Safe Haven of Iowa County

Chester has been having soft stools daily for several weeks. This led Safe Haven to send off his stool to a lab for analysis. The result of that analysis was that Chester was negative for around a dozen things that can cause loose stools, but he did get one positive result, and that was for a virus called FCoV. This particular virus is ubiquitous in cat populations. It is shed in the feces of infected cats, and other cats can become infected by sharing a litter box or through mutual grooming with the infected cat. We believe this FCoV infection may be the cause of Chester’s soft stools. Once infected, most cats will, over time, eliminate the infection from their body, but that may take weeks to months, and until that time that the virus is eliminated from their bodies, an FCoV infected cat remains contagious to other cats. This virus generally causes only mild disease in some cats, and no symptoms in other cats. It is generally a self-limiting infection. The virus that is shed in the environment is easily killed with routine disinfectants, so daily cleaning of the litter box is important. In very rare circumstances, this virus can mutate and cause a more serious disease called FIP in cats. This virus can not infect people, and there is no risk of transmission from cat to people.

 

Our hope for Chester would be that he is adopted out to a single cat household, as he may be contagious to other household cats for several weeks to months. If he is adopted out into a multi-cat home, the adopters should realize there is some risk of the FCoV virus being transmitted to their other cats from him, but as mentioned, this virus generally causes only mild or no symptoms. Still, adopters should be very diligent about keeping the kitty litter boxes very clean.

 

We are currently experimenting with diet trials to see if we can find one that might help firm up Chester’s stools.