For many people, this will be a new cat fungal infection. People are familiar with ringworm in cats which, too, is a fungal infection that is known by many cat caregivers and shelter managers. There are other fungal infections. The one I am addressing today is new to me: Sporothrix brasiliensis. It is present in …
A simple infographic covering the salient points when nursing a cat with flu. As you know there is no cure for cat flu as there is no cure for human flu. The body has to do the work through its immune system and the production of antibodies, but you can help the body fight the …
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 to another in various ways including contact with infected faeces, mucus, urine, and other bodily …
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 there is no contact with other animals from which they can contract a contagious disease. …
Why do indoor cats need rabies shots and other vaccinations for contagious diseases? Read More »
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 disease develops. I hope that you find it useful. The source of the information is …
The source of this article on the prevalence of feline infectious peritonitis in specific cat breeds is a research paper of the same title from Science Direct, available online since 1 July 2005 and prepared and written by Loretta D. Pesteanu-Somogyi DVM, Christina Radzai DVM, Barrak M. Pressler DVM, DACVIM. The study took place over …
Prevalence of feline infectious peritonitis in specific cat breeds (and more) Read More »
You might not have heard of the words. I certainly hadn’t until today. They are “gentling” and to be “gentled”. Gentling is the action of stroking a cat gently and talking to them equally gently. It is the kind of thing that a rescue centre worker would want to do naturally because it is fun …
As feline viruses can be confusing to the average cat caretaker and I put myself in that category, I thought an overview page might help. The intention is to stand back and try and make sense of all the long words and slightly confusing names such as “feline distemper”, a misleading description. This is not …
Feline Aids is layperson terminology for the Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). FIV was first discovered in 1986. The virus that causes feline aids is related to the virus that causes human aids. The term “aids” stands for “Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome” This is a reworking of the Wikipedia® article in which I define the terms …
Reviewing the page January 2022: Please read everything below the line on this page in the light of this long introduction which is an updating and amending section for this article on treating FIV cats with colloidal silver. The text below the line below was written about 12 years ago. THERE ARE SOME PAGES ON …
An interesting study dated 2003 titled: Prevalence of infectious diseases in feral cats in Northern Florida concluded that feral cats in TNR colonies are no more of a risk in terms of spreading disease to people or cats tban domestic cats. The basis for that statement is that feral cats cared for by volunteers in …
Feral cats in TNR colonies are no greater risk to human beings than pet cats Read More »
The research presented by Dorothee Bienzle, a professor of veterinary pathology at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases regarding the transmission of Covid from owners to their pets is surprising to me. The professor and her colleagues studied 48 cats and 54 dogs from 77 …
If someone has Covid they have a high chance of passing it on to their cat or dog Read More »
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 to a FIV-negative cat. Although transmission isn’t that easy. Close or casual contact alone is …
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 can be transmitted between animals and humans. This does not only mean that animals can …
There is an unusual and surprising connection between the coronavirus which is labelled Covid-19 or SARS-CoV-2, and FIP. Both are scary illnesses or can be. They can both kill to devastating effect. They are both coronaviruses but that is not the connection I want to write about. There is a similarity in the alternative name …
The Connection between Coronavirus and Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) Read More »
