Feline distemper is also known as feline panleukopenia or feline infectious enteritis. It is a highly contagious infectious disease that mainly occurs in kittens under one year old. The clinical symptoms are fever, leukopenia, vomiting and hemorrhagic enteritis. It is the most common and very dangerous infectious disease in domestic cats. . Feline distemper treatment requires attention to these issues.

Not just between cats

In addition to the names feline panleukopenia or feline infectious enteritis, There is an alias - cat plague. This is a severe viral infectious disease that can not only infect cats (mainly 3-5 month old kittens that have not been vaccinated against Feline Distemper virus), but also other felines and other animals such as Raccoons, ferrets, raccoon cats, minks, etc. Feline distemper is caused by cats being infected with feline distemper virus. Feline distemper virus is a parvovirus that can survive in the environment for a long time without dying. Therefore, it is difficult to kill it without strict disinfection. cats are more susceptible to infection.

Feline distemper virus can be transmitted directly through infected animals and their secretions, especially feces. Since it can survive in the environment for a long time, the treatment and disinfection of pollutants is very important. seems important. Feline distemper virus can be killed by formalin, sodium hypochlorite (household disinfectant) and glutaraldehyde, so disinfectant containing these components can be used for disinfection in daily life, so as to prevent infection.

Clinical symptoms of feline distemper

When cats are infected with feline distemper virus, there are generally two situations. For cats with strong physical resistance , Although they have been infected by the virus, they do not become sick, that is to say, they will not show clinical symptoms of feline distemper, but only healthy cats with virus.

Unfortunately, those cats with weak physical resistance will have symptoms of cat distemper to varying degrees. The mild ones may just have a worse appetite, while the severely ill cats will appear.

The more typical symptoms of cat distemper are: fever, up to 40~41 ℃; lack of energy and anorexia, severe even dripping water; bile-like vomiting, even if the cat has not eaten or drank for several days at this time, they are still the same. Something can be spit out or pulled out; diarrhea, the degree of diarrhea is not exactly the same for every cat, severe watery bloody stools, and can be pulled many times a day, while cats with mild symptoms may only have unformed stools , the pulpy condition.

Due to constant vomiting and diarrhea, sick cats will quickly develop symptoms of dehydration. If not treated in time, they will soon die of collapse; some kittens may develop neurological symptoms, At this time, the cat will appear to be unable to walk normally, may stagger when walking, and often collapse unconsciously.

Some kittens infected with feline distemper virus before birth may have retinal dysplasia, overlapping or wrinkled lesions after birth. These cats are often blind or have poor vision. weak.

Easy to detect, difficult to treat

No matter what the disease is, accurate diagnosis before treatment is very important and necessary. In clinical practice, doctors mainly make a diagnosis by conducting various necessary examinations, and then making a diagnosis based on the examination results combined with clinical symptoms, because in addition to feline distemper, there are other diseases that can cause clinical symptoms similar to those of feline distemper. , so the necessary checks are very necessary.

First of all, the doctor will ask the owner and the cat about the relevant medical history and clinical symptoms, and then will conduct blood routine and blood biochemical tests on the cat to know whether the cat has anemia, liver, kidney and other internal organs. Injury, but the most important and most diagnostic value is to carry out the Feline Distemper virus test to determine whether the cat has been infected with Feline Distemper virus.

The rapid detection kit for feline distemper that has been successfully developed can make a more accurate diagnosis within 10 minutes, but the accuracy of this rapid detection kit is not 100%. Through the above inspections, doctors can usually make more accurate judgments, and the next step is how to treat and prevent them.

Unfortunately, at present, there is no very effective special medicine for the treatment of feline plague, and the main treatment principles and methods are still based on symptomatic treatment.

First of all, due to the cat's vomiting and diarrhea, the doctor will recommend that you prohibit feeding the cat with water and food according to the cat's actual condition at the time. At the same time, the doctor will give the cat antibiotics to control secondary infection, and give the cat an infusion In order to prevent cats from dehydration and supplement nutrition, doctors will also give blood transfusions to some cats with severe anemia due to blood in the stool. In addition, the doctor will use some antiviral and cat resistance-enhancing drugs to help the cat get through the difficulties smoothly.

As the saying goes, three points of treatment and seven points of care, the owner's meticulous care is also very important during the cat's illness and treatment. Keep the cat warm when it is cold, and give it to the cat when it gets dirty and wet due to vomiting and diarrhea. Timely cleaning and so on, these are the keys to the smooth recovery of the cat.

Prevention first, put an end to cat plague

But for cat plague, treatment is not the most important thing, the most important thing to deal with cat plague should be prevention. At present, there are feline plague vaccines for cats in foreign countries. As long as they are used in the correct way, most cats can produce antibodies, which can effectively resist the feline plague virus.

Usually, cats can be injected with Feline Distemper Vaccine after 8 weeks of birth. One injection is not enough. Generally, 2 to 3 injections are required, and the interval between each injection is about 3 weeks. The cat can be injected once to strengthen the immune effect. After such measures, most cats will not be infected by feline distemper virus.

However, I would like to remind parents that the above operations need to be performed by pet doctors who have been professionally trained, otherwise it is likely to cause accidents to the cat.