Fecal shedding of feline coronavirus in adult cats and kittens in an Abyssinian cattery.
OBJECTIVE
To determine patterns of fecal shedding of feline coronavirus (FCV) by cats, age at which kittens first began to shed FCV in their feces, and whether there was any relationship between fecal shedding of FCV and serum antibody titers in adult cats or kittens.


METHODS
Prospective observational study.


METHODS
15 adult cats and 18 kittens from a single cattery.


METHODS
Blood and fecal samples were collected from adult cats every other month for 13 months. Serum FCV antibody titers were measured by use of an indirect immunofluorescence assay. A reverse-transcriptase, nested polymerase chain reaction assay was used to detect FCV in feces. Blood and fecal samples were collected from kittens at approximately 2-week intervals from 3 weeks to 15 weeks of age.


RESULTS
Adult cats shed FCV intermittently. All adult cats shed virus in their feces at least once during the year, and 4 of 15 shed virus > 75% of the time. Serum antibody titer was not significantly associated with shedding of FCV. For the kittens, median age at the time FCV was first detected in feces was 67 days (range, 33 to 78 days). All except 1 of the kittens was found to be shedding virus in their feces before or at the time of seroconversion.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that serum FCV antibody titers are not a good indicator of shedding of FCV in the feces. Kittens may shed FCV in their feces before they seroconvert, and all kittens in a cattery in which FCV infection is endemic may be infected before 12 weeks of age.
Harpold
L M
LM
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37901, USA.
Legendre
A M
AM
Kennedy
M A
MA
Plummer
P J
PJ
Millsaps
K
K
Rohrbach
B
B
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000833:Animals, Suckling; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology*; D002415:Cats; D017934:Coronavirus / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D014611:Vaccination / Q000662:veterinary
D000914:Antibodies, Viral