Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP)

In this episode of Current Vet, Dr Lottie talks about feline infectious peritonitis (FIP)

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Timeline:
00:00 Intro
00:29 Case
03:10 Aetiology & Pathogenesis
04:35 Clinical Signs
07:07 Diagnosis
11:47 Treatment
17:19 Prevention
18:15 Key Points
19:26 Outro

Recommended Reading

• Hartmann, K. (2005) ‘Feline infectious peritonitis’, Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice, 35(1), pp. 39–79. doi: 10.1016/j.cvsm.2004.10.011.

While this is a great overview of FIP, it was written in 2005 when the latest treatment options and antivirals were not yet available

• EveryCat Health Foundation has some great research updates and summaries on FIP
• iCatCare has an amazing document outlining the treatments available for FIP, their contraindications, side effects, costs and recommended schedules as well as covering a few FAQs on FIP treatment. It was updated in July 2025. https://icatcare.org/resources/icatcare_fipupdate_july25.pdf
• The 2022 AAFP/EveryCat FIP Diagnosis Guidelines give a great summary of FIP itself, the diagnostic options available, pros and cons or each option and then an summary at the end https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1098612X221118761

References

• Fischer, Y., Sauter-Louis, C. and Hartmann, K. (2012) ‘Diagnostic accuracy of the Rivalta test for feline infectious peritonitis’, Veterinary Clinical Pathology, 41(4), pp. 558–567. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-165X.2012.00464.x.
• Tasker, S. (2018) ‘Diagnosis of feline infectious peritonitis: update on evidence supporting available tests’, Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 20(3), pp. 228–243. doi: 10.1177/1098612X18758592.
• Felten, S. and Hartmann, K. (2019) ‘Diagnosis of feline infectious peritonitis: a review of the current literature’, Viruses, 11(11), p. 1068. doi: 10.3390/v11111068.
• Tekes, G. and Thiel, H.-J. (2016) ‘Feline coronaviruses: pathogenesis of feline infectious peritonitis’, Advances in Virus Research, 96, pp. 193–218. doi: 10.1016/bs.aivir.2016.08.002.
• Taylor, S.S., Coggins, S., Barker, E.N., Gunn-Moore, D., Jeevaratnam, K., Norris, J.M., et al. (2023)‘Retrospective study and outcome of 307 cats with feline infectious peritonitis treated with legally sourced veterinary compounded preparations of remdesivir and GS-441524 (2020–2022)’, Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 25(9). doi: 10.1177/1098612X231194460.
• Thayer, V., Gogolski, S., and Olah, G.A. et al. (2022) ‘2022 AAFP/EveryCat Feline Infectious Peritonitis Diagnosis Guidelines’, Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 24(9), pp. 905-933. doi: 10.1177/1098612X221118761.

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