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FCoV is very contagious and it only takes a tiny speck of contaminated cat litter to infect a kitten or cat. FCoV lasts up to 7 weeks in the house (it is not as stable as parvovirus, which survives for a year, but is more stable than feline herpesvirus which only survives ~12 hours). FCoV is protected by faeces and cat litter (unless it has anti-virus properties). Outdoors, cats bury their faeces and FCoV 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. In this animation we meet Augustus, a healthy FCoV-infected cat, and we see how his faeces contains billions of highly infectious virus particles. Augustus will shed virus in his faeces for a few weeks or months, then will stop shedding virus: nobody might ever know that he was infected. Enter Plato, an uninfected cat who has to share a litter tray with Augustus. Even if the tray has been de-clumped since Augustus used it, it will still contain enormous amounts of coronavirus. The virus gets onto Plato’s paws as he covers his own toilet, and when he grooms himself, he licks virus off his paws and swallows it. We believe that the virus first infects the cells lining the small intestine (i.e. the epithelial cells of the villi). Once a cat is infected with FCoV, a battle begins between the immune system and the virus. Happily most cats who become infected only shed the virus for a few weeks or months, then stop. However, an unfortunate 5-10% of FCoV-infected cats go on to develop FIP. The best way to prevent FCoV transmission is to ensure that you only bring FCoV-negative cats into your house. Allow your cats outdoors if it is safe to do so. If cats must be confined indoors, have at least one litter tray for every cat in the house—preferably in different rooms. There are cat flaps which recognise specific cat microchips: I use Staywell cat doors. Use covered or self-cleaning litter trays. Some people train their cats to use human toilets. It takes only a tiny speck of infected cat litter dust blown onto cat food for a cat to become infected, so keep food and water bowls as far away from litter trays as possible. In this animation there is an easily disinfected floor, and a dirt trapper mat placed near the litter tray, to capture microscopic particles of infected cat litter, but there are too few litter trays, so the cats had to share. THE BEST CAT LITTERS TO HELP PREVENT THIS VIRUS Research at catvirus.com has shown that the type of cat litter you use will affect the transmission of FCoV between your cats. No litter completely prevents FCoV transmission, but using a cat litter which tracks minimally, and which has some anti-virus properties, helps: we found that the best litter was Dr Elsey's Cat Attract. EverClean clumping and World's Best Cat Litter are also good. The worst litters for FCoV transmission are the wood pellets which turn into sawdust and track all over the house. FOR MORE INFORMATION visit www.catvirus.com or see my book “FIP and Coronavirus: Everything a Cat Lover Needs to Know,” available from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Feline-Infectious-Peritonitis-Coronavirus-Everything/dp/1480208973/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?s ). HOW YOU CAN HELP Please like this video and subscribe to this channel. Please support me in making more educational videos by becoming a subscriber at http://www.catvirus.com/index.htm#subscribe or donate at paypal.me/Catvirus. To arrange an online consultation with me for diagnosis / treatment of your cat: www.catvirus.com/#contact If you are a veterinary professional, please download this video to run on your practice waiting room television or on website: the more people who become informed about this virus, the greater our chance of eradicating it. Acknowledgements I thank veterinary genius, Dr François Bagaïni of www.vetocyte.fr, for his brilliant animation skills and wonderful sense of humour. Huge thanks to Melody Amundson for her excellent web design skills. I am very grateful to the many translators. I thank the many people who help my research and quest to eradicate FIP by donating samples from their cats. I thank the catvirus.com subscribers who enable me to continue my work.