Hundreds of pet cats have been diagnosed with bovine tuberculosis (bTB). The disease also infected a well-known lioness at Paignton Zoo. She probably got the disease from eating an infected cow carcass. Tragically, she was put down.
What is a bit shocking to me is that domestic cats have become infected with bovine tuberculosis through eating mice, rats and voles carrying the disease.
I had thought that this disease affected cattle and that it was allegedly spread by badgers, hence the large-scale badger cull which is currently taking place. Personally, by the way, I am very strongly against culling badgers. Sue Hayman, Labour’s shadow environment secretary disagrees with Michael Gove’s badger cull and says that it cannot be the answer.
However, it appears that this disease has taken hold in the country and that the government is failing to take control of it. It is spread mainly by farmers moving cattle with undiscovered infections between farms. The cattle give the disease to wild animals such as rodents, foxes, deer and badgers.
It is believed that rodents are the main cause of the transmission of the disease to domestic cats. Hundreds of feline cases have been reported to scientists at Edinburgh University, which is the main reporting centre in the UK.
It appears that hunting domestic cats are infected when bitten by rodents.
“Feline bTB is now a significant disease in cats in Great Britain” – report by Edinburgh University.
Example case
An airline pilot from Congleton, Cheshire, UK whose name is John Byrne, took his pedigree British Shorthair cat to his vet with a cough. He was told that the cat was suffering from bovine tuberculosis which was growing in his lungs.
The treatment costs a staggering £19,000! John Byrne was also tested for the disease and found not to be suffering from it.
However, the disease is zoonotic – transmittable from cat to human and vice versa. The Times tells us that in 2014 Jessica Livings caught the disease from her kitten. She was hospitalized. There was an outbreak in cats near Newbury, Berkshire apparently.
Dogs
The disease can also affect dogs. Foxhounds are particularly vulnerable. Hounds at the Kimblewick Hunt’s kennels near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire were infected and 100 animals were euthanised.
These dogs were fed on raw meat and offal from cows slaughtered after falling ill on farms. Also hounds are moved between kennels for breeding which means the disease is also moved around. Zoo animals are at risk from eating uncooked meat.
The lioness, mentioned above, whose name was Indu, ate an infected carcass. There was no way that diseased wild animals could have broken into her cage.
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs – Defra
In 2013 Defra’s chief scientist, Ian Boyd, predicted in the journal Nature that bovine tuberculosis would spill over to wild animals, pets, new livestock species and then potentially to people. His predictions have come true.
A spokeswoman for Michael Gove’s department said that ‘Bovine TB is the greatest animal health threat to the UK. We are taking strong action to eradicate it’.
If your agenda is to hate something you will find any connection no matter how lame and apply it. TNR works because it ends the reproductive cycle of outdoor cats which are usually much shorter than those living inside or having access to safe enclosures.
The folly here is human caused and the reluctance of law enforcement and our elected officials to really lower the boom on bad pet owners instead of just eradicating the symptom and letting the cause continue to fester.
Singling out one species for the spread of disease while ignoring the forest of causes behind it is another human failing. I think for many seeing real consequences for not being an adequate guardian for their pets makes them uncomfortable. Pets are despite the family member claim are often treated poorly.
As much as I don’t like dogs and as much as I despise my SIL allowing them to roam , menace and bark all night she is truly guilty of neglect and abuse and the sole cause of all of the dog related issues we’ve had. It’s not the dogs. It’s not the cats, It’s not the feral and stray cats and the shelters full of newly mature cats and dogs that aren’t fun anymore. It’s humans doing what they do best. Saying one thing and doing another.
So we get the dipwads here that brag about shooting the neighbors cat to teach them a lesson. It’s really just justification for their own hate and anger issues.
I had a complete nonsense argument with someone online about calling your cat a jerk. Really we don’t do that in my home. I don’t see my pets a jerks. I don’t call them names unless it’s the one they answer to. Much like I don’t tell my SILs dog to shut up but tell her to shut her dogs up and take care of them. Now her I’ve called much worse than a jerk.
Read your crappy comment you arsehole.
Stray and feral cats that are fixed do not reproduce and most cats living in these situations have a shorter lifespan. The issue remains with human negligence at which point you should be asking how many cats and dogs do we kill before we start making the lives of miscreant owners the real issue. Like many people with an agenda you fixate on the the symptom but fail to address the cause. BTW I advocate all cats by law should be under their owners control. Of course if people were spaying and neutering their pets we wouldn’t have kill shelters with massive intake numbers either. I just don’t live in a world where taking the punishment out on the innocent victims is acceptable.
I have the Brooklyn Bridge (Insulting comment – deleted accordingly…Admin)