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In the last few years, there’s been a lot of concern among dog owners about leptospirosis. And it’s no surprise. Not only is ‘lepto‘ a horrible disease, but it’s being seen in places where it never used to be.
Here you’ll find the latest information on the risk to Australian dogs and what you can do to reduce it.
Continue reading “Is My Dog At Risk Of Leptospirosis?”
A few years ago I started getting questions about a new cat viral outbreak called cat plague. Cat plague? I may have been seeing cats for 25 years, but this was news to me too.
A quick google and it all became clear: this is a new name for an old disease. It goes by all these names:
Continue reading “It’s True, Cats Get Parvo Too”
When I was young, like all kids, I wanted to know why everything happened. Having vets as parents, I can distinctly remember asking why male cats needed to be desexed.
“It’s because otherwise they fight so much that they get run down and die early.”
With the benefit of hindsight, this is pure folk wisdom. People could see that fighting was associated with sickness, but not yet why. Then, in 1986, hot on the heels of the discovery of the human AIDS virus, researchers in the USA put two and two together and found a feline AIDS virus in cats like these. We call it FIV.
Continue reading “Feline Immunodeficiency Virus & Your Cat”
Does titre testing mean dogs and cats need a lot less vaccination? That’s certainly what you read online.
The truth is more complicated than that.
Continue reading “Titre Testing vs Vaccination”
‘At A Glance (Details Below)’
A stray kitten was found in a backyard a few weeks ago. Like most people do, her finders never hesitated to give her a home. Straight away, however, they knew something was wrong.
That’s her pictured above and below. She’s obviously miserable, but it’s the second photo that shows what’s really going on. This is ‘cat flu’.
You probably diligently vaccinate your cat against flu but do you know what it is? Cat flu is nothing like what most people think. For a start, it’s not flu!
Cat flu just looks like a severe cold until you take a closer look. It causes:
But that’s not all. These nasty viruses sometimes do a lot more damage. Other important effects can be:
And yet, there’s still even more. Most of the time it doesn’t go away…
For a simple, uncomplicated case of flu, a cat might be back to normal in seven days. However, in most cases, secondary bacterial infection of the eyes, nose, sinuses or chest increases both the severity and duration of the illness.
Cat flu is treated by:
Most of these cats will still make a full recovery, although they suffer quite a bit in the process. For many, though, and especially the young or neglected, long-term problems persist.
If there’s just one thing I want all cat owners to understand about flu, it’s this last point about carriers.
Cat flu is spread in the saliva of apparently healthy carrier cats. Nearly every cat who got cat flu once will carry and spread the virus for life. Carriers are estimated to represent around 30% of all cats.
It’s not their fault. It’s up to all of us to know where the real risk is and stop it. Here’s what I do…
The viruses spread both directly from cat to cat and indirectly via objects, people and the environment.
I hope now you understand why a good cattery never mixes cats or uses anything that can’t be disinfected.
I’m sorry if this all sounds a bit like a scare story. It’s all gospel truth but we’re in danger of forgetting how things once were. If you want to read more, visit an old page where I featured three cats with rare consequences of cat flu or here for other causes of mouth ulcers.
Related: Why Kittens Often Have Runny Eyes
Have something to add? Comments are welcome below and will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. These help topics are from a series regularly posted on email and Twitter. Subscribe via email here to never miss a story! The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.
UPDATE: We are glad to inform you that our standard Nobivac DHP vaccine has been proven to protect against strain CPV-2c. See more below.
Every dog owner’s worst nightmare is Parvovirus. This week the detection of a new strain in Australia was announced. Although there’s no reason to panic, here’s what vets and dog owners need to know.
Continue reading “The New Parvovirus Strain In Australian Dogs”
UPDATE LATE 2017- Myxomatosis is once again rare in pet bunnies in Adelaide, but vigilance is essential. Please let us know if your rabbit becomes infected.
Myxomatosis is a serious and common disease of pet rabbits in Adelaide. We’ve put together this information for rabbit owners about preventing and treating myxomatosis.
Read more about the 2016 outbreak below.
Continue reading “Myxomatosis In Rabbits” Here are the top 17. There’s no such thing as a silly question!
Continue reading “The Kitten Questions You Ask Us”
Update 2018:
To those who love rabbits it’s been a tough few years.
On the 24th of February, 2016 we were notified that the new strain of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus called RHDV2 had reached South Australia and was causing deaths around Adelaide.
We posted an alert on our Facebook page, and only then did the true horror of what was happening become clear.
Continue reading “Update On The Rabbit Calicivirus Outbreak”
What do the diseases we protect your dog from actually look like?
Click here to see vaccination protocols for dogs or continue reading to learn about these important illnesses.
Continue reading “Explained: Parvo, Distemper, Hepatitis & Kennel Cough”Many of our cat-owning clients will already know how much we hate the name ‘cat flu’. The name comes from a time when we didn’t fully understand what these viruses were. These are serious diseases with often lifelong consequences for the infected cat. Here are the stories of four such cats: Felix, Sooty, Princess and Twitch.
Continue reading “The Unusual & Severe Effects Of Cat Flu”