My cat has breathing trouble, hard belly. Is it FIP or jaundice?

I understand you are concerned about FIP. The reality is, if you don't have money for a veterinary visit (and in many cases even if you did), FIP is typically fatal and untreatable. The best thing you can do is separate your sick cat from your healthy one and see how things transpire over the course of the next few days. Typically, cats with FIP, regardless of the form, will be inappetant and not wanting to eat anything at all. The worst form of it will cause massive fluid buiid up in the chest / abdomen and result in difficulty breathing. The other form typically produce clinical signs that are both ophthalmic and/or neurologic, plus several other non specific clinical signs (a couple of which include what you are descrbing). Overall, FIP would not be near the top of my list. I would definitely make sure all three cats have been tested for leukemia and AIDS however in order to rule both of these life-threatening conditions. While not as rapidly fatal as FIP, both conditions can carry poor long term prognosis. It sounds like the one cat with a fever and swollen belly might benefit from pain management and a recheck for the presence of worms. While dietary indiscretion could be an issue, it is not likely to cause a fever unless an infectious organism was present in the food. Hope this is more helpful than my previous response.

I’m sorry to hear about your new kitten. Food substances would remain within the inside of the GI tract and would not be found as free liquid in the abdomen. Your veterinarian obtained the fluid by inserting a needle into the abdominal cavity just through the abdominal muscle. They would not have pushed the needle into the intestines or stomach itself where the food slurry would have been. Abdominal distension and yellowish fluid in a sick young kitten is very concerning and FIP would be a possible diagnosis. I hope you get some answers soon. Thank you

These are all very concerning signs but not necessarily diagnostic of fip, they are common to many fevers, infections and severe injury. Please have gus assessed urgently by your vet to stabilise his breathing and determine the underlying cause

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! From the X-rays, I can see that Mara's abdomen appears to be filled with fluid. It is obscuring his liver and intestines from being seen and there may even be a small amount in his lungs. Unfortunately it is impossible to tell what the fluid is from the x-ray alone. His blood work shows some abnormalities with his electrolytes, which may be if he is not eating or from fluid in the abdomen. Mara also has a high white blood cell count, these are the cells that are responsible for fighting off infections and increase if there is one present. Your vet can run some additional diagnostics, and perform a tap and remove the fluid as well as a blood test to determine if Mara is infected with FIP, a mutated form of a common virus that cats are exposed to. I hope this helps!

More clinical signs and details are needed to determine the underlying cause, including details of the tests your vet have performed. When there is a suspcion of FIP, the underlying cause of the bloat (fluid, organ enlargement and so on) should be determine first, then if there is fluid inside her abdomen this should be ideally sampled and tested. Gastrointestinal worms should be rule out as they are commonly a possible cause of bloat in young kittens. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

Poor blue, it does sound like his immune system may be quite weak and blood tests for felv, fiv and fip would be worthwhile to fully assess what is going on. I also recommend a high quality kitten food to try and rebuild his strength and antibiotics may be required if he develops a fever

Fluids in the abdomen can be caused by a lot of things and it usually makes the xray non diagnostical, at this age FIP can be one of the causes but it could also be a severe gastrointestinal infection or a liver problem. The next stage will be a specialist ultrasound, fluids might need to be drained first.