What are the symptoms of feline coronavirus?

Feline coronavirus consists of two types: the gastrointestinal virus and the variant that causes feline infectious peritonitis. The first type of virus mainly affects the gastrointestinal tract, causing symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea. In severe cases, it can lead to dehydration. The second type of virus is more dangerous for cats, triggering dry or wet feline infectious peritonitis. In addition to the typical symptoms of lethargy, loss of appetite, vomiting, and increased body temperature, wet cases also have symptoms such as abdominal distension and difficulty breathing, while dry cases have symptoms such as glistening conjunctiva, organ swelling. In severe cases, there may be neurological symptoms.

Firstly, there are two types of feline coronavirus, one is the common gastrointestinal coronavirus, which is relatively easy to treat. Some cats with strong resistance can even recover without treatment. The other is the variant that causes feline infectious peritonitis, which has a severe illness and is difficult to treat.

Common Gastrointestinal Coronavirus

Most cats carry coronavirus, and when their immunity is low, they may suffer from a coronavirus infection. If the virus in the cat's body does not mutate and remains a common gastrointestinal coronavirus, the cat may appear sluggish and unwilling to eat. Then some digestive tract reactions occur, such as vomiting and diarrhea, which can cause dehydration. If not treated in time, it can even lead to secondary bacterial infections.

This virus poses a greater threat to young cats, and untreated infections can lead to death. However, adult cats have better resistance and immunity, so they usually face no significant danger after infection and have a high cure rate.

Feline Infectious Peritonitis Virus

When cats suffer severe stress, the coronavirus in their bodies mutates, leading to feline infectious peritonitis, commonly known as "cat AIDS."

Clinically, feline infectious peritonitis can be divided into dry and wet types, with a mortality rate of 90% or higher. Infected cats usually present with typical symptoms such as lethargy, loss of appetite, vomiting, and increased body temperature. If it is wet feline infectious peritonitis, cats will also have abdominal distension and difficulty breathing. Cats infected with dry feline infectious peritonitis will have symptoms such as glistening conjunctiva, seizures, hind limb incoordination, and organ swelling.