How cats become infected with feline coronavirus, the virus which causes FIP

Feline coronavirus (FCoV), which causes feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), is shed in the faeces. FCoV infection occurs when cats ingest (or inhale) the virus. FCoV is a very contagious virus and it only takes a tiny speck of cat litter dust from a litter tray previously used by an infected cat for the virus to spread. FCoV is a moderately stable virus, lasting up to 7 weeks in the environment (so it is not as stable as parvovirus, which can survive for a year, but is a lot more stable than feline herpesvirus which survives only about 12 hours). FCoV is protected by cat faeces, by cat litter (unless the litter has antivirus properties) and the by the stable environment inside a house or shelter. Outdoors, cat faeces is buried by the cat and is rapidly broken down in the soil. Cats do not seek out each others faeces, as dogs do, so there is a good chance of the FCoV dying long before another cat is exposed to it. Of course, FCoV has evolved to deal with this problem and is incredibly inf br, br,