Feline AIDS

This roaming stray tom cat, Timmy, is more prone to feline aids but he is healthy at the moment. Snoozing after a human sized meal. Photo copyright Michael

Introduction

The virus that causes feline aids is related to the virus that causes human aids. The term "AIDS" stands for "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome". The term "aids" is a commonly used non-technical term. Another more scientific term is "Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Infection" or "FIV" for short.

From the name of the disease we know that feline aids amounts to a deficient immune system caused by a virus. The virus is a "retrovirus". A retrovirus is different to a "normal" virus in that it has to convert (reverse transcription) RNA to DNA before insertion into the host cell. Once inserted it clones itself in the same way a virus does. The transcription process is not that accurate so different forms of the virus are created making it difficult to treat. It is the reason why flu vaccines don't work most of the time on HIV infections (src: Yahoo Answers thanks to ksveb01).

The feline aids virus is a lentivirus. These are viruses with a long incubation period and they are part of the Retroviridae family.

The feline immunodeficiency virus was discovered in California in 1986 (or 1987?). In research work carried out at the University of Florida and released in 2005, a possible link between the feline aids virus and the human version was found. A vaccination designed for human AIDS was found to provide equal protection for cats (src: /www.eurekalert.org). The two viruses are breed specific, however meaning that HIV does not produce feline aids and visa-versa.

Feline Aids - How common is it?
In the USA, 1-3% of cats - higher levels in outdoor male cats of 5-10 years of age.

Feline Aids - Signs Symtoms

Initial acute symptoms:

--fever
--swelling of lymph nodes, which are part of the immune system. They filter/trap foreign particles
--low white cell count (white cells - leukocytes - are also part of the immune system providing a defense against foreign invading objects)
--skin infections
--anemia

The disease progresses from the early acute signs (above) to latency (up to 3 years) to the chronic phase, the symptoms of which are:

--general ill heath
--severe mouth/gum disease
--diarrhea
--loss of appetite
--loss of weight
--URIs (Upper Respiratory Infections)
--ear canal infections
--URIs (Urinary Tract Infections)

Diagnosis
The large range of illnesses associated with feline AIDS (to be expected as the cat's immune system is severely compromised) are also similar to those that accompany:

--feline leukemia
--severe malnutrition (starvation)
--drug treatments that have as a side effect the suppression of the immune system
--cancer


Testing for feline aids requires care and includes ELISA, IFA and Western Blot Immunoassay testing. This is exclusively a veterinarian's area of operation.

Treatment
Treatment for feline aids is probably something the layperson knows a bit about as treatment for human aids is well publicized. In short millions of pounds and dollars are being spent on research (you wonder sometimes if the companies involved in research have a vested interest in not finding a cure or vaccine as it is big business). As of the date of this post I don't know of a cure for human aids and therefore the same applies to feline aids.

It seems that FIV cats are involved in animal testing. I am against animal testing but in this instance it would seem acceptable. AZT is used on people. AZT is more toxic to cats and can cause anemia and liver damage in high dosage. Results are it seems disappointing.

The best "treatment" is preventative action. Roaming and fighting toms are more prone to feline aids. Neutering male cats and keeping a degree of control over our cats is the better course of action. An indoor life with a large cat enclosure is probably the best compromise if workable.

From Feline aids to cat health problems

Feline aids - Sources:

1. As stated in the text
2. Wikipedia for definitions
3. Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook by Drs Carlson and Giffin
4. www.provet.co.uk

Largest Feline

Arguably the largest feline of the domestic breeds, the Serval cat a wild cat tamed to behave like a domestic cat. Small enough for that purpose but they are special and require a host of special requirements and care. photograph © Kathrin Stucki of A1 Savannahs

People searching for the largest feline are searching for the largest cat as the word "feline" means belonging to the Felinae family of animals and these include both wild and domestic cats. We need to separate the wild from the domestic as wild cats are generally much bigger than domestic cats, but not always. Some wild cats are very small and some domestic cats are bigger than the some wild cats.

There is a page on the Pictures of Cats website that deals with the largest domestic cat breed. It also deals with the smallest domestic cat breeds as a consequence and makes some comparisons in size between domestic cats and wild cats that are similar in size. There is a complication here as one or two wild cats have been tamed to become domestic cats (Serval - see above and Safari). Also there are a number of wild cat hybrids, the first generation offspring of which are large and semi-wild producing an overlap between wild and domestic cat. The classic wild cat hybrids are the Bengal and Savannah but you can see them all; in fact all the domestic cat breeds illustrated by the best pictures anywhere on the Pictures of cats website.

Largest Domestic Cat Breed

A particularly large domestic cat breed is the F1 (first generation Savannah), probably the largest domestic cat breed (or largest feline of the domestic cat breeds) but not recognized by most of the cat associations:

F1 Savannah Cats

As for the largest wild cats, two come to mind and there are pages on this website on both. One is a man mad wild cat to wild cat hybrid, the Liger:

What do Liger Eat? - this post features the worlds biggest cat or largest feline at the date of this post. If it has changed or I am wrong, please leave a comment.

The other wild cat that is the biggest wild cat breed is the Tiger:

Worlds Largest Cat (breed)

I think that more or less covers all the angles if someone is looking for the largest feline.


Largest Feline to Home page

Cat sitter Los Angeles

Looking for a cat sitter in Los Angeles? Take a tip for a cat lover in London. Over here there is a recent case of a women who went to Australia backpacking. She asked a young man to look after her two cats. I presume she let him stay at the house. He did some cleaning and one of the cats soiled something, don't know how or what. It could have been caused by stress through his presence.

Anyway he lost his temper. Tried to drown them both in the bath. He attacked them for an hour and tortured them. Fur and blood in the bath. Neighbors heard the cats' screams and the RSPCA (the same as your SPCA) came around (very promptly I am pleased to see).

They found the cats on the floor twitching. They survived despite broken bones and hypothermia and wounds. They would have died but for prompt veterinarian surgery.

The man has been prosecuted and been warned he faces a year in jail.

Moral: get a professional cat sitter in Los Angeles that has been recommended or someone you can guarantee is OK. Don't take a chance. And the cats should know this person ideally as some cats will become stressed. Also some cats prefer people of certain sex. It is wise to know which sex!

Cat sitter Los Angeles to home page

Dogs and Cats

Dogs and cats together - Photograph copyright myriorama under a creative commons license.

Some know it and some don't but dogs and cats can get along fine provided there has been the proper amount and quality of socialization. This has been confirmed and reinforced by research carried out recently by scientists doing research work at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

The number one finding is that dogs and cats can be friends (and some of the pictures show this clearly) provided they are introduced at a young age and the dog is introduced to the cat who is the first to occupy the territory. The cat has to be in place first because dogs get jealous when another animal be they human animal or animal are brought into the family after the dog as the newcomers will inevitably take away some of the attention that the dog was getting.


Dogs and cats together - photo copyright Scott Kinmartin - published under a creative commons license.

Dogs and cats socialized together at a young are learn to communicate with each other through body language. This is particularly good as dogs use different body language to cats so some learning is required. It doesn't come naturally. For example when a cat wags her tail it can mean agitation or aggression while for a dog it is the expression of a friendly emotion. Obviously a form of communication such as body language is extremely useful to the relationship. A lot of humans might learn something from this in fact. This clearly helps them to get along.


photo by fazen under a creative commons license.

An example of a dog learning a cat's body language is sniffing the cat's nose normally a cat to cat greeting (see picture above), when dogs sniff the other end of another dog when meeting each other.

There are endless examples of well balanced and successful relationships between cats and dogs. Now we know how it happened. Although I expect dogs and cats can make friends late in life too under the right circumstances and provided the cat and the dog have generally well socialized characters.

See some of the best dogs and cats together pictures

Thanks to the research authors: Neta-Li Feuerstein and Professor Joseph Terkel

Feline Pancreatitis

A healthy cat - photo by fofurasfelinas

Introduction

Feline Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas causing it to malfunction. The inflammation causes leakage of the digestive juices produced in the pancreas. It is a serious disease and can be life threatening. Feline pancreatitis is rare in both acute (a sudden, bad episode) and chronic (long term, more common in cats) forms. The pancreas is one of the cat's endocrine glands which produce hormones. An example of another is the pituitary gland. It is a small gland close to the stomach and lower intestine.

The main function of the pancreas is the production of digestive enzymes and insulin (the pancreas also produces other hormones). The digestive enzymes produced by the pancreatic gland (a more technical name) are carried into the lower intestine of the cat through the pancreatic duct. These juices continue the digestion of the food after it passes from the stomach where digestion first takes place.

Insulin produced in the pancreas is secreted directly into the blood circulation and transported throughout the body. Its purpose is to enable sugars in the digested food to enter the individual cells of the cat's body. Sugars are a form of energy for the cat when metabolized. In other words insulin helps the cat to utilize the sugars (and other nutrients, amino acids) in the food eaten.

Feline Pancreatitis - Consequences/Signs

Knowing what the pancreas does tells us what happens when it is not functioning properly. If there is an insufficient supply of digestive enzymes the food is insufficiently digested and it is therefore not absorbed into the body adequately. In other words the cat is eating but not getting the full benefit of the food eaten.

This results in what veterinarians call "malabsorption syndrome". The word "syndrome" indicating a range of consequences or symptoms that result from not digesting the food properly. The symptoms are:

---depression
---lethargy
---weight loss
---possible anexoria
---vomiting
---possible diarrhea (soft fatty feces)
---not eating due to depression

---a direct symptom of the inflamed pancreas may be a painful abdomen

{note: these symptoms may also be present in other illnesses such as gastroenteritis - irritated stomach or intestine, live or kidney disease. This means that it is difficult to diagnose feline pancreatitis}

The most common symptom for feline pancreatitis may be as a result of a deficiency in the production of insulin. This causes diabetes mellitus (sugar diabetes). Sugar diabetes is a common disease in cats. It is on the increase. It is claimed by Dr Hodgkins a veterinarian in her book, "Your Cat", that a major factor in the increase of feline diabetes is the change in cats' diet to an increase in dry cat food which contains raised carbohydrate levels as the introduction of carbohydrates is needed in the manufacture of the food (see cat food recipe)

In other words the diabetes is not caused by a reduction in insulin but an increase in the intake of sugars forming excess sugars in the blood.

As mentioned above insulin helps the cat use sugars effectively. If sugars are not being used properly the result is higher blood sugar levels (called hypoglycemia). This excess sugar is excreted in urine. Increased urination results in increased drinking of water to compensate a symptom of sugar diabetes.

--Click on the link to see a full list of symptoms of feline diabetes.
--Click on this link to see more on feline diabetes
--Click on this link to go to low carbohydrate cat food

Feline Pancreatitis - Causes

These are generally unknown or the experts are still unsure. In humans there are a range of causes such as alcoholism (ethanol), drugs, trauma, mumps, gallstones, steroids, malfunction of the autoimmune system and Hyperlipidaemia. The last one means a high fat content in the blood. This may be a underlying cause in cats or a potential risk factor (http://vetmedicine.about.com). This indicates that a diet high in fat may be a contributing factor.

Other possible causes are:

---as for humans, drugs may contribute or cause feline pancreatitis
---toxins (poisons that may exist in the area such as insecticides or contaminated water)
---viruses
---bacterial infections
---an underlying disease
---being overweight may contribute

Feline Pancreatitis - Treatment

This is not targeted but "supportive". This means the cat cures herself while we help that process through supportive actions including a suitable diet - obviously a case for seeing the veterinarian.....


From Feline Pancreatitis to cat health problems


Feline Pancreatitis- Sources:

• Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook by Drs Carlrson and Giffin
• Wikipedia (human pancreatitis)
• The Veterinarian's Guide to Your Cat's Symptoms by Drs Garvey, Hohenhaus, Pinckney, Wallace and Elizabeth Randolph
• http://vetmedicine.about.com - Janet Tobiassen Crosby, DVM
  
• Veterinary Notes For Cat Owners by Dr Trevor Turner and Jean Turner VN

Photo: The cat is called Lua, the first cat (techically) of fofurasfelinas. She is a healthy cat and a feminine cat.