1. Feline Infectious Disease
Control
Maggie Roberts BVM&S MRCVS
Director of Veterinary Services
Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) and SCO37711 (Scotland)

2. Cats Protection
What Do We Do?
•UK only charity
Education
•Public
•Veterinary Profession
•Others in animal welfare
Neutering
•Early Neutering
•Financial assistance
•Ferals
Rehoming
•Reuniting owned animals
•Accepting strays and handed in cats
•Rehabilitate and rehome

3. Today's Talk - Overview
Why are infectious
diseases a problem?
A few specific cases
Cat ‘flu
Feline Parvovirus
Ringworm
FeLV
FIV
How we contain disease

4. What makes cats different?
Cats were originally solitary hunters.
Not evolved to live in close proximity with other
cats.
Cats can be carriers of disease without showing
symptoms

5. Why do cats in shelters get sick?
Immune System!!!
Stress
Host susceptibility
Transient population
Different bugs from
different places
Shelter environment
factors
Population density

6. Direct (from cat to cat)
Disease Saliva e.g. FeLV
transmission Sneezing e.g. cat ‘flu
Fighting e.g. FIV
Rubbing e.g. Ringworm
Indirect (from people or
objects)
Pens e.g. Ringworm
Litter trays e.g. Coronavirus
Food bowls e.g. FeLV
People’s hands,
shoes etc e.g.
Parvovirus

7. Cat ‘flu
What is it?
Feline herpesvirus (FHV)
Feline calicivirus (FCV)
Chlamydophila felis
Bordetella bronchiseptica

8. Cat ‘flu
Clinical Signs
 Sneezing
 Runny nose and eyes
 Conjunctivitis
 Ulcers
 High temperature
 Quiet and subdued
 Loss of appetite
 Dribbling
 A cough or loss of voice
 Gingivo-stomatitis
 Lameness

9. Feline herpesvirus
Feline rhinotracheitis virus
Who’s got herpes?
Cats will be lifelong ‘carriers’
Virus shedding
Shedding may last up to 14 days
Virus survives in environment for only
18hrs
Spread by direct and indirect
contact

10. Infectious Diseases – Cat ‘flu
Feline herpesvirus

11. Feline herpesvirus

12. Feline calicivirus
Constantly mutates – clever!
Virus survives in the environment for up to 10d
Spread by direct and indirect contact
Cats can become ‘carriers’
50% still shedding 75 days after infection
Most cats stop shedding 1 year after infection
Some will be lifelong carriers - without symptoms!
20-30% of cat population estimated to
be shedding

13. Infectious Diseases – Cat ‘flu
Feline calicivirus

14. Feline calicivirus
(VSD)
New strain known as ‘Virulent Systemic Disease’
Swelling of head and paws
Flu signs
Jaundice
Bleeding from nose and bowel
Death
All ages can get it
Even vaccinated cats

15. VSD

16. Chlamydophilosis
A bacteria
Likes to piggy back on viruses
Got to treat it right or it sticks around
Easy to kill in environment
Spread by direct contact only

17. Infectious Diseases – Cat ‘flu
Feline chlamydophilosis

18. Cat ‘flu
What do you do??
VACCINATE
Isolate and barrier nurse
Good nursing care
Can’t kill the virus
Antibiotics for secondary
infections
Pain relief
Decongestants
Reduce stress
Specific testing may not be
necessary?

19. Infectious diarrhoea
Causes
Viral agents Worms
Parvovirus Roundworms
Coronavirus Tapeworms
Bacterial agents Protozoan agents
Campylobacter Giardia
Salmonella Coccidia
E Coli Tritrichomonas
foetus

20. Feline Parvovirus
Also known as:
parvo
enteritis
panleucopenia
What is it?
Virus
Bad news
Spread between cats by
direct or indirect contact
with contaminated faeces
Survives in the
environment a long time

21. Feline Parvovirus
Clinical Signs
Sudden death with no
signs
Lack of appetite
High temperature
Weight loss
Severe vomiting
Severe diarrhoea with
blood and mucus
Dehydration

22. Feline Parvovirus
Greatest disease threat to any rescue
facility
Very high death rate, particularly in
unvaccinated kittens

23. Feline Parvovirus
Diagnosis
Kitten post mortem
Blood test
Faecal sample

24. Feline Parvovirus
What do you do?
VACCINATE
 Isolate and barrier nurse
 Good nursing care
 Can’t kill a virus
 Fluids (oral or I/V)
 Antibiotics for secondary infections
 Vaccinate in face of outbreak
 Use the right disinfectants

25. Infectious Diseases - Ringworm

26. Ringworm
What is it?
A fungus known as a dermatophyte
It’s not gonna kill anyone, so why is it a
big problem?

27. Ringworm
Clinical Signs
Hair loss
Crusting and scaling
Itching
Can mimic other skin diseases
Can look like anything – or nothing

28. Infectious Diseases - Ringworm

29. Ringworm
REMEMBER RINGWORM IS A
ZOONOTIC DISEASE

30. Ringworm
Diagnosis
Woods lamp
Hair culture

32. Ringworm
What do you do?
Isolate and barrier nurse: spores
Oral medication
Itraconazole (Itrafungol; Janssen) for 5 week course
Topical treatments
Miconazole shampoo (Malaseb; VetXX),
Enilconazole (Imaverol; Janssen), Lime sulphur
If long haired may need clipping
Use the right disinfectants

33. Ringworm
CP says:
3 CLEAR CULTURES BEFORE HOMING
Things to Remember:
Ringworm spores can survive up to 2 years
Appropriate disinfectants are: Bleach or Virkon
(Peroxygen compound)
Steam cleaning

34. FeLV
What is it?
Feline Leukaemia Virus
A retrovirus
‘Friendly’ disease spread
If mum has it – all kittens will too
Only survives for a few hours in the environment
Cats may be infected but be
asymptomatic for some time

35. FeLV
Clinical Signs
Recurrent secondary
infections
High temperature
Lethargy
Cancerous tumours
Anaemia Photo courtesy of Fort Dodge Animal Health
Usually young-middle
aged cats

36. FeLV
What do you do?
In house test e.g. Idexx snap test
Confirm positive results

37. FeLV
What do you do?
Isolate suspected cases and barrier nurse
Test all in contact cats
85% of infected cats die within 3 years of
infection
CP euthanase confirmed FeLV positive
cats

38. FIV
What is it?
Feline Immunodeficiency
virus
A retrovirus
‘Fighting’ disease spread
by biting and fighting
If mum has it 1/3 of
kittens will become infected
Only survives for a few
hours in the environment
Often middle-
aged cats

39. FIV
Clinical Signs
Everything!!
Recurrent secondary infections
Weight loss
High temperature
Lethargy
Gingivitis
Diarrhoea
Neurological disease
Skin disease

40. FIV
What do you do?
Test all in contact
cats
Separate
CP Policy
Indoor home
Euthanasia for
positive ferals and sick
positive cats

41. FeLV/FIV
Ideal to test everyone
– cost issue
Which cats do CP test?
Sick cats
Unneutered adult toms
Pregnant queens
Nursing queens
Kittens of FIV positive queens
Orphan kittens
Feral cats
Stray cats
Cats going communal area
Any cat known to have been in contact
Any cat the vet is suspicious of
Any cat before it undergoes extensive treatment or
surgery

42. FeLV and FIV in the shelter
Virus does not survive long in the
environment
Usually needs direct contact (grooming,
fighting) to be transmitted
Housing singly and using good hygiene is
sufficient

43. Containing disease
Why know about the
bugs??
What’s a Fomite?
We are the major source
of infection transmission!!

44. Containing Disease
Personal Protective Equipment
 Apron
 Gloves
 Oversuit
 Sleeves
 Overshoes
 Hat or hood on oversuit
 Mask?
 Goggles?
Idea is all items should be disposable

45. Containing Disease
 Keep infected cat isolated
from all other cats
 Wear and use Personal
Protective Equipment
(PPE)
 Use suitable disinfectant
that is effective against the
disease
 Clean and handle infected
cat last

46. Containing disease
Have separate cleaning utensils for
isolated cat
Use disposable litter trays and food bowls
or return trays and bowls to same cat

47. Containing
Disease
 Use disposable bedding or soak in
disinfectant before washing on hot cycle
 Wash contaminated bedding last and
separate from other bedding
 Use footbaths containing disinfectant

48. Containing disease
Deep clean area for
5 continuous days
after housing
infected cat
Steam clean first if
possible
Stop the movement
of cats in or out

49. Disease prevention
Avoid over-crowding
Keep cats singly or only with cats from the
same source
Use full height sneeze barriers
Quarantine new arrivals and isolate sick
cats

50. Disease prevention
Reduce stress as much as possible
Health check by a vet
Screen for disease where possible
Good preventative medicine

51. Vaccination
Core - essential in all
rescue facilities as a
minimum
FHV
FCV
FPV
Rabies in endemic
area

52. Vaccination
Non-core – depends
on risk, funds
available
FeLV
Chlamydophila
felis
Bordetella
bronchiseptica

53. Thank You!