Abstract: Feline calicivirus (FCV) is one of the most common pathogens of cats causing upper respiratory tract infections. A real time RT-PCR assay was developed for the rapid detection of FCV. A set of probe/primers was designed to amplify a region of 151 bp based on the conserved region of 7 FCV strains (FCV 255, 2280, NADC, F9, KCD, CF I and Urbana) by sequence comparison. The assay was found to be more sensitive than virus isolation and was linear over a wide range of template concentrations.