to believe he will necessarily develop the illness.

I was gutted at first, but have now done some more research. I think she must mean that he's tested positive for corona virus, not clinical FIP itself, right? And from what I can understand, the risk of developing full-blown FIP is only 5 to 10% (but is then always fatal). There are a few threads on here from people whose cats have unfortunately developed FIP itself, but has anyone else tested their healthy cat and got a corona-positive result? Has it changed the way you behave with your cat or other cats? How worried are you about developing clinical FIP? This source seems to be claiming that 50% of cats in single-cat households are corona positive?

I haven't set up Archcat's insurance yet. The insurance form asks 'is the cat healthy?'. An awkward question to answer, as he is actually currently healthy, according to the vet. But I obviously have to disclose the blood test result, right? Even though 50% of all cats apparently have the virus anyway. And this will presumably lead to much higher premiums or being refused insurance altogether. This is what I get for actually choosing to be responsible and getting a blood test.

What keeps on coming up is that he was less likely to have contracted the virus on the streets than in the shelter, as apparently 90% of cats in multi-cat settings like shelters and catteries are positive (I've now found this figure in a number of sources, including the one linked above). Can this be true?

We've got an appointment with the vet tomorrow PM, so Archcat can have his FeLV jab and we can ask questions about the FIP result. What would you be asking in our position? We're in central Europe rather than the UK .

In a clinically healthy cat a positive Cornavirus test is in significant. There are many strains of Cornavirus and not all of them cause FIP.
In a clinically ill cat a positive Cornavirus test is suggestive of FIP, but not diagnostic.
I suspect you are in the US as in the UK we do not routinely screen healthy cats for Cornavirus due to it's lack of significance.

Ah sorry Central Europe. Me I would adopt a healthy rescue cat with a positive Cornavirus test if the FeLV and FiV tests were negative.

We do sometimes test for coronavirus, for various reasons, and for the last eight years or so around 50 per cent of the cats I've had living with me (which is a very large number - over 60 probably) have been coronavirus positive. Some are still alive, and those that are dead died of old age related problems. None have ever gone on to develop FIP.

Thanks lone cat and catneuterer. That's exactly what I was hoping to hear. It's brilliant that no cats out of 30 who were corona positive actually went on to die from it.

The vet just suggested last week that we test for various things, and I didn't then know too much about the difference between FeLV, FIV and FIP. Now I do! She said the main reason for testing for FeLV and FIP/corona was that she needed a negative test in order for an innoculation to be possible. But from all I've read, the FIP innoculation isn't hugely effective in any case. I'm glad we can do the FeLV jab tomorrow.

The FIP vaccination is not effective enough to be licenced in the UK so that probably tells you everything you need to know about it.

Really that should be no cats out of 60, as although the other 50% weren't tested, it's fairly safe to say that after a little while living with a load of virus positive cats they too would have become positive if they weren't already.

I imagine you would need to disclose it for insurance, but can't imagine it making a huge difference as there is no expensive treatment for FIP - just euthanasia.

One thing I would be asking the vet is which insurance company they recommend and attaching a letter saying the test is not significant.

its usually felv and fiv that we test for here when it comes to rehomes..any chance you could have misheard and its fiv that he has?