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My kitten was exposed to FIP. Should I test her if she has no signs?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | unspayed

Hi, my friend's cat has been diagnosed as FIP, and my kitten only had her first shot(not included FIP vaccine). They never shared food or litter box. It's already passed about two months and my kitten never showed any sign of FIP, so do I still need to do a FIP test to make sure she's all right? Because my future roommate has one cat that has 3 shots and one babycat that only has 1st shot.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

Published on November 20th, 2016

I'm sorry to hear that! FIP is a nasty disease in cats, so I definitely understand your worry. I will try to answer your questions and give you some basic information about how this disease works - it's a bit more complicated than most other infectious diseases! FIP is caused by a coronavirus - coronaviruses themselves are extremely common in cats, and almost all kittens are exposed to them at some point. In a very few cats, the virus mutates into a much more dangerous form and causes FIP - this seems to be partly related to genetics, but it's not fully understood why this happens in some cats but not others. So although the coronavirus can be passed from cat to cat, FIP is not really considered to be a contagious disease because most cats who are exposed to a coronavirus will never develop the more dangerous, mutated form that leads to FIP. So, the bottom line is that your kitten will probably be just fine. There isn't much you can do at this point, since there is no diagnostic test for FIP. Although a vaccine does exist, it isn't recommended by the AAFP (American Association of Feline Practitioners) because it hasn't been shown to be effective and can actually cause illness in some cases. I would recommend preventing your kitten from having any further contact with your friend's cat to be on the safe side, and monitoring your kitty for any signs of a problem - but it's very likely that she will be just fine :)

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    FIP can be transmitted via cat to cat contact via saliva, so if Tiger did have face to face contact with your friend's cat, then there is a chance she could have FIP. The virus can also live for weeks in the environment. Cats who have initially been exposed to FIP usually show no obvious symptoms, so she could currently have it even though she is showing no signs. I would recommend having an FIP test done her to make sure she is alright.

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