Infectious diseases are caused by bacteria, viruses, protozoa or fungi. These organisms invade the cat’s body. The cat becomes a host and they cause illness. They are all pathogens. They are infectious because they can be transmitted from one cat …
Clearly, a decreased contact with other cats is a powerful way of reducing the exposure of a cat to pathogens. And if a cat is kept indoors full-time under careful caregiving and they are the only cat in that home …
Here are 38 facts about the common cold in domestic cats. I like to present these sort of topics in succinct, bullet-point factual terms because I think it helps to understand the subject. The facts are presented chronologically as the …
Introduction Many years ago, perhaps around 2008, Jan visited my website and posted a request for visitors to give a home to 2 FeLV cats. I am revisiting that page and using it as a base to add more detail …
There are two aspects to the question. The first is whether a cat owner can put down one food bowl for two cats which they amicably share. The second is whether cats will altruistically eat from a single bowl and …
Physically, of course, FIV-positive cats can go outside. This is a moral question more than anything else. It’s a question about protecting other cats who are FIV-negative. If you let a FIV-positive cat go outside they may pass the disease …
Yes, big cats can get Covid-19. There have been two instances of captive big cats getting Covid-19 concerning both tigers and lions. There was a well-publicised news story during the early parts of the coronavirus pandemic (April 2020) at which …
Here are some pictures of domestic cats with ringworm. I am fortunate to be able to refer to a recently written article by Elisa, a colleague of mine, who wanted to spread the word about a beautiful rescue boy whose …
NEWS AND COMMENT: Taiwan’s ‘cat village’ is the town of Houtong in the north. It is referred to as a ‘cat village’ because there are hundreds of cats while the population of humans is smaller. And it has become a …
Indoor cats can get colds if they come into direct contact with infected discharge from another cat who has got a cold. Or they come into contact with contaminated litter boxes, water bowls and human hands. The disease is also …
Ringworm (dermatophytosis) is spread by cats in direct contact with each other or with materials that have been contaminated with the skin debris of an infected cat or another animal or indeed a human. Ringworm is zoonotic, which means it …
NEWS/VIEWS – OPINION ARTICLE: Reports are all over the Internet of the local administration of the city of Wuhan (11 million people) banning the eating of all wild animals. The city also banned almost all hunting of wild animals within …
The Times newspaper this morning reports on a highly contagious virus that originated in China (as did Covid-19) and which has spread across the world killing millions of rabbits. It is now a viral wildfire in the USA. In that …
Theoretically or technically cat ear mites are contagious to humans because they can crawl out of a cat’s ear canal onto a person who is handling the cat. However, it hardly ever happens and if it does the mite will …
This photograph shows a veterinarian and assistant taking a throat swab (oropharyngeal swab) at a clinic in Cairo, Egypt from a domestic cat because it is a requirement for travel. The photograph is by Maya Alleruzzo and circulated by the …