awwwww, sounds like you're exactly what this little one needed to help bring
him around!
to answer your question about how/why a conventional vet could even consider
FIP in a cat who doesn't have a positive FeCoV titre, two options:
1) the titre is useless, as has been mentioned before, as it reflects
EXPOSURE to the virus--numbers vary on how long it takes the "average" cat
to process the virus out and stop shedding, so a cat who has mutated the
virus into FIP after a stressor may have exposed quite awhile before and
thus be negative. while i cat with a very high titres, and no other
indicators, may just have been hanging out with a lot of kitties who are
shedding the virus. so if all the other symptoms of FIP are there, a titre
just doesn't matter....
2) the titre is useless, but too many vets just don't get that yet. and
antech labs, who SWEAR that their test can differentiate between the strains
of FeCoV and therefore it DOES test for FIP rather than the virus push that
VERY HARD. they do not mention that no outside researchers have been able to
replicate their results, and no one actually working in FIP believes there
is, yet, a way to predict which strain will mutate.
there is a really simple test -- and cheap -- that any vet can do in their
office, with grocery-store ingredients. right now i can't remember
(anything) the name of the test, which i'd never heard of before; also, the
IFA, so well-known to us from dealing with FeLV, is now being used to help
diagnose FIP. again, i don't remember the details--but they are in the
petsmart charities program on FIP that i've mentioned before. (i'm in the
middle of some major legal stuff of my own right now, and as my friends on
the list know, i'm barely answering mail)--so i can't go digging for the
link right now. (instead, i'm digging through 5 hard drives for old emails,
IMs and chat logs from 2000 on!)
MC
--
Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors!
Maybe That'll Make The Difference....
MaryChristine
AIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats
MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
ICQ: 289856892
