Most common illnesses for cats
Cats in general are healthy animals, but like any animal they can get ill so it is useful to know the common signs of illnesses so you will know if they do get ill. Please note that these points are just information and should not be relied upon.
Hyperthyroidism
Older cats around the age of 13 are most likely to suffer from this. What happens is that too much thyroxine and tri-oidothyronine is produced by the thyroid gland. This tends to be due to a tumour in the gland, though in around 98% of cases these tumours aren’t cancerous.
Some things to look out for are sudden weight loss with an increase in their appetite; due to an increase in their metabolism. You will also find that they don’t tend to clean themselves as much therefore making them look scruffy. Some other symptoms to keep an eye out for are vomiting, panting, diarrhoea, hyperactivity and nervousness.
These symptoms are similar to renal disease so be sure to know the differences. The treatment consists of radioactive iodine, anti-thyroid medication and the removal of the thyroid gland.
Compare pet insuranceFeline Immunodeficiency virus (FIV)
This is a contagious illness that can only affect cats and is normally passed through bites in cat fights – normally between males; it can cause a low white blood cell count and immune deficiency. It has been called the cat equivalent of human AIDS; similar to AIDS when a cat catches FIV sadly they will eventually die from it as there is no current cure for it.
The initial symptoms to look out for are swelling of the lymph nodes, anaemia and skin infections, during the later stages of the disease symptoms to be aware of are diarrhoea, weight loss, mouth disease, urinary tract infections, ear canal infections, just general ill health.
The best thing you can do is try your hardest to prevent you cat from catching FIV, getting him/her neutered will help this as male cats who are most common to get this as they enjoy to roam, so neutering them tends to stop this need. Keeping general control over your cat will also help prevent them from catching FIV. If you are looking at getting a new cat and already have some, it’s a good idea to get our current cat checked over for FIV before bringing in a new one.
Diabetes for cat’s isn’t that different from diabetes that humans suffer from, and is similarly on the increase with around one quarter of one percent of cats now having it. About 5 to 20& of cats have Type 1 diabetes which means they require insulin treatment; this can be through the cat’s genetics and environmental issues.
The other percentage of cat’s have Type 2 diabetes which can be controlled through having less carbohydrate’s in their diet along with hypoglycaemic drug. This can be caused from overeating. Hopefully your cat will respond well to the diet and therefore you are able to control the diabetes through that. Symptoms of type 2 diabetes are an increase or complete lack of eating, increase in drinking and jaundice.
It is not completely known what causes diabetes, though a number of people think that it is the increase in dry food – many people have started to feed their cats dry food as it is quick and easy, however it is full of sugar which triggers diabetes.
This probably one of the most serious and contagious viral disease, it tends to be carried by humans and passed onto cats, is seen the most in kittens which is why it is important to get then vaccinated as soon as they are old enough. It’s a very fast spreading disease which means you could spot the symptoms and 3 to 5 days later your cat may pass away – often due to it spreading so fact owners don’t even notice the symptoms.
Some of the main symptoms of this disease are high fever, diarrhoea and vomiting, you may also find your cat becomes very depressed and dehydrated. Due to these symptoms septicaemia can often be caused by the bacterial infection spreading into the bloodstream, this will sadly resort in death of your pet.
The best way to stop your cat from getting this disease is to prevent it by vaccinating them as soon as you can, treatment such as fluid replacement and antibiotics can be offered to older cats that get the disease but nothing can be offered to kittens.
Again this is a serious illness, it is contagious but not one of the most contagious illnesses a cat can get. It is only contagious to cats and is generally spread through saliva and from a mother to its kittens when they are inside her, it is the same type that causes HIV in humans.
The symptoms of this disease take a long time to show with it sometimes being years between the initial infection and the first sign of symptoms showing, these symptoms can be leukaemia and lymphoma, cancer of the lymph nodes. Is can also attack the immune system which means that their immune system becomes too low to protect their body, another symptom that has a similar affect is that is suppresses their bone marrow, compromising their white blood cells and platelet. Kittens who are born with this disease suffer a range of illnesses that stops them from growing well.
Again the treatment for this disease isn’t particularly strong so it is best to prevent the illness, there is a vaccine available but not a lot of people agree with it. You can get your cat checked for FLV by a vet which is advised if you are looking to introduce a new cat to your home which already has other cats in it.
Upper Respiratory Infection (URI)
This is a number of infections that can be caused by 4 viruses, two are serious, these are called Calicivirus and Rhinotracheitis (RHV) and two that are mild, Pneumonitis and reovirus – pneumonitis is milder than reovirus which leads to a mild fever. The main signs of these viruses are very much like a cold; sneezing a running nose and sore eyes.
During this virus a cat can lose its sense of smell and develop ulcers, this can therefore lead to under eating and so you may notice that they lose weight, this may lead to them becoming dehydrated and weak. RHV can cause ulceration in the front of the eye.
URI is much more serious than a cat cold with it sometimes being fatal for young cats and kittens. After the recovery of URI cats can still carry the disease due to their lymph nodes under their chin swelling and secondary infections can occur. To prevent your cat from getting this disease you are able to get them vaccinated.
Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUD)
This is a term which is used for a number of lower urinary tract disease which range from mild to serious, these can include Cystitis which is fairly mild to total blockage which is a lot more serious.
Urinary infections have always been common in cats, though similar to diabetes the number if cats having them have increased as the use of dry food has increased, this is due to dry food causing crystal formation and alkaline urine which requires a cat to drink more than they normally would but often they don’t do this. An example of an infection is the when their bladder becomes blocked which can lead to a bacterial infection or inflammation, the is due to the urine being attractive for bacteria to form and multiply, it then forms as crystals or stones which then forms the blockage. In some cases this blockage can lead to being fatal due to kidney failure.
You can help prevent your cat from getting this by giving him/her a diet of wet cat food rather than dry cat food which contains magnesium that develops into crystals.
Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP)
FIP when the peritoneum – the thin membrane that keeps the internal organs in the abdomen in place inflames, this is similar to when humans get peritonitis. However when cats get the disease it isn’t just the inflammation of the peritonitis, the capillary blood vessels tend to also inflate which causes a loss of fluid to those tissues.
The disease isn’t particularly contagious and it is thought that the cats who suffer from it were infected from an early age with it just taking time to inflame; FIP can take two forms which are wet FIP and dry FIP.
Wet FIP is when fluid builds up in the cats chest lining and abdominal area, this can cause a number of affects such as; lack of eating, high fever, dehydration, weight loss and vomiting to name a few, you will notice an overall ill appearance in your cat , this form is particularly common in kitten and can kill them. Dry FIP has the same early symptoms of wet FIP though without the fluid being produced, in a lot of the cases with dry FIP the cat’s eyes have been affected with them becoming sore and red and in some cases bleeding. Cat’s suffering from dry FIP may also develop brain damage, kidney and pancreas problems, brain damage and around 10 to 20% develop FLV.
Sadly there isn’t a cure for either dry FIP or wet FIP and cats that develop either illness will died within weeks of getting it, so your vet will try and make it as comfortable and painless as they can for them. There is a vaccine available for the prevention of this disease however it is controversial due to the lack of testing done with it and some believe that it will put a cat at greater risk of catching the disease – yet this also haven’t been proven so it is really a matter of personal opinion and choice.