My daughter’s cat recently came in from an outdoor excursion looking very ragged.     Examination revealed that Felix had been mugged by a neighborhood cat and sustained a puncture wound through the skin. Antibiotic therapy was started and Felix recovered quickly, or, so it seems.
     Felix is free of bacterial infection, but what about a viral infection such as feline leukemia (FeLV) or feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Infection by these agents is more subtle at first and harder to detect. Clinical signs may not appear for weeks to months to years, and by that time, it is too late to stop the virus.
     Detection of these virus infections is by a blood test specific for those virus agents only.  There is a lag time before the test can detect infection, 2 to 4 weeks for FeLV and 8 weeks for FIV. Prevention of Felv is by vaccinating the cat before exposure. There is a vaccine for FIV but this is generally not used for certain reasons that can be discussed later. Another form of prevention is to prevent Felix form encountering the other outdoor cats and avoid bite injuries.

     Fortunately, Felix has been vaccinated for FeLV, but not for FIV. We will need to test him after the 8 week period to determine if he has been infected. Meanwhile, he will be fed a good diet and watched for any signs of illness. Hopefully this is not the start of a long medical illness.

Joe Simon, DVM

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Now that we have reached mid-Feb, the daylight hours are getting longer and that means one thing—all the little girl cats in town are getting poised to go into heat!

Unspayed female kitties come into heat every 2-3 weeks, and this will continue until they are either spayed or get pregnant.  Each cycle lasts several days.  While they are cycling, they tend to get extremely loving, may arch their bottoms into the air more than usual, and become amazing escape artists.  The urge to find a boyfriend can be so overwhelming that they might even chew through screens, jump out windows, or quietly slip out the door when no one is looking.  Yowling, which usually results in sleep deprivation for the humans in the house, is also a common occurrence!

To add insult to injury, some girl kitties will advertise they are in heat by “spraying” their urine.  Since most of the cats we take care of here at the cat clinics are inside kitties, this is occurring in the house.    The flip side of this is the boy kitties answering the girls—usually by spraying urine around the outside perimeter of the house/property. 

The cure of course is simple—spay and neuter these little kitties!  As a bonus, spaying before the heat cycles begin greatly reduces the risk of breast cancer in our girl kitty population.  

Ah, kitty romance--I think I prefer chocolate and roses!

Dr. Maria Berger