gray cat — Grayson was found at a local park and was brought to Front Street Animal Shelter in Old Sacramento before being enrolled in a clinical trial at UC Davis to treat him for feline infectious peritonitis, fatal in cats about 95% of the time without treatment. (photo courtesy of Front Street Animal Shelter)

A Kitten Survived Deadly Disease after UC Davis Experimental Trial

by Sonora Slater, Sacramento Bee
July 19, 2023

Experimental treatment saved a kitten’s life after he was found abandoned at a Sacramento park suffering from an illness that is usually fatal in cats.

The kitten, later named Grayson, was struggling to walk when he was brought to safety at Front Street Animal Shelter in Old Sacramento. But he wasn’t out of the woods yet. Grayson was quickly diagnosed with feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) — which, according to Krystle Reagan, an assistant professor at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is nearly always fatal in cats if they don’t receive treatment.

The disease is caused by a feline coronavirus variant, a “cousin” to the one that causes COVID-19 in humans. Up to 95% of cats diagnosed with FIP die without treatment, according to UC Davis studies, and it currently has no approved treatment or cure in the United States.

Read full article from Sacramento Bee

Learn more about the FIP clinical trial

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