Any experience with FIP

[Jean]

My cat Mellow Yellow has been Leukemia positive since I trapped him as a kitten 5 years ago. He has been one of my healthiest cats. Last week he stopped eating . I opened almost every can in the house trying to get him to eat. After a few days of very little success I took him to the Vet. He did blood work and said he had developed hepatic lipidosis. I was shocked since it developed so quickly. Mellow Yellow is not overweight. I started syringe feeding him and was getting a can and a half of AD in him a day and 100 cc of LRS. Then, he started having labored breathing. He went back to the Vet yesterday and had a chest X-ray. He had so much fluid around his heart you could not even see his heart. He was put on prednisolone. This morning he had 70 cc drained from one side of his chest and 30 from the other side. I'm just kind of in shock. This all just came on so fast.
I know he doesn't have a good prognosis. But, I guess I just want to have my kitty around as long as possible with as much quality of life as possible.
Does anybody have any experience with treating this terrible disease?
Thanks, Jean

[critters]

My Joy and her boy, Mist, may have had it. They had a dry form, though. We didn't treat it because they went downhill so quickly.

[BendyMom]

FIP is most tyipcally fluid in the abdomen, not the chest. it is a yellow, stringy, protein rich fluid.
have you done blood work? the albumin/globulin ration is what you need to look at.
Fluid in the chest can also be from heart failure, have they done any kind of cardiac work up on him?
my boy Jean-Claude passed away this past January from sternal cancer which caused his chest to become filled with fluid.

I do know of a kitten, about 4 months old, who developed wet FIP and was put on prednisone and actually recovered. its been a couple months now, he has been weaned off the pred and everyone is keeping their fingers crossed and waiting.

i have known way too many vets to say "FIP" when they aren't sure what is going on, I would press for a cardiac work up.

I have 9 FeLv cats here, one is 14 years old.
kudos to you for keeping yours! I hope you can figure out what is going on with him and get it under control.

please keep us updated.