Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP)
A once almost-always-fatal viral disease of cats that is now usually treatable. FIP develops when the common feline coronavirus mutates inside an individual cat, most often a kitten or young cat, driving intense inflammation in the abdomen, chest, eyes or nervous system. In the UK it is treated legally through your own vet with antiviral medicines over a course of around 84 days, followed by an observation window; this check-in helps you track temperature, appetite, weight and daily dosing between visits.
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What FIP is: the coronavirus connection
If you have just heard the letters FIP, whether in the consult room, down the phone, or read off a lab report while you sat in the car park, I want to say the most important thing first, before anything else, because...
Wet, dry, ocular, neuro: the four faces of FIP
You are probably here because you are watching one particular thing and trying to work out what it means. A belly that has swelled up over a few days. An eye that has gone cloudy or changed colour. A back leg that has...
Is it FIP? Why there's no single test
If you are here because a test came back saying "consistent with FIP" rather than a clean yes or no, I understand exactly how maddening that is. You wanted an answer and you were handed a probability. You may be...
Reading the bloodwork: A:G ratio, globulins, PCV
If you have a printout of your cat's results in front of you, a column of numbers with a few of them flagged in bold or marked with an H or an L, and your vet mentioned "the globulins" or "the A:G ratio" and moved on...
Multi-cat homes, shelters and stress as a trigger
There is a particular guilt that comes with an FIP diagnosis in a busy household. You start turning it over. Was it the number of cats? Was it the rescue you took in? Was it the move, the new baby, the building work,...
FIP in kittens vs adult cats
There is a question underneath the question you came here with, and I want to answer it first. Whether your cat is a tiny kitten or a settled older cat, what you are really asking is: why mine, why now, and did I let...
FIP and your other cats: is it contagious?
If you have just been told one of your cats has FIP, and you have others at home, there is a very good chance the first thing you did was look at the rest of them and feel your stomach drop. You are not being paranoid....
Can you prevent FIP? The coronavirus-is-everywhere reality
If you are reading this, there is a fair chance you have already lived through an FIP diagnosis, and the question you are really asking is "how do I make sure this never happens again", either to the cat you have or to...
Breeders and FIP: what responsible breeders do
Whether you are a breeder who has just lost a kitten, or an owner whose beloved pedigree cat has been diagnosed and you are now wondering hard about where they came from, this is a fraught subject. There is loss on one...
FIP is treatable now: the legal UK route via your vet and Bova
If you have just been told your cat has FIP, and you have spent the last few hours reading that the only cure is something you have to smuggle in from abroad or buy from a stranger in a Facebook group, please take a...
What FIP treatment costs in the UK, 2025-26: an honest look
If you are reading this at the kitchen table with a calculator and a knot in your stomach, sick with the fear that money is going to decide whether your cat lives, I want to say the thing first that too many articles...
The black market, answered honestly
If you have been researching FIP for more than an hour, you have almost certainly found them: the Facebook groups, the unofficial suppliers, the owners sharing photos of vials and spreadsheets of doses, all promising to...
How to talk to your vet about FIP treatment
You have read that FIP is treatable in the UK, and you believe it. Now you are sitting with a different worry, one that a lot of owners feel and very few say out loud: what if my own vet doesn't know? What if I walk in,...
GS-441524, remdesivir and molnupiravir explained
If you have spent any time reading about FIP online, you have probably met three drug names by now, and they have probably left you more confused than when you started. GS-441524. Remdesivir. Molnupiravir. People use...
FIP myths vs facts in 2026
FIP has one of the worst information problems in all of cat medicine, and it is not your fault that you feel lost. The disease was a near-certain death sentence for decades, then it changed almost overnight, and the...
Does pet insurance cover FIP antivirals?
When you are staring at the cost of FIP treatment, the next question comes fast and hard: will my insurance actually pay for this? It is a question with real weight, because for many families the answer decides how the...
Weigh weekly, re-dose weekly: the growing-kitten trap
There is one habit that quietly decides more FIP outcomes than almost anything else you will do across the eighty-four days, and hardly anyone warns owners about it. It is not dramatic. It is a set of kitchen scales and...
The daily dosing routine: pills, injections, timing, missed doses
The medicine is on the kitchen counter. Your vet has explained it, you nodded along, and now it is just you, a small cat, and eighty-four days stretching ahead of you. If your hands are shaking a little and your head is...
When FIP treatment stalls: "if in doubt, increase the dose"
You started treatment expecting a clear line: sick cat, then medicine, then better. And for a lot of cats it really is close to that. But your cat is a few days or a couple of weeks in and she isn't bouncing back the...
What to track during treatment (and why)
Once the daily dose is under way, most owners hit the same quiet question: what am I actually supposed to be watching for? You want to know what "getting better" looks like, day by day, so you can tell the difference...
Side effects and what's normal on FIP treatment
You've started treatment, you're watching your cat like a hawk, and now something has changed. Maybe there's a firm little lump where the last injection went in. Maybe she's had a quiet day, or a soft stool, or she...
Giving FIP injections at home without the stress
There's a particular kind of dread that comes with a box of syringes and the knowledge that you'll be reaching for it every day, sometimes for weeks. You love this cat. The whole point is to make her better. And here...
Bloodwork checkpoints: day 30, 60 and 84
A recheck appointment is coming up, blood is going to be taken, and you would rather not walk in blind. You want to know what your vet is actually looking for, what counts as good news, and what the numbers on the...
The 84-day observation window
You imagined the last day of treatment would feel like a finish line. You'd give the final dose, exhale, and finally let go of the fear you've been carrying for twelve weeks. Instead, someone has handed you another...
Relapse: the signs, the timing, and what to do
If you're reading this while your cat is well, doing the daily checks and quietly terrified that the disease is going to come back, I want to start with the thing that matters most. Relapse is a real possibility, but it...
Neuro and ocular relapse: the barrier problem
If your cat had neurological or ocular FIP, or you've been told the disease has reached the brain or the eyes, you're carrying a particular worry that owners of the "wet belly" cases don't always have. You may have...
"Is my cat cured?" What remission really means
You have almost certainly been waiting a long time to ask this question out loud, half afraid that saying it will jinx it. After 84 days of daily medicine and weeks more of watching an apparently-well cat like a hawk,...
When treatment doesn't work
If you're here because treatment isn't working, or because you've already had to say goodbye, I'm so sorry. I want to sit with that for a moment before anything else, because you have almost certainly spent weeks or...
Life after FIP: your cured cat's future
There is a particular quiet that arrives after FIP treatment ends well. The daily medicine is done, the observation window has passed, your vet has used the word remission, and after months of living on high alert you...
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