FIP Research: New Hope For Cats (And Maybe Humans)
by Dr. Emily Singler, AAHA News
As veterinary professionals in 2022, few of us would have imagined that we would be diagnosing a fatal disease in young cats and telling our clients we know of a treatment but that we can’t administer, sell, or prescribe it—then suggesting they visit a Facebook page to purchase unmarked vials of a drug from China for thousands of dollars. But that is precisely the scenario in which we find ourselves in the diagnosis and treatment of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) in the United States.
How did we get to a point where our only option is to suggest that our clients meet up with strangers from the internet with no veterinary training in parking lots to buy an unapproved medication to inject into their dying cats?
UC Davis veterinarians Amir Kol, Krystle Reagan, and Brian Murphy are leading studies to find readily accessible treatments.