When it comes to cat diseases, everyone will definitely think of cat plague (cat panleukopenia), cat moss, ear mites, cat nasal branches (cat infectious rhinotracheitis) and other very common diseases for the first time, and the knowledge of these cat diseases can be seen everywhere in self-media, pet forums, circles of friends and other platforms.
Few authors will popularize the knowledge of rare diseases in cats, and the shovelers should know that the more rare cat diseases, the more they should understand, so as not to be overwhelmed when encountering the disease, and their eyes are black.
In the previous article, I have popularized the knowledge of rare cat diseases such as "cat fly maggot disease", "cat sprout fungal disease", "cryptococcosis", "Aspergillosis", etc., and you can check it yourself if necessary.
Today's article to talk in detail about "feline riftoniasis", this disease is very rare, and the symptoms are more serious, not timely treatment or no treatment measures will lead to the death of cats. This article includes an introduction to feline schistosomiasis, sources of transmission, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention.
Friendly reminder: The key knowledge that needs to be understood in this article has been bolded, which is convenient for all shovelers to read, if you are interested, please read through the whole text. This article is original by a cat diary, it is forbidden to reprint, wash, plagiarize, and violate the law!
<h1>Get a brief look at "feline schistosis"</h1>
Cytauxzoonosis is caused by a small blood parasitic protozoa, the feline rift, a blood parasitic disease.
First found in the mid-1970s in Missouri, USA, the disease often occurs in the south-central and south-central United States, and the prevalence rate in China is low. While uncommon, don't take it lightly.
A common source of transmission of feline schistosis is ticks, which are transmitted by tick bites.
The high incidence season for this disease is the time when ticks are most active in spring and early summer.
Risk cats: Cats that live outdoors for a long time or cats that are free-range indoors and outdoors belong to the risk cat group. Cats and dogs are also at risk cats, as ticks are easy to bite dogs and then bring ticks home.
As ordinary shovelers, it is enough to know this, and the focus is on the following.
<h1>What are the symptoms of feline infection with "feline schistosis"? </h1>
In recent years, studies have found that schistosis has different genotypes, and some genotypes of schistosomiasis are not pathogenic, which is why some cats infected with schistosis do not show obvious clinical symptoms. The cause of the presence of multiple genotypes of schistosis may be related to geographical distribution.
After a cat is infected with a more pathogenic schizoid worm, clinical symptoms usually appear within 14 days (an average of 10 days).
Clinical symptoms include: depression (depression), anorexia (decreased appetite), fever, mucosal pallor, jaundice, dehydration, dyspnea/tachypnea, and decreased body temperature one or two hours before death. Liver, spleen, and lymphadenopathy and renal edema may be found on physical examination, and the lungs present with edema and hyperemia.
Fever and dehydration are the most common clinical symptoms.
Some cats also change their mental state, whining/wailing, cramping, coma, etc.
<h1>How will veterinarians diagnose "feline schistosis"? </h1>
Veterinary diagnosis can be divided into two parts: primary diagnosis and auxiliary diagnosis.
■Main diagnosis
The owner's complaint and the cat's blood routine (CBC) are the two main steps in the diagnosis.
When we go to the hospital for diagnosis, we need to prepare the main complaint information, which mainly includes these problems:
Whether the cat's lifestyle is pure indoors, pure outdoors, or indoors and outdoors.
Have ticks ever been found in cats?
Have you recently carried cats to play outdoors, such as "walking a cat"?
What symptoms the cat shows at home and when it starts to behave abnormally. (See previous subsection)
The preparation of the main complaint information is to assist the veterinarian to better diagnose the disease, diagnose the disease as soon as possible and formulate a treatment plan and treatment as soon as possible, and everyone in the small doctor-patient relationship is beneficial to the owner, to the cat, to the veterinarian, and to the small doctor-patient relationship.
If a cat is sick, a blood routine (CBC) diagnosis may reveal mild to severe symptoms of anemia, abnormal white blood cell counts, and thrombocytopenia. It is also possible to find schizoite pear pulp in erythrocytes on blood smears, in the form of a seal ring, bipolar oval pin-shaped or an invisible dot. However, it is important to note that if a cat is suspected of contracting schizoides, CBC should be repeated, as it may not be detectable on the first day and a large number of pathogens will appear the next day.
■Auxiliary diagnosis
Auxiliary diagnostics include biochemical and urinalysis, spleen, lymph node, liver, and cytology, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Note: This disease should be differentially diagnosed with mycoplasma felines by blood smear to avoid misdiagnosis.
<h1>How is "feline schistosis" treated? </h1>
The treatment regimen for feline schistosis can be summarized in these two steps: medication and supportive care.
■ Medication
The most commonly used drug treatment for feline rifts is the antiprotozoan drug atovaquone combined with the antibiotic azithromycin, which combines to improve survival in sick cats.
The specific dosage, frequency, precautions and other plans for the affected cat need to be formulated together with the veterinarian in combination with the actual condition.
■Supportive care
Cats can be supportively cared for with fluid therapy, nutritional therapy, blood products, and antibiotic therapy.
Liquid therapy (generally referring to what we often call infusion) can prevent dehydration in cats, after all, dehydration is one of the most common symptoms of feline schistosis, and can also regulate the body's electrolytes, adjust acid-base disorders, and so on.
Nutritional therapy, as the name suggests, is to supplement the cat body with the required nutrients to prevent the occurrence of malnutrition and a variety of complications due to anorexia or other reasons, and can be treated by feeding tubes, feeding and other ways.
Blood products, cats suffer from schistosis, and the common complication is diffuse intravascular coagulation, so it is of some significance to choose plasma and heparin for treatment.
Antibiotic therapy can prevent further deterioration of the condition to some extent.
The prognosis of the disease is related to the severity of the cat's condition at the time of presentation, and if the sick cat is already very serious at the time of presentation, the prognosis is poor.
As shovelers, we must be serious and strict in accordance with the treatment plan formulated by veterinarians, not sloppy, although feline riftosis is not a common disease, but also pay attention to, after all, the mortality rate is high.
<h1>How should we prevent felines from suffering from "feline schistosis"? </h1>
In fact, we can understand from the source of transmission that ticks are the most common source of transmission.
To prevent cats from suffering from "feline rift worm disease" is to prevent cats from contacting "ticks" to avoid being bitten by ticks.
At present, there are no particularly good drugs and quarantines to prevent cats from contracting this disease, and there is only one recommended prevention plan: pure indoor parenting, which is also the most effective prevention program. Pure indoor parenting can effectively eliminate the possibility of cat contact with ticks, and can also prevent many accidents, such as falling from height, car accidents, and fights with other animals.
Shovelers who take cats out should note that common tick areas include grasses and plants on shallow hills, furs of some livestock and animals, forests, bushes, grasslands, semi-desert areas, etc.
The shoveler of "cat and dog" should also pay attention to it, and when going out to walk the dog, we should pay attention to ticks, ticks are easy to bite the dog, so as to bring the tick home. If you find ticks on your dog, don't pull it out hard, and take it to the hospital for professional treatment, so as not to bring unnecessary trouble.
Shovelers who often fish and swim in the wild should also pay attention to precautions to avoid being bitten by ticks while avoiding bringing ticks home.
In summary, this article ends with knowledge points.
I think the most important thing in the knowledge of feline schistosis in this article is prevention, and preventing tick bites from cats is the key to prevention.
If we suspect or determine that a cat has been bitten by a tick, we need to be sent to the hospital immediately for diagnosis and treatment, do not delay treatment, and do not take no treatment measures, feline schistosis is really serious!
Finally, I would like to emphasize that whether it is a person or a pet, after being bitten by ticks, do not use tweezers and other tools to pull it, let alone crush it with your hands, these are taboos, and it is the top priority to go to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible!
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