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My cat has FIP. Will she die? Is it contagious to my other cats?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 5 lbs

It turns out that Oliver has FIP. She has high fever and hardly eat now. I took her to the vet for the past two days to get fluid and antibiotic shots but she still have fever and hardly eat. Is it true that all cat with FIP will die? Is it true that cat get FIP from sharing litter box? I have orher cats that share litter box with Oliver. Does this mean that they will all die? One of them start to lost appetite and little fever but the rest seems fine. What will happen to Oliver and other cats?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Heidi DVM, CVA, CCRT, CVTP, CVSMT, CVCH

Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist, Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner

Published on June 29th, 2018

I'm so very sorry to hear that Oliver has FIP. Unfortunately, FIP does not have any treatment and cats that contract the disease will die from it. However, the good news is that FIP is not contagious to other cats, so your other cats should not contract the disease. The disease is very complicated, but FIP is caused by a corona virus (which is contagious) and in some cats (we don't know why), that corona virus mutates into FIP. I am attaching more information about FIP below which may help explain everything in more detail for you. https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951549 Any other cats that appear to be sick should certainly be evaluated by your veterinarian. Since all the cats have likely been exposed to corona virus, it certainly could mutate and cause FIP in one of them, but FIP is overall a fairly rare disease, so hopefully the other cats will be fine. I hope that was helpful and answers your questions. Thanks for using PetCoach.

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