Cat Disease
Cat Disease Isn't Inevitable But Can Happen
If you start with a healthy kitten that's had its shots, keep your growing cat indoors, and feed it well, there’s a good chance that cat disease won't ever become a problem. Most of these diseases are contracted from other cats, especially the out-of-door types. We'll look at some of the more common diseases here, including some of the scarier ones, and take a brief look at what to look for so that you can get your cat treated in time.
Your cat may be predisposed to a certain cat disease. Persians and other flat-faced cats tend to contract certain respiratory diseases, at a much greater frequency than do other cats. Different cats may have different allergies, just as people do, and cats, like people, can have asthma. Asthma attacks in cats are not all that uncommon, and will vary from mild to severe. Upper Respiratory Disease is also fairly common among cats, though normally not of great concern. People catch colds or have flu-like symptoms, and cats are no different. The viruses are not the same, but the effects can be quite similar. Your cat's diet may also contribute to certain diseases, no matter how good your intentions may be. If plaque is allowed to build up on your cat's teeth, and that is not at all uncommon, Tooth and Gum disease may be the result. What you feed your cat can also cause a condition known as Cystis, a disease of the urinary system. Your cat can have symptoms from difficulty in urinating to experiencing significant pain in the urinary tract.
Older cats are often susceptible to Kidney Failure, and diet can play a role in this as well. A problem associated with kidney failure is that by the time the symptoms become evident, the condition is often well advanced. In-time treatment can give the cat an extended period of quality living, but most cats do not survive kidney failure for long, especially if untreated. Diet can also contribute to one of the diseases in the scary category. Scary, because these are diseases we can have as well, and they are not particularly good ones to have. The disease in question is diabetes, which cats can have just as we can. The problem is the same; the cat's system is unable to produce sufficient insulin.
Two other scary diseases, besides diabetes, that both humans and cats can have are Leukemia, and AIDS. Fortunately, the feline leukemia virus can cause the disease in cats only, and cannot survive in the human body. The same can be said of the other scary cat disease, feline AIDS, more appropriately know as Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV). While the FIV virus is in the same class as the human HIV, FIV cannot infect humans, only cats. Diabetes is of course not contagious, so it's safe for us to be around a cat that has any of these three diseases. Diseases we can pick up from cats would be those carried by ticks and fleas, worms, or rabies. If your cat is an indoor cat, the chances of your coming into contact with these infectious diseases is very remote, especially if your cat has had shots.
It sounds like good advice to be aware of how your pet is looking and acting to be able to catch the symptoms of any cat disease in advance. If physical or behavioral changes are abrupt, you can often get a program of treatment in place in good time. Often however, such changes come slowly, over a period of days, weeks, or even months. It is for this reason that an annual or semi-annual examination by a vet is always a good idea. Another good idea is just to give your cat well balanced meals, keep it groomed, give it attention, and keep it indoors. Then your pet's being visited by a cat disease will be an unlikely occurrence.