Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Pets

Join our community on the Pet forum to discuss anything related to pets.

Original poster

Anyone now about cat flu

12 replies

chicagomum · 27/09/2005 21:57

DH's father just rung to say that one of our cats has cat flu but doesn't know much more than that (my SIL is house/cat sitting for us whilst we live out in USA for 6 months). The cat has been to the vet and had an injection and eye drops for associated conjuntivitis.. Does anyone know what this is like? Is it serious? Aren't they supposed to be covered against this in their annual vaccinations?

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 27/09/2005 21:58

No, they won't be covered against this in their annual vaccinations - different strains of it exist, as in any animal population.

Your cat may have been given an anti-viral to hopefully help curtail the virus's life span.

Original poster
chicagomum · 27/09/2005 22:06

So is it just like human flu (ie they feel rotten for a while then get better) or is it more serious. I've some recollection of some cat illness being associated with the feline aids virus (or am I just making that up?)

OP posts:
WigWamBam · 27/09/2005 22:10

It can be more serious, there's some more information here .

My cat is a feline calicivirus carrier/shedder and it's affected her quite badly; once a cat has an attack of flu they are prone to repeated bouts when under stress, each time she had it she ended up with dreadful sores and gingivitis and eventually it caused her to lose all of her teeth.

Original poster
chicagomum · 27/09/2005 22:53

Thanks www, apparently he was limping a couple of days ago so that was why she took him to the vet (just read about that on the link) hope he's ok fell bad when the animals get sick when someone else is looking after them. (A friend of mine was looking after a dog and it keeled over and died on hampstead heath on her).

OP posts:
WigWamBam · 28/09/2005 09:37

Our cat often limps with it too; it seems to make the pads of the feet sore, and sometimes the skin in between the paws gets hard and sore.

Once they have flu, it usually recurs so you'll need to keep an eye on his mouth in future, if it's the calicivirus he's got it really does make their mouths sore. Our cat gets stomatitis as well as the gingivitis, so she gets big sores around the edges of her mouth - the lip will seem to turn up and thicken first, then the sore will appear later. She can't eat when her mouth gets sore, although it's been much better in that respect since her teeth were taken out. We managed to keep her teeth for 8 years, but eventually it got so bad that it was too hard to keep it under control with medication.

Stress is the most common trigger, certainly in our cat, but they can give hormone tablets (Ovarid) to help keep the stress levels down and regulate the problem.

jodie1984 · 28/09/2005 13:03

cat flu is just like human flu with many strains of it but about 90% of them are covered in their annual vaccinations and like a human once they have fought that particuar strain and recovered they WILL NOT show symptoms if they get it again as their body will destroy it before then.

cat flu is not related to gingivitis or stomatitis it is just a build up of bacteria in the mouth that leads to an infection the cat can not fight its self

ovarid is a synthetic hormone given to cats when a hormone inbalance occurs and will usually require them for the rest of their life. it is unknown what causes the hormone inbalance it is very unlikely to be stress.

the majority of cats recover 100% from cat flu if they are healthy, it is very young or very old cats that have the problems.

hope this helps

jodie1984 · 28/09/2005 13:03

cat flu is just like human flu with many strains of it but about 90% of them are covered in their annual vaccinations and like a human once they have fought that particuar strain and recovered they WILL NOT show symptoms if they get it again as their body will destroy it before then.

cat flu is not related to gingivitis or stomatitis it is just a build up of bacteria in the mouth that leads to an infection the cat can not fight its self

ovarid is a synthetic hormone given to cats when a hormone inbalance occurs and will usually require them for the rest of their life. it is unknown what causes the hormone inbalance it is very unlikely to be stress.

the majority of cats recover 100% from cat flu if they are healthy, it is very young or very old cats that have the problems.

hope this helps

WigWamBam · 28/09/2005 13:16

Jodie, read the link. Gingivitis/stomatitis isn't related to cat flu but if the strain of flu is calicivirus then it pre-disposes the cat to the problem, and if that's the case then treatment needs to be given, as was the case with my cat.

Ovarid is a synthetic hormone, yes - but one that was given to my cat because of the problems caused by the calicivirus - again, if you read the link, that's not unusual.

What I posted is what my vet told me about calicivirus, which is backed up by the link. It might be in layman's terms, but it's how it was explained to me. It may not apply to chicagomum's cat, as it may not be the calicivirus form of flu that he has caught, but keeping an eye on the cat in case some of the symptoms that mine has occur isn't going to hurt.

Your post appears to be trying to make me out to be a liar, and I am not.

jodie1984 · 28/09/2005 13:23

sorry i wasnt making you out to be a lair, i sould re read my posts sometimes i dont write things how i am saying them sorry sorry sorry.

i did read the like and i know about calicivirus cat flu, what i was trying to say but not very well is that it is very rair and with the limping it could have been in a fight and contracted the cat flu that way.

sorry again

WigWamBam · 28/09/2005 13:38

Sorry, my post came out a bit snappier than I intended!

jodie1984 · 28/09/2005 13:46

what are we like?? we're as bad as each other

WigWamBam · 28/09/2005 13:49

I know, dreadful isn't it!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread