As already mentioned, animals with weakened immunity, as well as kittens and elderly cats are more likely to catch the disease. This is a risk group, which requires more careful care and quality nutrition.
SHINGLES IN CATS: CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS
It is believed that shingles is a disease of street cats. In fact, pets that have never left the apartment can also become infected with it. Let's find out how a domestic cat can get shingles and how to treat it.
Shingles is a disease caused by microscopic pathogenic fungi. Scientists call them dermatophytes. They are excreted by sick animals and can survive in the environment for long periods of time. Because of their light weight, dermatophytes are easily airborne and settle on various objects or soil. From there, their spores most often enter the human home, e.g. with dust and dirt particles on shoes.
Once under favorable conditions, dermatophytes are transmitted from animal to animal or from animal to human. Kittens and immunocompromised pets are especially susceptible to them, so they are the first to be infected with shingles.
How to determine the tetter in a cat
The first sign is a rash, the owners often do not notice it, especially if the pet has a long thick coat. It may be accompanied by itching, and then the cat becomes anxious and begins to strongly scratch the skin.
Two to three weeks after infection, small, rounded, hairless areas with peeling and crusts appear on the head and forelegs. They can be solitary or confluent, and in advanced cases, the tip of the tail is also affected.
If you find the symptoms of cat lice in your cat, go to the vet immediately and start treatment. This disease threatens not only animals but also people, and if you do not help your pet in time, the characteristic skin lesions can appear and you.
Causes of feline lymphoma
Outdoor cats, as a rule, contract lich from each other through contact. And domestic cats can be infected… by the owner himself. The fact is that the fungal spores that cause this disease can be in the grass or soil, and get into the apartment on the soles of shoes or clothing.
For adult cats and cats, single spores usually do not pose a threat – the immune system can handle them. But a sick, weakened animal can become infected. And kittens are also susceptible to infection – their immune system has not yet formed, so the body is susceptible to fungal pathogens.
Lichen can be not only the main disease, but also a symptom of other diseases. Reduced immunity in cats can be caused by chronic viral diseases – immunodeficiency or feline leukemia.
Signs of feline herpes
The main symptoms are various lesions of the skin, coat, and claws. Many people have the misconception that shingles looks like baldness on some part of the body (alopecia).
But the lesions can be quite different, often showing kerion (furunculosis), scaling, redness (erythema), and crusts. The lesion usually starts at the head, thoracic extremities. As a rule, there is no itching, but it can appear. In general, any skin lesion can turn out to be a lichen.
Also, cats can be carriers of shingles, but they may not have symptoms (2).
Can a person catch shingles from a cat?
The ringworm spores do not have any trouble getting onto the bare skin of humans, which is not protected by a coat like that of animals. The infection gets to humans from an infected cat even during the incubation period by touching the fur. Thus, it is important to understand that an animal that has caught shingles becomes a carrier of the disease even at the earliest stage.
Immunity plays a major role: children and the elderly are more susceptible to fungal spores. Treatment is long, even the mild form with ineffective treatment develops into a chronic form, which is sure to affect health.
Types of cat lich
The microorganisms that cause the development of feline herpes are called Trichophyton, Microsporum canis and Microsporum gypseum. The first pathogen gives the consonant name of the disease Trichophyton, while Microsporum canis and Microsporum gypseum result in microsporia. All three species have identical symptoms, and the shingles are called ringworm.
In addition to the most common ringworm, there is also pink shingles, soggy shingles, pimples, and shingles. Each species has its own external signs and treatment methods.
Ringworm in cats
A fungal disease defined as ringworm in cats is also called dermatophytosis. The disease is caused by the activation of fungi of the Microsporum (microsporia) and Trichophyton (trichophytosis) genera that penetrate the surface subcutaneous layers and feed on the upper epithelium of the skin.
Particularly dangerous disease for cats with long hair – long pile prevents time to see the pathological inflammatory changes on the skin.
Ringworm or ringworm is a collective image. The term refers to a dermatophytosis series of different pathogens. The fungus, once on the coat can hide and do not give themselves away for a long time, although the pet will be a source of disease for humans. Outwardly in humans, the affected place resembles a ring in shape and necessarily requires treatment.
Symptoms of ringworm
Initially, on the ears or on the limbs of cats appear spots of ringworm, resembling scales or grayish ash. The areas of the lesion can be located in different places, and typical signs of each type are not distinguished separately. Sometimes small pustules may appear. The small spot gradually grows larger. The presence of itching is not necessary. When claws are affected, their irregular growth and deformities are noticeable.
Most often in cats, ringworm is located on the head, ears or tail. The spots may elongate, go over the muzzle, or in advanced cases, cover the entire body. The skin is greasy and very flaky where the lesions are located. The hair may fall out actively and at a moderate rate, and lumps of hair are often formed.
CAT SCRATCH DISEASE.
Although the first clinical description of cat scratch disease (CTS) was given by R. Debre et al. more than 50 years ago, the etiology of the disease is still the subject of discussion and research.
Although the first clinical description of cat scratch disease (CTS) was given by R. Debre et al. more than 50 years ago, the etiology of the disease is still the subject of discussions and special studies. Since it was impossible to isolate the causative agent from patients for a long time, the viral or chlamydial etiology of the disease was initially assumed. The first convincing data on the identification of the BCC pathogen were obtained only in 1983, when using the Warthin-Starry staining (silver method), researchers found small polymorphic Gram-negative bacilli in the affected lymph node tissue of 29 of 34 BCC patients and managed to cultivate them only in 1988. Alipia felis..
Nevertheless, numerous subsequent studies have not confirmed a clear link between the development of BCC and A. felis: in most cases, not only the pathogen was not detected in the affected tissues, but also no antibodies to it were detected in the blood serum. Moreover, another pathogen, Bartonella henselae, was isolated from the tissue of the affected lymph nodes. Bartonella henselae. By PCR using specific primers for Bartonella spp. Bartonella spp. and A. felis patients tested positive for BCC, 96% of the patients were found to have Bartonella DNA, and 96% of the patients had A. felis DNA. A. felis DNA was not detected in any case (A. Bergmans et al., 1995). Similar data confirming the key role of B. henselae in the development of BCC have been obtained by other researchers using an indirect fluorescent antibody reaction.
Diagnosis
Lichen in pets can be confused with other conditions: eczema, dermatitis, allergies. Therefore, the animal should be taken to a clinic. A veterinary specialist, in addition to the clinical examination, will certainly conduct laboratory tests to make a diagnosis. The following diagnostic methods are most commonly used:
- Irradiation of the affected areas with an ultraviolet lamp. Fungi and their products glow with greenish light during this manipulation. This method does not always allow for the detection of trichophytosis.
- Examination of the affected hair under a microscope. Fungal spores are detected in 40-70% of cases.
- A prolonged but reliable method of ringworm diagnostics is inoculation of samples of biological material on nutrient media with subsequent determination of the fungus genus under a microscope.
It is the complex approach that plays an important role in the diagnosis of the disease. You should also be aware that if other animals live in the house, a comprehensive laboratory diagnosis should be made even if they have no clinical manifestations.
We recommend reading the article on how to cure a cat's runny nose and sneezing at home. From it you will learn about the causes of sneezing in a cat, diagnosis, treatment at home, preventive measures.
Prevention
Prevent the infection of a pet with ringworm can be prevented by following a number of recommendations:
- Vaccination. The following vaccines are used for immunization: "Polivac-TM", "Vakderm-F", "Microderm". Treatment may be given not only to adult animals, but also to kittens from 2 months of age. Before vaccination a treatment against worms is necessary. The administration schedule depends on the type of immunizing agent.
- Restrict contact with stray and street animals.
- Carrying out mating only with clinically healthy and vaccinated representatives of the breed.
- Observing the rules of hygiene when using cat care items.
- Maintaining the pet's immunity at the proper level. A strong immune system will not allow pathogens to develop.
- Full nutrition and proper care.
A responsible owner, knowing where cats get shingles, will be able to protect the pet from the penetration of the pathogen. It should be remembered that the microorganisms that cause the fungus are very resistant in the external environment. To prevent the disease, you should immunize the domestic cat, strengthen immunity and limit contact with stray animals.
How to treat shingles in a cat, what to smear and treat. Is the cause of the immune system failure and refers to non-infectious forms. . Lichen in a domestic cat: where could it come from? Treatment of discharge from the cat's eyes. The cat is constantly itching and licking: why so.
How is it transmitted from cat to person, to cat, than. We recommend reading the article about lice in a domestic cat. From it, you will learn about the causes of pet lice, symptoms of infection, diagnosis and prevention of the disease.
