I can say that having been working on this for a while, my cats have insurance in place specifically chosen to cover that cost just in case.
There are several international groups working on prevention and treatment for FCoV-23, so hopefully they should have solid data to share in the near future.

GS-441524 is the recommended treatment and has been used successfully in cases of FCoV-23. Unfortunately it is not available for veterinary use in every country, and is expensive. Molnupiravir was used during the outbreak in Cyprus as there were COVID stocks the government allowed use of.

Also, my black cat says hi to your black cat.

I borrowed that tree as I'm on my phone and it was easier than finding my own! The source of that tree is this chapter, which may be of interest. But simply put, they're quite different. www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immun...

While this is about a coronavirus, it's not about that coronavirus. They're not very closely related, and while we did see cases of cats catching SARS-CoV-2, it isn't going to give your cat deadly FIP. Most cats that catch SARS-CoV-2 have very mild or no respiratory symptoms.

Also interesting that the deletion between TGEV and PRCV tracks so closely with the FCoV-23 deletion!

We know it has come up in other European countries, but overall testing rates are low. We are working on some easy diagnostics. So far we've not had reports of any massive die-offs in feral populations so that is a good sign, but it is possible it just hasn't met a good cat dense environment yet.

So there have been more confirmed UK cases, so far all imports, but there may be some local spread that we don't know of. It's difficult to know when essentially the same disease already exists in the country from "normal" FCoVs, we only tend to hear about the imports.

For more on the domain 0 deletion in the spike gene, see another paper, also out today in Nature, looking at how the deletion enhances fusogenicity and entry kinetics.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

For more on the domain 0 deletion in the spike gene, see another paper, also out today in Nature, looking at how the deletion enhances fusogenicity and entry kinetics.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

*our

I'm so not redoing the whole thread for one typo though 😅

Our fur raising findings pose important questions about this novel virus and its potential impact on cat populations, especially in areas with high numbers of feral cats. Better understanding of the virus is important for developing effective treatment and prevention strategies.

We also identified a host-specific deletion in the spike gene which may play a role in its virulence.

This new recombinant’s genome is primarily feline coronavirus I (FCoV-I), but the spike gene originates from a pantropic canine coronavirus II (pCCoV-II). It is unclear if the virus does not need to do an in-host switch to cause FIP, or if it is simply more likely to occur.

Typically, feline coronavirus causes no symptoms, most cats get it at some point without anyone noticing. However, occasionally in an unlucky cat an in-host mutation can trigger FIP, a disease that is fatal without costly antivirals. Large outbreaks are rare since FIP usually doesn't spread.

Following an outbreak of Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) in Cyprus, we sequenced samples from infected cats using @nanoporetech.com sequencing and discovered a novel recombinant between feline and canine coronaviruses, FCoV-23.