Expert: Jessica - 10/4/2010

Question
I have recently had to put a kitten that i adopted to sleep because he was
diagnosed with FIP & now my 4 year old cat has herpes. Is there any
relationship with feline herpes & FIP

Answer
Hi Michele,

I'm sorry for your loss.

No, there is no relationship between FIP and feline herpes.  Feline herpes is the most common upper respiratory virus in cats, and it's estimated that at least 90% of cats become infected with the virus at some point.

FIP is a rare disease caused in a few cats by a mutation of a corona virus.  Most cats become infected with corona viruses, as well, but these are in a completely separate family and tend to cause no symptoms or mild diarrhea.  For unknown reasons, the immune systems of some individual cats allow the virus to mutate into deadly FIP.

The one link between the two may be that herpes tends to be opportunistic and will be brought on by stress.  The loss of your kitty who had FIP could have caused your other cat so much distress that he is now suffering a flare up from a previously unknown dormant infection, or that his body became susceptible to a new infection.  

Herpes is frustrating to deal with, but it is not generally dangerous as long as your kitty will eat despite a stuffy nose, and most flare ups pass in about 7-10 days.  To help him get through the flare up and prevent flare ups from returning, I recommend giving him a product such as Viralys or Enisyl F.

Best of luck!

Jessica