The virus, which is the starting point of the disease, is cunning and incredibly tenacious. The main danger is that even a pet that never went outside the apartment can become infected. And signs of a plague in cats are sometimes difficult to recognize. The virus itself can survive even at high or low temperatures.
Cat's cage - the course of the disease
Viral disease occurs in cats of all ages, from only born kittens to adults and old animals. Age itself depends on the course of the disease. The incubation period of the plague in cats varies from age and immunity, it lasts from a couple of days to a week and a half:
- In cats up to a year, especially suckling kittens, everything flows in a lightning form. Almost absolutely the animal will not survive, because deterioration occurs in the period of one or two days, many owners simply do not have time to notice signs.
- In adult animals, the course of the disease occurs in an acute form. The manifestation of symptoms lasts about five days, everything happens quickly. In the presence of secondary diseases, the picture deteriorates, after a day or two the symptoms manifest themselves completely. With the timely treatment of the week is enough for a full recovery.
- If an adult animal is vaccinated or its immunity is strong, the course of the disease occurs in subacute form. The picture is similar to an acute current, but the signs of a plague in cats are less pronounced. The difference between this course in slow development, changes in behavior and condition are gradual and visible after a week or two. Therefore, the prognosis is favorable, sometimes the disease runs unnoticed.
How can a cat get a plague?
The main problem is that the virus is incredibly difficult to kill, because he can live without knowing about the order of the year. But if you get into the cat's body, immediately begins to actively multiply inside living cells. Therefore, the animal can get infected not only by direct infection of the virus from a sick cat:
- can infect fleas at an acute or early stage;
- The virus can be brought by the person himself on shoes, clothes or any other objects, because the source of the disease is in the secretions of a sick animal: urine, feces, saliva and vomiting with saliva;
- pets can themselves accidentally swallow a virus, running out into the street or a landing, if there was recently passed a sick cat.
The virus is a member of the paravirus group. Quite naturally, the question arises whether the plague is transmitted from the dog to the cat. The symptoms are similar, viruses from one group, but the diseases are completely different. If the cat is sick in the house, the dog can sleep peacefully. When the dog was diagnosed with paraverous enteritis, it is not terrible to the cat, it can not infect it. From the dog, the virus can only go to wild carnivores: mink, ferret or fox.
How does the plague appear in cats?
For different age groups, the symptomatology may differ, but the main signs of plague in cats are defined in a specific list:
- the animal weakens in the eyes, its condition is depressed;
- often the temperature rises to 41 ° C;
- a couple of days the cat starts vomiting with diarrhea;
- the infection leads to an increase in the lymph nodes, the abdomen is painful and when it is probed, seals are found;
- after diarrhea and vomiting begins dehydration, it manifests itself dry skin, ruffled hair and sunken eyes.
The first signs of a plague in cats
In the first hours after the onset of the disease, the animal becomes inactive, apathetic, and ignores any attention from the host. One of the first symptoms in cats is the refusal to eat and drink, and since the chum is manifested in different ways, it is not always possible to notice it. Of the immediately visible changes mark the current nose and eyes, the third eyelid is clearly visible on the eye due to severe weakness and dehydration.
Plague in cats - common symptoms
In addition to the main signs of plague in cats, there are specific symptoms for this or that type of course of the disease:
- When it comes to the lightning-fast form in kittens, the owner should sound an alarm, as soon as the babies stop sucking milk, and a mournful constant squeak is heard. Kittens are spinning and do not fall asleep. Absence of sleep and photophobia are characteristic features of the plague in cats at the age of seven months. Caution should paralysis of the limbs and cramps.
- Adults in the acute course stop eating, completely cease to respond to the voice or touch of the owner. Vomiting has its own peculiarities: first it is foamy masses with blood impurities, after a day a viscous mass with impurities of mucus. On the skin in the abdomen may appear red spots. The symptoms of the plague in cats depend on where the virus did more harm. The affected respiratory tract will make itself felt in wheezing in the chest, secretions from the nose and eyes, the cat breathes with his mouth open.
- The subacute form, if observed, proceeds without pronounced symptoms, similar to the manifestation of an acute form.
Consequences of the plague in cats
The good news for the owner is the fact that the cat that survives the viral disease is recovering amazingly quickly. If she did not find any secondary diseases, the predictions are favorable: the body will automatically return to normal within a few weeks. If the question is whether the plague is treated in cats, the answer is obvious and positive for acute and subacute forms, then the moment with immunity to re-infection remains unclarified.
On the one hand, this same immunity can protect a cat from re-infection until the end of life, on the other - it can be a hidden carrier of the virus. If there was a tragedy, and the animal did not survive, you should carefully treat the apartment with a chlorine solution. You can start a new cat only after a year and a half. If the cat has suffered a virus, and the apartment has other cats, they will have to inject serum and wait 21 days.
Complications after the plague in cats
If the immunity of the pet is strong, most likely problems after recovery will not arise. Complications appear when a secondary disease is attached to the underlying disease or the cat initially had problems with certain organs. When a cat is sick with a plague, the virus strikes the respiratory tract first, then goes on to symphonies, the heart, the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, it is not so much the condition of the cat that is complicated after the illness, how much care for the owner.
Prevention of plague in cats
An obvious solution for protection of the pet from infection with the virus remains the vaccine against the plague for cats. At eight weeks, the veterinarian will be able to vaccinate and reduce the probability of infection to almost zero. A month later, a second vaccination is carried out. Such a scheme will protect the cat for a year absolutely. In the future, the annual vaccination will become a reliable shield against the virus. The vaccination time should roughly coincide year after year, then the degree of reliability will increase.
How to treat a plague in cats?
Specific medicine for the plague for cats on the shelves of veterinary drugstores you will not find. To defeat the attack of the virus is capable only of the cat's body itself, the master's task is to help him:
- The main goal is to prevent dehydration after severe vomiting and diarrhea. For this purpose, droppers with sodium chloride are prescribed or sealed off by "Regidron".
- The virus affects the intestinal tract, to remove spasms will help "Dibazol" or "No-shpa."
- In addition to losing fluid, the body experiences a loss of nutrients, they can be compensated by intravenous infusions of amino acids, fats and carbohydrates. Assign "Katozal", "Urosferran".
- To cope with secondary infections will help antibiotics of a wide spectrum.
Is it a damn cat for humans?
If a kitten comes to a family with a small child, any parent will worry about the probability of transferring the disease from the cat to the host. It is logical to assume the relevance of the question whether it is possible to catch a plague from a cat. There is no need to worry about getting infected with a human virus. A bag from a cat is not transferred to a person or a dog. Therefore, to isolate a sick animal should not be to protect human health, but the speedy recovery of a cat.