Hi, I lost my young and beloved british shorthair to FIP and got violently hit with the realization that virus exist.
I am now extremely concerned about my 9 years old having FHV, as she get a crying eye or an eye infection once or twice a year. We also recently adopted a 5 years old shelter cat, no sing of illness at all. But the shelter did told us that it's not Impossible for her to be infected from FIV or FelV, as a disclaimer.
I'm gonna bring both of my cat to the vet and get them tested but, how afraid should I be of all those virus?
gettingvetted here.
FHV (herpesvirus) is pretty ubiquitious and most cats have been exposed to one strain or another at some point in their lives. Most cats get over it and may have flares now and again during stressful periods such as moving, post-surgery, or introduction of a new human or animal housemate. Some cats have chronic issues where they blow snot or have sore eyes all the time, but it's very difficult to kill a cat with FHV alone.
FIP (feline infectious peritonitis) is also, technically, ubiquitous. Its origin is in a coronavirus (not the same one as humans!), FCoV, that causes mild GI symptoms in cats, if it causes symptoms at all. Again, cats get over it... usually. If it mutates and infects the white blood cells, the cat develops FIP. There is no way to know which cats will convert FCoV to FIP, but there is suspicion that cats in the same litter as a cat that develops FIP will be more prone than an unrelated cat. While FCoV is extremely contagious, mutation to FIP is comparatively extremely rare and unpredictable, so there are no real precautions to take for prevention. It would be like avoiding everyone that had ever had a cold because you were afraid of a 1 in 10,000 (0.0001%) chance that one of your colds might mutate into Ebola.
To prevent FIV/FeLV: have your cats tested; if they are negative, keep them indoor only and you will never have an issue. If they are positive: FIV+ cats can live perfectly normal lives (again, indoor only), they are just more susceptible to illness and parasites. FLV+ cats should also be kept indoors to prevent spreading but unfortunately their lives tend to be cut short by their disease.
So really, FLV is the only virus you truly need to worry about, out of the 4 you've listed.
