Other Feline Viruses

What is feline panleukopenia?

• A rare disease that infects bone marrow and lymphoid tissue causing panleukopenia.

• Feline infectious enteritis

• Long term survival in the environment

What are the clinical signs of feline panleukopenia?

• Villus crypt epithelium —> enteritis

• Panleukopenia

• late gestation/neonatal cerebellum —> cerebellar hypoplasia

• early pregnancy —> foetal death & abortion

• sudden death

• profuse diarrhoea

• pyrexia, depression, anorexia

How do you treat feline panleukopenia?

• Interferon (not licensed)

• Fluid theraoy

• Antibacterials to control secondary infection

How is feline panleukopenia diagnosed?

• Based on clinical signs & history (e.g. pregnancy)

• PCR faecal samples from suspected individuals

• Post mortem examinationn —> histopathology

Prevention of panleukopenia

• Vaccination —> live & inactivated

• Biosecurity

Elimination of virus from environment

What are some examples of feline enteric viruses?

• Feline enteric coronavirus (mutates to FIPV)

• Feline astrovirus

• Feline rotavirus

  • both possible in mild enteritis in young kittens

• Feline torovirus

What is cowpox?

A disease of wild rodents that infects cats via ingestion or bites from wild rodents.

Where and when is cowpox most commonly seen?

In rural hunting cats.

Mostly during summer & autumn

What types of lesions can cowpox cause in cats?

• Typically starts with single primary lesion

• Skin lesions that can spread into more widespread lesions that develop after 1-3 weeks

Systemic illness may develop in immunosuppressed cats

The use of what should be avoided in cowpow affected cats?

Steroids

Is cowpox zoonotic?

Yes, it can be transmitted to humans.

What is the main influenza virus that infects cats?

H5N1

(rare in cats but notifiable)

How is influenza virus mainly transmitted to cats?

Through contact with domestic/wild birds or droppings —> leads to respiratory and GI signs which can be spread to other cats and people.

Clinical signs of feline influenza virus

• Raised body temperature

• Decreased activity

• Conjunctivitis & laboured breathing

How to prevent the spread of feline influenza virus

Stop pets having close contact with:

• dead or sick wild birds

• droppings, feathers, or carcases of wild birds

• feed & water bowls that wild birds could have accessed

• Cats should not be fed non-commercial raw poulty, mean, game bird, wildfowl or other wild bird meat

Describe feline spongiform encephalopathy

• Prion protein disease

• Same agent as bovine spongiform encelopathy in cattle (BSE)

• Domestic cats & some zoo populations

• Seemingly eradicated through changes in feeding

What are the clinical signs of feline spongiform encephalopathy?

• Behavioural changes

• Polyphagia (insatiable hunger)

• Polydipsia

• Altered grooming habits

• Muscle fasciculations (involuntary, rapid contractions & relaxations of muscle fibres)

• Drooling of saliva

• Altered gait

What are the two types of vaccines offered to cats for feline panleukopenia?

Live and inactivated vaccines

What are the core vaccines for cats?

• Feline calicivirus

• Feline Herpes Virus

• Feline panleukopenia virus

What are the guidelines for vaccinating cats?

• Aim to vaccinate every animal with core vaccines

• Only give non-core vaccines that are necessary for that animal (at higher risk?)

• Vaccinate at 8-9 weeks, 2nd vaccination at 3-4 weeks, 3rd vaccination at 14-16 weeks

• booster at 1 year then booster every 3 years

Describe the efficacy of vaccinations for kittens

• Depenedent on MDA levels —> dependent on titre in dam & ingestion of colostrum

• Repeat vaccinations to kittens to cover unknown levels of MDA

What type of vaccine should be avoided for pregnant queens?

Live vaccines

Describe multivalent products

• Incorporate more than one vaccine

• Ease of administration

• Less able to do risk/benefit analysis for each individual animal

• Duration of immunity has to be for the product with the shortest duration

What are the problems with vaccination?

• Occasional lack of efficacy

• occasional adverse reactions (e.g. injection site sarcomas)

  

• post-licensing (surveillance scheme)

• Don’t always prevent infection/transmission (but effective at reducing clinical disease)