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Common Cat Diseases & Health Problems
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Below is an extract from the book "Understanding, Caring for and Training Your Cat"
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Common Cat Diseases and Health Problems
Cats suffer from almost the same diseases as humans. Although some diseases are
hereditary, you can avoid others through regular medical care of your cats. As a cat
owner, you should have a good knowledge of all possible cat diseases, necessary
medications, and precautions. This can assure you of a healthy and lifelong feline
companion.
Most cat health problems are avoidable through preventive care and techniques. It is best
to keep your cat indoors and outdoor outings should be under strict supervision. Routine
vet checks can ensure a healthy life for your pet.
Cat Diseases and Health Problems
Cancer: Cats could suffer from different types of cancer like bone cancer, lung cancer,
nasal cancer, skin cancer, and many others. Lung cancer could cause your cat to breathe
heavily and with difficulty. Oral cancer could cause problems in swallowing and eating, with
mouth bleeding. Bone cancer could make your cat lame or lead to stiffness in the joints
and limbs. Non-healing wounds and scars could indicate skin cancer while incessant nasal
discharge could indicate nasal cancer.
You should visit your veterinarian as soon as you notice any symptoms. A small delay
could cost the life of your cat. Routine examination of your cat’s body through stroking
and massaging can help you identify any extra bulge or bump.
Some of the symptoms of cancer are the same as that of other diseases. Therefore, get
an expert opinion from one or more doctors. At times, early diagnosis can cure cancer.
Chronic Renal Failure: The main characteristic of this condition is irreversible and a
gradual decline in kidney function. This is a common ailment in elderly cats. Kidneys
consists of various nephrons that filter fluids. These nephrons could stop functioning due
to age, ill health, or other causes. This causes accumulation of toxins like urea and
creatinine in the blood.
Difficulty in urinating is the main symptom of this cat disease. There are other symptoms
like weight loss, dull coat, excessive thirst, and loss of appetite. Veterinarians diagnose
the presence of this disease through a urine analysis and blood test to measure levels of
red blood cells, blood urea, and creatinine.
Veterinarians prescribe oral medications and Epogen shots for cleaning toxins from the
kidneys. In severe cases, your cat could require hospitalization for dehydration. You can
learn to administer subcutaneous fluids at home. Additionally, feed a low phosphorous
and low protein diet to your cat. As such cats lose their appetite, you can use stimulants
like tuna juice, premium cat food juices, and human baby food meat. In severe cases,
force feeding through syringes could prove necessary.
Dental Health and Oral Diseases: This is the single most important cause for health
problems in cats. Feline Stomatitis is often misunderstood as an autoimmune disease.
This causes severe inflammation of the mouth and throat thereby affecting eating habits
severely. Periodontal disease is due to inflamed and bleeding gums and bad breath. This is
due to bacterial accumulation in gums. Feline odontoclastic lesions affect enamel and
dentin of a tooth. Prolonged lesions could cause permanent loss of tooth.
You do not have to wait for dental diseases to start to care for the dental health of your
feline. Instead, begin with a regular dental brushing and caring routine for your kitten. Use
special cat toothbrushes with flavored toothpastes to keep dental problems at bay.
Deafness and Ear Conditions: It is possible to notice deafness in cats in the early
stages itself. Common symptoms include loud meowing, failure to respond on calling,
dizziness, clawing at ear, shaking head regularly, unpleasant odor from ears, regular pus,
or other drainage. Deafness could be due to nerve damage or infections. Medications can
correct the problem in many cases. Regular grooming requires cleaning of cat’s ears of
mites by putting few drops of warm olive oil into your cat’s ears.
Eye Problems and Blindness: Cats normally have better vision than humans do.
Glaucoma causes excessive pressure within the eye. Untreated cataracts cause glaucoma.
Early treatment can prevent further damage to optic nerves. Surgery could be necessary
in advanced cases. Eye tumors necessitate removal of the eye.
Progressive retinal atrophy is a hereditary problem causing decreasing eyesight resulting in
complete blindness. Hypertension could cause eye problems like sudden blindness. Cats
cope with their blindness through increased sensitivity of other senses like smell, touch,
and hearing.
Feline Arthritis: This is common among aging felines. Excessive weight is the
predominant cause for feline arthritis. Common symptoms include change in walking
patterns due to joint pain, stiffness in joints while arising from rest, and few personality
changes.
Veterinarians may suggest Chondroitin and Glucosamine to improve cartilage formation
around joints. Vitamin C supplements could suit some cats. NSAIDs might cause serious
side effects. Simple treatments include having a regular exercise program to control the
weight of your cat and providing artificial warmth to joints to ease pain and stiffness.
Feline Diabetes: Feline diabetes can affect cats of any age, although feline diabetes is
more prevalent in elderly male cats, specifically obese cats. Common symptoms of feline
diabetes include dehydration, excessive thirst, poor appetite, and poor quality of coat,
weakness, and breathing problems. Veterinarians check for sugar levels in blood and urine
to diagnose feline diabetes.
Common treatment options of feline diabetes include oral hypoglycemic medications,
regular insulin injections administered at the hospital, and maintaining specific diet control.
Diet rich in fiber and carbohydrates can control weight and blood glucose levels. You can
monitor blood glucose levels in your cat through a monitoring kit used for diabetic humans.
Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV): This is feline AIDS. Presently, there is no cure
for this disease. Infected cats could live long lives. FIV transmission is through deep bite
wounds and normally through rectum, mouth, or vagina. It therefore affects cats during
territorial battles.
House cats do not normally suffer from FIV. This disease affects and disables the immune
system of cats. It makes it more prone to infections. Different body cells like B-
lymphocytes, CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, and macrophages suffer extensive infection
due to FIV.
However, cats cannot transmit FIV to humans. FIV occurs in three stages. The acute
stage in is the initial two months after transmission. During this time, your cat could
suffer from fever and depression. In the second stage, all symptoms of the disease could
disappear, although your cat remains infected. The third stage is the final stage. Your cat
finally succumbs to the infection. This is due to complete stopping of functioning of the
body's immune system.
Cat Infectious Diseases: There are various cat infectious diseases. Most such
respiratory diseases are through feline herpes virus, feline calicivirus or feline
rhinotracheitis virus. Bordetella bronchiseptica infection, Feline chlamydia psittaci infection
and Mycoplasma infection are some of the important infections.
Other viruses and bacteria causing infections in cats include pasteurellae, streptococci,
staphylococci, and coliforms.
Feline Panleucopenia is an infectious disease affecting white blood cells and causing
enteritis. Vaccination proves effective.
Feline leukemia virus causes infection through transfer of nasal secretions or saliva, feces,
urine, and milk from infected cats. An infected mother can transfer the feline leukemia
virus to her kittens during lactation or even before birth. The feline leukemia virus could
cause cancer and various blood disorders. It is possible spread the feline leukemia disease
through sharing of feeding bowls. There is no cure for feline leukemia and it is normally
fatal. In the first stage, a high immune response can eradicate the virus from the body. In
the second stage, it leads to persistent infection of bone marrow. Cats with feline leukemia
could live long lives. If your cat has serious symptoms, it may not survive for more than
few months.
Feline Immunodeficiency Virus causes infections although over a longer period.
Feline Cowpox causes lesions on skin of cats. There is a vaccine for such infections.
Antibiotics could prove useful. Cats can transfer such infections to humans. Simple
hygienic precautions can prevent transfer of such infections to humans. However, if you
already suffer from skin diseases, you stand a greater chance of contracting such
infections. It is best to use gloves and prevent infected material from coming in contact
with open wounds or eyes.
Gastric Tract Diseases: There are many gastric diseases like inflammatory bowel disease,
gastritis, diarrhea, hepatic lipidosis, and others. These cat diseases occur mainly due to
inflammation of intestinal linings. Common symptoms of cat gastric diseases include
chronic vomiting, loss of appetite, lusterless coat, weight loss, renal failure, and others.
Veterinarians normally suggest controlled diet with limited amounts of proteins and
carbohydrates. Corticosteroids and certain antibiotics can provide substantial relief.
Heart Diseases: Heart diseases in cats could be Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy,
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Intermediate Cardiomyopathy, or Feline Hypertension. Most
cat heart diseases are due to genetic causes. Such cat heart diseases are more common
in middle-aged male cats.
Common symptoms of heart diseases in cats include fainting, sudden difficulty in
breathing, weakness, and paralysis of rear legs. Veterinarians diagnose the presence of
heart disease through ECGs, X-rays, Echocardiography, and other tests. They
recommend calcium channel blockers like diltiazem, beta-blockers like metoprolol and
atenolol and various other inhibitors and diuretics.
Hip Dysplasia: This is due to displacement of hip joints in your cat. Due to such
displacement, the femur ball no longer fits into the hip socket joint. This leads to arthritis
and excessive pain in the joints. Affected cats would show little interest in walking,
running, or similar forms of exercise. This cat disease is mainly genetic. Normally cats with
larger bones develop this disease.
Although there is no specific treatment available for hip disease, surgery can help through
prosthetic installation into joints. You can reduce the weight of overweight cats through
diet regulations. Anti-inflammatory medicines and painkillers can give relief.
Liver Disease: Fatty liver disease is a common ailment in cats. This cat disease occurs
due to fatty deposits in liver tissue. There is no apparent cause for such deposits. Most
veterinarians assign this disease to the way in which certain cats digest their fats and
proteins.
Common symptoms of cat liver disease is a sudden drop in eating habits of previously
overweight cats. This causes continuous loss of weight with frequent bouts of vomiting
and yellowing of the skin and eyes.
Liver biopsy under light anesthesia can detect the presence of the cat disease. Early
diagnosis of the disease can prevent further deterioration. Although your cat would be
most unwilling to eat anything, it is necessary to force-feed. This is possible through
insertion of a feeding tube directly into the stomach or esophagus.
You have to feed small quantities of food through the tube regularly. After a few weeks,
you can offer food normally to check appetite levels.
Neurological Disorders: Neurological disorders in cats can take the form of seizures due
to tumors, hypertension, parasitical causes, viral infections, poisoning, and others. Cats
with such disorders may depict sudden and unexplainable behavior like running round in
circles, going blank for some time, loud meowing at night, frequent mood swings, maniac
grooming, or rippling skin on the back. Ingestion of certain toxic plants could cause
neurological disorders. Some garden sprays, cleaning products, and pest killers could
cause such disorders.
Veterinarians diagnose neurological disorders in cats after a thorough physical
examination with a CT scan, blood tests, MRI, and cerebral spinal fluid analysis. Anti-
convulsion drugs can control seizures over a few weeks.
Parasitic Disease: Parasites like fleas and mites cause various parasitic diseases. Fleas
cause allergies, anemia, tapeworms, and skin infections. Always use flea remedies as
suggested by your veterinarian. Tapeworms are internal parasites. Your cat could develop
such infections through ingestion of raw meat or fish. Veterinarians can suggest
tapeworm medications after inspection of a fecal sample of your cat.
Roundworms, whipworms, and hookworms are similar internal parasites causing infections
in your cats. Common symptoms of such infections include diarrhea, vomiting, dull coat
color, and a potbelly. Lack of proper treatment could prove fatal.
Coccidia are internal parasites entering a cat’s body through ingestion of infected feces of
other animals. It often causes severe diarrhea and weight loss due to loss of appetite.
Fresh fecal samples can help your veterinarian suggest suitable remedy.
Ear mites are microscopic parasites causing severe infections and wax-build-up in ears of
cats. They cause severe itchiness and could lead to deafness if untreated. Use prescribed
medicines on your affected and unaffected cats, as these parasites move from one cat to
another.
Respiratory Disease: Feline asthma symptoms are very similar to hairball attack or
choking. It is best to check such recurrent symptoms. Feline asthma is due to allergens in
the upper respiratory tract. This causes tightening of bronchi and resultant swelling of
surrounding tissues. Bacterial infections could cause other respiratory tract diseases in
felines.
Common asthmatic allergens include dust, household chemicals, mold, smoke, cat litter,
pollen, and cold or moist air. Cats with asthma could suffer exercise related attacks.
Thorough examinations through blood tests, chest x-rays, and bronchoalveolar lavage
can detect presence of feline asthma. Veterinarians insert endotracheal tubes under
general anesthesia to extract fluids in lungs for examination.
Keep your home as smoke-free as possible. Do not light scented candles or smoke within
your house, specifically near your cats. Keep all basements and other parts of the house
free of mold and dust. Refrain from plugging in air-fresheners or using household
chemicals liberally. Veterinarians prescribe prednisone pills or injections and use of an
inhaler depending on the severity of asthma in your cat.
Skin Problems: Skin diseases in cats are due to parasites, fleas, allergies, and other
things. These cause cats to scratch their skin uncontrollably. Another type of skin disease
causes severe loss of hair on skin with many bald patches. Skin coat is brittle and coarse.
It could also cause pus formations and other infections, most of which are painful.
Thorough examination of skin coat while grooming your cat can prove helpful in
discovering any possible skin disorders and infections. Veterinarians often prescribe
hormone shots with tranquilizers to help cats refrain from excessive scratching.
Feline Acne develops as black spots and it could be due to a specific food allergy like milk.
It could also be due to improper cleaning of the chin of your cat. Acne is due to bacteria
present in food or water bowls due to improper cleaning. Leave such spots without any
picking or pricking. Thorough washing and application of prescribed medications can help
relieve your cat of all types of skin diseases.
Thyroid Disease: Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are common thyroid ailments in
older cats. Common symptoms of this disease include increased urination, increased
appetite, weight loss, hyperactivity, excessive thirst, panting, increased shedding,
vomiting, and diarrhea. Simple blood tests can diagnose the presence of this disease.
Oral administration of hyperthyroidism medications can control the disease within two to
three weeks. However, it causes serious side effects like blood clotting, vomiting, and loss
of appetite, itching around the face and head, jaundice, and other things. Surgery is
another treatment option, although older cats find it difficult to withstand the anesthesia.
Radioactive iodine therapy consisting of iodine injections under the skin proves to be the
ideal remedy. However, such therapy is costly and requires prolonged hospitalization.
Urinary Tract Disease: This disease normally causes a lot of pain. If untreated, it could
prove fatal for your cat. Urinary tract diseases include urethral blockage, bladder stones,
infection, crystals, and similar others. Infection could be due to fungus, bacteria, or virus.
Urethral obstructions occur in male cats due to a longer and narrower urethra. Small
debris-like formation of proteins and minerals may cause obstructions. This restricts flow
of urine and causes toxic substances to settle in the blood. This could cause death if
untreated within 72 hours.
Common treatment options include fluid therapy, catheterization, antibiotics, and surgery.
Simple dietary changes with smaller and more frequent meals and lots of water can bring
in marked changes in urinary tract infections.
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The above is an extract from the ebook "Understanding, Caring For and Training Your
Cat"
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Cats – An Overview
Cat Breeds Info
- Abyssinian
- American Bobtail
- American Curl
- American Shorthair
- American Wirehair
- Balinese
- Bengal
- Birman
- Bombay
- British Shorthair
- Burmese
- Chartreux
- Cornish Rex
- Devon Rex
- Egyptian Mau
- European Burmese
- Exotic Shorthair
- Havana Brown
- Himalayan
- Japanese Bobtail
- Javanese
- Korat
- Maine Coon
- Manx
- Munchkin
- Nebelung
- Norwegian Forest Cat
- Ocicat
- Oriental
- Persian
- Pixie-Bob
- Ragamuffin
- Ragdoll
- Russian Blue
- Savannah
- Scottish Fold
- Siamese
- Siberian
- Singapura
- Snowshoe
- Sokoke
- Somali
- Sphyx
- Tonkinese
- Turkish Angora
- Turkish Van
- Tabby
- Solids and Smokes
- Cats with white markings
- Tortoiseshell, Patched Tabbies, and Calicoes
- Pointed (Siamese) Pattern
- Before You Buy a Cat
- Your Situation
- Financial
- The Breeder
- The Cat Itself
Selecting a Cat that is Right for You
- Kitten or Adult
- Male or Female
- Behavioral Patterns
- Physical Appearance
- Purebred or Mixed Breed
Where Can You Buy a Cat?
Common Cat Behaviors Explained
- Attention-Seeking Behavior
- Aggressive Behavior towards People
- Aggression towards Other Cats
- Chewing Incidents by Cats and Kittens
- Cats and Their Destructive Scratching
- Litter Box Misuse
- Compulsive Behavior by Cats
- Anxiety and Stress in Cats
Creating a Healthy Environment for Your Cat
Common Cat Diseases and Health Problems
- Cat Diseases and Health Problems
The Vaccinations Your Cat Really Needs
Caring for Your Sick Cat
Keeping Your Cat Healthy the Natural Way
Twenty Tips for Caring for Your Cat
Grooming Your Cat and Hygiene
- Regular grooming
- Combing
- Brushing
- Nail trimming
- Bathing
- Additional Foods for Your Cat
- Essential Tips
- Simple Toys That Provide Exercise for Your Cat
Housing Your Cat
Introducing Your Pets to a New Cat
Training Tips for Cats
How to Train Your Cat - and What Not to Do
Important Do’s of Cat Training
- Important Don’ts of Cat Training
How to Train Your Cat to Walk with a Leash
Training Your Cat to Come When Called
How to Litter Train Your Cat
More Litter Box Training Tips
Stopping Your Cat from Biting
Curbing Your Cat's Aggression
Stopping Your Cat from Eating Houseplants
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