cat nose branch Cat nose branch is a kind of infectious disease which is very harmful to cats (especially young cats). If the disease is not treated in time, it will cause serious damage to the cat’s health and even cause death. This disease is widely spread in stray cats in the community, the incidence is very high, therefore, all cat owners need to understand and attach great importance to the scientific prevention and control of this disease.
What is the cause of cat nose branch?
The pathogen behind the “cat nose branch” is the feline herpes virus. The virus is weak in resistance to external factors, dry environment, more than 12 hours to lose virulence, and can be inactivated by formaldehyde and phenols. The “nasal branch of cat” caused by this virus is an acute, highly contact upper respiratory tract infectious disease, mainly infecting young cats, morbidity is 100%, mortality is 50%; Adult cats have higher morbidity but lower mortality.
How popular is cat nose branch?
“cat nose branch” has worldwide distribution and has been widely popularized in many areas of our country, including Shanghai area. Almost all stray cats are infected with the “cat nose branch.” Domestic cats are also highly likely to be infected if they are kept in a poor environment, cared for improperly and come into contact with stray cats at random. The disease is mainly transmitted by contact, with the virus being discharged from the nose, eyes and mouth of infected cats, and from the respiratory tract of healthy and sick cats through direct nose to nose contact or by inhaling droplets containing the virus. In still air, the virus can be spread by droplets within 1 meter.
This virus only infects cats and feline animals, and cats that recover naturally can carry and detoxify for a long time, becoming an important source of infection. At the same time, infected cats can detoxify themselves with secretions, lasting for about 2 weeks. The discharged virus can be quickly transmitted to other cats through contact and droplets, causing illness in other cats.
What are the symptoms of a “cat nose branch”?
The incubation period of “nasal branch of cat” is 2 ~ 6 days. At the beginning of the disease, the symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection are mainly presented. The sick cat shows depression, anorexia, elevated body temperature, coughing, sneezing, tearing, and secretions in the eyes and nose. The discharge is serous at first and becomes purulent as the disease progresses. Some sick cats appear oral ulcers, pneumonia and vaginitis, and some skin ulcers. Chronic cases may present with cough, sinusitis, dyspnea, ulcerative conjunctivitis, and panophthalmitis. The pups of pregnant cats infected with the “feline nasal rami” are weak, lethargic, and die of severe dyspnea.
How to prevent and treat cat nose branch effectively?
The prevention of “cat nasal rami” is mainly through vaccination. The most commonly used vaccine is the feline triple vaccine, which protects against feline plague, feline nasal rami and feline calicivirus disease at the same time. Immunized cats should be vaccinated three times for the first time and then once a year. So far, the vaccine hasn’t been very effective.
Since “cat nose branch” is a contagious disease, if you have multiple cats and one shows similar symptoms, you should isolate the cat and ventilate the room. Lysine can be added to the cat diet, feeding no disease cats, can play a certain preventive role.
If you already have a cat in your home, you should not adopt a stray cat into your home at will. Otherwise, it is easy to bring the “cat nasal branch” virus into your home and infect your healthy cat.
For the treatment of the disease cat can be injected with cat interferon, with eye symptoms can use antiviral eye drops, with upper respiratory symptoms can take aerosol treatment, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory treatment and symptomatic treatment, supplement electrolyte, glucose, vitamins, especially should supplement lysine, because when the body lacks lysine, the resistance to herpes virus will be reduced. In addition, for sick cats, especially young cats must pay attention to keep warm, in order to quickly recover health.
Post time: Feb-17-2023