Diarrhea in kittens? Be careful, never underestimate it: it could be the first symptom of a serious illness. In the trivalent cat vaccine, in addition to the Herpesvirus (responsible for feline viral rhinotracheitis or cat cold) and the Calicivirus (responsible for a form of pneumonia with ulcers), there is also Feline viral panleukopenia. It is a form of viral gastroenteritis serious, acute and often fatal caused by a Parvovirus. In practice it is the feline analogue of parvovirus in dogs.
Viral panleukopenia in cats, causes and how is it transmitted?
There Viral panleukopenia in cats or PLF, if you love acronyms, is one very contagious disease of cats (but also of wild felines), caused by a virus, called FPV, which has close links with CPV-2, the virus responsible for canine hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. This virus tends to mainly affect kittens of 3-5 months, but cases are often seen also in adult cats, especially in those that are not well vaccinated.
The disease is often mortal. There transmission it can happen in various ways:
Consider that the virus is extremely resistant in the environment external. Furthermore, infected and sick cats can shed the virus for months.
There duration of the incubation period is 4-10 days. The severity of the disease will depend on various factors:
After an initial phase of replication in the oropharynx, here comes the start viremia which distributes blood to lymph nodes, thymus, spleen, bone marrow and enterocytes. There is, then, a particular form of cerebellar hypoplasia caused by infection of the brain during intrauterine life. This form is not directly transmissible to other cats.
Does feline viral panleukopenia infect humans?
No, there Feline viral panleukopenia does not infect humans. However, there are strains of FPV that are so similar to the Dog CPV-2 which can also cause disease in the latter. And there are also some variants of CPV capable of causing disease in cats too.
Diarrhea in kittens: symptoms of panleukopenia
If it is true that the symptom par excellence of feline viral panleukopenia is diarrheaso in reality here too we are dealing with different forms of the disease:
Treatment and cure of panleukopenia in cats
After the vet is done diagnosis following a visit, blood tests and specific tests, all that can be done is symptomatic and supportive therapy. This is because, speaking of a viral disease, . The treatment involves several steps:
Also remember that:
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