SOCK it to FIP

Dear Breeders and Cat Lovers,

Your help is needed for FIP research at U. C. Davis. New tools and technology, coupled with sequencing of the feline genome, have provided an important window of opportunity to study a genetic basis for FIP susceptibility. As you may know, Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) is an infectious disease that kills 1 in 100 to 1 in 300 of all cats in the U.S. However, the incidence is 5 to 10 times greater among young cats coming from catteries and shelters. It is a disease that is 100% lethal, and is heartbreaking for breeders and for the families that lose affected kittens and young cats.

There are three study groups for study samples:  Group 1 is for cats affected by FIP; Group 2 is for cats closely related to cats who have been affected by FIP; Group 3 is for cats who come from lines that have no history of FIP.

UC Davis researchers are especially interested in Burmese or Birman cats that have FIP for an FIP genetics study. However, samples are also needed from both random bred and other purebreeds dying from the disease, especially Persians, Ragdolls, and Bengals; they will be used in another important study.  

Cat with wet FIP usually have very large amounts of a yellow-tinged, mucinous fluid in their abdomen and/or chest cavities. This fluid is high in protein and contains a variable number of white cells made up of macrophages, lymphocytes and neutrophils. It will often form a partial clot on setting. There is virtually no other disease than FIP with this type of fluid, especially in a younger cat (two thirds or more of cats with FIP are under one year of age) that comes from a shelter or cattery environment (70% of total cases). Combined with history, physical findings, and common laboratory abnormalities, these findings should be sufficient to make the diagnosis.

All funds given to SOCK FIP for the CCAH will go right into FIP research. Some of this research will be clinical in nature, and some bench top. $50,000 - 75,000 a year supports a single technician or graduate student, and the more such people the CCAH can engage in research the faster we will reach our goals. The genetic testing will be expensive - the DNA chip arrays will cost $400 or more each just to purchase (once they are developed by commercial companies), read, and analyze. As demonstrated by SOCK FIP's predecessor, SOCK it to Leukemia, a great deal of money can be raised by ordinary people), and a lot can be accomplished with that money if it is concentrated in the hands of knowledgeable and capable researchers.

Though SOCK FIP is trying to focus funding on U.C. Davis for greater impact, the scientific community is very collaborative and pedigree/disease information and DNA samples will be useful for meaningful collaborations. UC Davis researchers are also aware that other groups are raising money to study FIP, and this is also respected and accepted. The goal of SOCK FIP and the UC Davis Center for Companion Animal Research is to solve FIP and in the end it really does not matter how it is accomplished or who does it. Scientific competition is always good. A world full of researchers have studied this disease for over 40 years, and although we know a lot more about it, we still do not have effective ways to totally prevent or cure this disease. Hopefully, this worldwide research effort will finally bear the needed fruit. Researchers at UC Davis and the CCAH can only do the best as their part.