Bad Cat Diseases - FeLV, FIV, and FIP

Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV)

FIV is retrovirus that causes an immunodeficiency disease in domestic cats.  It has the same genus as HIV (aids in humans).  Infection disrupts the immune system function causing the cat to become more susceptible to secondary infections.  There is no cure, and treatment is limited to treating the secondary infections. Transmission is cat-to-cat through bite wounds, and occasionally it can be transmitted perinatally (during birthing). 

Prevention includes preventing contact with other cats, and screening prior to introducing new cats into the household.  There is a vaccine available, but only 60-80% efficacy after 3 doses.  Testing cannot distinguish between vaccinated and infected cats, so vaccinated cats will always test positive.

Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP)

A systemic, viral disease characterized by insidious onset, persistent nonresponsive fever, pyogranulomatous tissue reaction, accumulation of exudative effusions in body cavities, and high mortality.  This virus is multisystemic affecting liver, kidneys, intestines, lungs, brain and eyes.  FIP is a reaction to infection with the feline coronavirus.  The coronavirus mutates and FIP is the result of immunocompromised young cats. FIP is a disease created by the cat’s own immune system.  There are 2 forms of FIP.  The “wet” form includes the effusion of thick, yellow fluid in the belly or chest.  The “dry” form is more insidious, leading to a long, slow death.  Both forms are felt to have 100% mortality. 

Transmission with coronavirus is primarily through infected feces.  Prevention is limited to preventing overcrowding, and exposure to infected feces.  We can test for positive antibodies to the virus, but it does not distinguish between coronavirus and FIP.  There is a vaccine available, but its efficacy is unknown.  There is no known cure or treatment available.

Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV)

FeLV is another retrovirus that causes an immunodeficiency disease in cats.  This virus is species specific and does not infect dogs or humans, but there is evidence of the disease in wild cats such as lynx, cheetah and lion.
After the initial infection, the virus replicates in the tonsils and pharyngeal lymph nodes (the pharynx is the muscular tube in the neck). Then it spreads via the bloodstream to other parts of the body, especially the lymph nodes, bone marrow, and intestinal tissue, where it continues to replicate. Viremia, the presence of virus in the blood, usually shows up 2 to 4 weeks after the initial infection.
FeLV usually spreads through infected saliva. It can also spread through infected urine, tears, and feces, and through an infected mother to her kittens during gestation and nursing. Methods of transmission include the following:

• Bite wounds from infected cats (more common among outdoor and indoor-outdoor cats)
• Blood transfusions
• Mouth and nose contact with infected saliva or urine
• Mutual grooming
• Nose-to-nose contact
• Shared food dishes and water bowls
• Shared litter trays
• Sneezing

Because cats normally may not appear to be sick until they are in an advanced state of illness, it is vital that cat owners pay close attention to their pets' day-to-day condition. Cats should be examined regularly for painful or swollen areas.  30% of cats infected with the disease will progress and die.  Treatments may help to slow the progression of disease, but are not 100& effective in all cases.
FeLV is one of the most devastating feline diseases worldwide.  Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infection is responsible for more deaths among cats than any other infectious disease.


Samantha 
Reg.AHT

Anaestheia - How Safe is it?

The fact is, anaesthesia is as dangerous or as safe as your animal hospital makes it.  All anaesthesia contains risks.  Anaesthesia is defined as a state of controlled and and reversible unconsciousness characterized by a lack of pain sensation and a lack of memory, and relatively depressed reflex responses.  Ideally, it is the goal of the veterinarian and technician to achieve this with minimal affect on your pets vital systems, particularly circulation and respiration.  There are a series of steps your veterinarian and technician will take to ensure your pet’s anaesthetic goes as smooth and safe as possible.

Microscopic evaluation of blood

Typical red blood cells at100X

The first step is a thorough history from you, the client.  Your veterinarian needs to know how your pet has been doing at home.  Any signs of illness like coughing, sneezing, vomiting or diarrhea?  Has there been an increase in water consumption?  Any changes in behaviour?  Any relevant travel history?  Does your pet have a history of any medical problems?  Is your pet on any current medications or supplements?  Answers to these questions may give your veterinarian insight as to whether your pet is at risk for an illness or disease process that may affect his/her reaction to anaesthetic drugs.

The next step is a thorough physical examination by the veterinarian.  The vet will take your pets temperature, palpate his/her internal organs, assess hydration and evaluate his/her circulatory and respiratory systems.  This will further help the veterinarian assess health. 

Pre-anaesthetic blood work is the next vital step in creating a safe anaesthetic.  Blood chemistry helps the veterinarian determine the health of your pets liver and kidneys.  These two organs are very important in the metabolism and excretion of anaesthetic drugs from your pet’s body.  If they are not functioning properly your pet may suffer an overdose of medication and have difficulty waking up from anaesthesia.  As part of pre-anaesthetic testing, a complete blood count will also be run.  This will determine how well your pet moves oxygen around his/her body.  It will also tell us if there are signs of inflammation/infection or if your pet’s immune system is not functioning properly.  Most important for patients undergoing a surgery is a platelet count.  If platelets are low the patient may not be able to clot properly and may bleed during surgery. Sometimes, if certain blood values come back out-of-range, further testing may be required (ie a urinalysis) before an anaesthetic can proceed.  Knowing all of this allows the veterinarian to determine the safest drug protocol for your pet. 

The drug protocol should be chosen by the veterinarian with specific regard for the individual patient.  Any drug administered incorrectly can have adverse effects.  The veterinarian will determine the dose and route of each drug bearing in mind the findings of the patient history, the physical exam and the laboratory testing.

One of our basic gas anaestheia machines

“Balanced anaesthesia” should be used whenever possible.  This means that more than one drug is used to induce and maintain anaesthesia.  First a patient is given a “pre-med” to relieve anxiety and provide pre-emptive pain control.  This may make the patient drowsy but is not yet considered “general anaesthesia”.  Then the patient is induced with an induction agent which will put them under enough to allow a breathing tube to be placed in their airway.  “Intubation” allows the technician to control the patient’s airway and breathe for the patient if necessary.  It also protects the patient from aspirating fluids (blood, water, stomach contents), and allows the delivery of oxygen and anaesthetic gas.  The patient is then maintained on anaesthetic gas for the remainder of the procedure until recovery.  “Balanced anaesthesia” means that lower doses of each drug can be used minimizing the side effects of each drug. 

Rarely, some drugs can cause adverse effects in patients even when administered correctly.  It is impossible to predict which animals will react adversely to a drug that they have never had before.  Because of this is it very important to monitor anaesthetic patients closely and have an intravenous catheter in place.

If a problem arises, it is vital that the vet and technician be able to administer life saving drugs immediately.  The fastest route for these drugs is intravenously.  Unfortunately, trying to get IV access on a patient that is having a reaction (and probably has very low blood pressure) is difficult at best.  That is why an IV catheter should always be placed BEFORE anaesthesia is administered.  IV fluids can be used to increase blood pressure and provide a very fast way to administer emergency drugs.  If necessary we can also administer blood and blood products through the IV if the patient is bleeding.

All patients should have a dedicated technician monitoring them from pre-med to recovery.  While the patient is under general anaesthesia they should have their blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and depth, and temperature checked regularly  and recorded on an anaesthetic record.  Trends in these values allow the veterinarian and technician to determine anaesthetic depth and adjust the amount of anaesthetic gas required to maintain a surgical plane of anaesthesia.  It is this close attention to trends in your pet’s vital signs that will alert the vet and technician that a patient is not doing well.  Early detection of an adverse reaction allows the vet and tech to correct the situation before it actually becomes a problem.  This level of monitoring should extend into the post operative recovery period.

Meghan
Reg. AHT

Canine Parvovirus

Canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV2, colloquially parvo) is a contagious virus mainly affecting dogs. The disease is highly infectious and is spread from dog to dog by direct or indirect contact with their feces. It can be especially severe in puppies that are not protected by maternal antibodies or vaccination. It has two distinct presentations, a cardiac and intestinal form. The common signs of the intestinal form are severe vomiting and dysentery. The cardiac form causes respiratory or cardiovascular failure in young puppies. Treatment often involves veterinary hospitalization for MANY days. Vaccines can prevent this infection, but mortality can reach 91% in untreated cases.

Signs and Symptoms

Dogs that develop the disease show symptoms of the illness within 5 to 10 days. The symptoms include lethargy, vomiting, fever, and diarrhea (bloody). Diarrhea and vomiting result in dehydration and secondary infections can set in. Due to dehydration, the dog's electrolyte balance can become critically affected. Because the normal intestinal lining is also compromised, blood and protein leak into the intestines leading to anemia and loss of protein, and endotoxins escaping into the bloodstream, causing endotoxemia. Dogs have a distinctive odor in the later stages of the infection. The white blood cell level falls, further weakening the dog. Any or all of these factors can lead to shock and death. The first sign is lethargy and usually the second symptoms would be loss of appetite or diarrhea followed by vomiting.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is made through detection of CPV2 in the feces by either an EIA or a hemagglutination test, or by electron microscopy. PCR has become available to diagnose CPV2, and can be used later in the disease when potentially less virus is being shed in the feces that may not be detectable by EIA.^[22] Clinically, the intestinal form of the infection can sometimes be confused with coronavirus or other forms of enteritis. Parvovirus, however, is more serious and the presence of bloody diarrhea, a low white blood cell count, and necrosis of the intestinal lining also point more towards parvovirus, especially in an unvaccinated dog. The cardiac form is typically easier to diagnose because the symptoms are distinct.

Prevention and decontamination

Prevention is the only way to ensure that a puppy or dog remains healthy because the disease is extremely virulent and contagious. The virus is extremely hardy and has been found to survive in feces and other organic material such as soil for over a year. It survives extremely cold and hot temperatures. The only household disinfectant that kills the virus is bleach. 

Puppies are generally vaccinated in a series of doses, extending from the earliest time that the immunity derived from the mother wears off until after that passive immunity is definitely gone. Older puppies (16 weeks or older) are given 3 vaccinations 3 to 4 weeks apart.  The duration of immunity of vaccines for CPV2 has been tested for all major vaccine manufacturers in the United States and Canada and has been found to be at least three years after the initial puppy series and a booster 1 year later.

A dog that successfully recovers from CPV2 sheds the virus for a few days. Ongoing infection risk is primarily from fecal contamination of the environment due to the virus's ability to survive many months in the environment. Neighbors and family members with dogs should be notified of infected animals so that they can ensure that their dogs are vaccinated or tested for immunity. The vaccine will take up to 2 weeks to reach effective levels of immunity; the contagious individual should remain in quarantine until other animals are protected.

Treatment

Survival rate depends on how quickly CPV is diagnosed, the age of the animal and how aggressive the treatment is. Treatment for severe cases that are not caught early usually involves extensive hospitalization, due to the severe dehydration and damage to the intestines and bone marrow. A CPV test should be given as early as possible if CPV is suspected in order to begin early treatment and increase survival rate if the disease is found.

Treatment ideally consists of crystalloid IV fluids and/or colloids, antinausea injections (antiemetics) such as metoclopramide, dolasetron, ondansetron and prochlorperazine, and antibiotic injections such as cefoxitin, metronidazole, timentin, or enrofloxacin.  IV fluids are administered and antinausea and antibiotic injections are given subcutaneously, intramuscularly, or intravenously. The fluids are typically a mix of a sterile, balanced electrolyte solution, with an appropriate amount of B-complex vitamins, dextrose and potassium chloride. Analgesic medications such as buprenorphine are also used to counteract the intestinal discomfort caused by frequent bouts of diarrhea.

In addition to fluids given to achieve adequate rehydration, each time the puppy vomits or has diarrhea in a significant quantity, an equal amount of fluid is administered intravenously. The fluid requirements of a patient are determined by the animal's body weight, weight changes over time, degree of dehydration at presentation and surface area.

A blood plasma transfusion from a donor dog that has already survived CPV is sometimes used to provide passive immunity to the sick dog. Some veterinarians keep these dogs on site, or have frozen serum available. There have been no controlled studies regarding this treatment.   Additionally, fresh frozen plasma and human albumin transfusions can help replace the extreme protein losses seen in severe cases and help assure adequate tissue healing.

Once the dog can keep fluids down, the IV fluids are gradually discontinued, and very bland food slowly introduced. Oral antibiotics are administered for a number of days depending on the white blood cell count and the patient's ability to fight off secondary infection. A puppy with minimal symptoms can recover in 2 or 3 days if the IV fluids are begun as soon as symptoms are noticed and the CPV test confirms the diagnosis. If more severe, depending on treatment, puppies can remain ill from 5 days up to 2 weeks. However, even with hospitalization, there is no guarantee that the dog will be cured and survive.

Approximate amount for annual vaccine = $ 90.00

Approximate amount for Parvo treatment = $ 3000.00

TPR for Pet Owners

Normal Values for the TPR (Temp, Pulse, Respirations)

 

Temp

Take rectally, (easiest with a digital thermometer), by lubricating the thermometer and inserting it approximately 1 cm into the animals rectum.  Hold it against the wall of the rectum until the thermometer beeps.  If using a glass thermometer, shake it down until it reads below 37.0 C and hold it in place for at least 2 minutes before reading.

Pulse

Place your index and middle fingers on the inside of the animal’s thigh.  (Never use your thumb to take a pulse as it has one of its own!)  Palpate the femur and roll your fingers over until you can feel the femoral artery.  Count the number of pulses in 15 seconds, then multiply by 4 to get pulses per minute.  In cats it can be difficult to palpate the artery, however you can usually feel a cats heartbeat though its chest wall.  Place your hand over the chest (at the point of the elbow) and count the number of beats in 15 seconds, then multiply by 4 to get beats per minute.  Try to make note of the pulse quality as well, for example strong, thready, weak…

Respiration

When the animal is most relaxed, count the number of breaths in 15 seconds and multiply by 4 to get breaths per minute.  Make note of any dyspnea, or difficulty breathing, at that time as well.

Canine

Temp 37.5-39.5 C

Pulse 60-180

Respiration 20-30

Feline

Temp 37.5-39.5 C

Pulse 110-220 beats per minute

Respirations 30-40 breaths per minute

I have the worst rabbit in the history of rabbits.

Veleda and Patience snuggling

By: Lisa Horne Reg. A.H.T.

Veleda came to me a year before I decided to go to school to become a tech.  I was living in a place that allowed no cats or dogs, and I was miserable without an animal in my life, so I was looking through various rescue sites to find a furry little critter to brighten my home.  One day, while working in a jewelry store, the mail-lady told me this tale of woe:

She had bought this cute and cuddly bunny for her daughter, only to find out within a few days of bringing it home that her husband was allergic to rabbits.  This was not a stuffy-nose kind of allergy; this was a full blown anaphylactic-might-actually-die kind of allergy.  Being the soft-hearted woman that she was, she couldn’t bear to surrender the bunny to a rescue shelter, but she clearly couldn’t keep it in the house either, so instead, she decided to keep the bunny in the garage until she could find it a home.  According to her, her husband’s allergy was the only reason she couldn’t keep the poor thing, and naturally, I had to take her.

 

Since bringing the bunny into my home, I’ve suspected that there was a lot left out of that story.

She delivered an adorable grey lion-head bunny (with one lop ear, and one erect ear), who was about 2 lbs soaking wet, to my doorstep one fateful summer day.  I, of course, oohed and aahed, and made those high pitched squeally noises that many women make when confronted with cute things.  Then I stuck my hand in the cage.  The bunny went ballistic.  I jerked my bleeding hand out of the cage, and the mail-lady assured me that she never does this kind of thing, and that she was really quite cuddly; I assured myself, having had lots of experience with animals,that the bunny was scared, and in a strange place, and that it was only natural that she’d lash out. 

I dubbed her “Veleda” after a character in my favourite book, and got to work getting to know her; I believe in free range creatures, so I let her out into a fenced off area of the kitchen.  I began to suspect that she wasn’t your typical prey species when my parent’s old cat Lynx (who was an expert hunter despite lacking claws) decided that he should see what this thing was all about.  I turned to see him climbing over the fence, and ran over to stop him.  I had visions of dead bunny being spread all over my parent’s kitchen.  Next thing I knew, Lynx screeched, flew back over the fence, and ran for his life (and to nurse his bleeding face and injured pride).

Definitely not your average bunny.

Due to the fact that I don’t believe she should live in a cage for her whole life, Veleda and I have learned to live together in peace; she still tries to attack my hand when I stick it in her cage to, for example, feed her, but I believe she (usually) misses on purpose and that her attacks are half-hearted.  She has also determined that the space outside of the cage is neutral ground, but even that was a long struggle.  Over the years she has destroyed, among other things,  several books and DVD cases, a surround sound speaker system, the baseboards off the wall of my previous residence, and a couch.  And before you go and assume it’s because I neglect her, or don’t give her other things to chew on, let me assure you of this fact: I have about $50 worth of various rabbit chew products that have no nibbles out of them whatsoever.

A few years ago, I met a cat with frost-bitten ears that I absolutely fell in love with.  I took her home and renamed her Patience.  I’ve been extremely lucky in that I found a cat that was not only gentle and easy going, but was more than happy to have a rabbit be the undisputed boss.  Within 15 minutes of meeting, Veleda had established herself as the ruler of the household, and Patience was completely alright with that.  They play together well, but playtime stops and starts at Veleda’s discretion, and woe be to Patience if she decides to push it further. 

To this day, Patience is the only one Veleda has any desire to cuddle with.  I’m not going to lie, that hurts my feelings sometimes.

  

 Veleda is now about 4 years old and about 8 lbs.  She does not destroy things anymore (unless she thinks I’m not looking), and although she still has her quirks, like kicking poop out of the litter box when she’s mad, she is generally pleasant to live with. 

People often ask me why I kept her, seeing as she has done substantial physical and financial damage over the years, and my answer is simply this: I was not going to give up on her just because she was difficult.  I never really expected a personality out of a rabbit, but with Veleda, I got the mother of all personalities that, in a strange way, made connecting with her easier.  If she was a person, I would write her off as a bitch, and cut her out of my life, but seeing as she is a prey species with more sass than any other animal I’ve met, I love her more.

I have the worst rabbit in the history of rabbits.  

I wouldn’t have her any other way.

I am a Registered Animal Health Technician

I Am...

A nurse, an anesthetist, an xray technician, a candy striper, a maid, a janitor, a surgery assistant, a pharmacist, a loving hand, a teacher, a mortition, a coroner, a shoulder to cry on, a friend to cry with, a sucker for a furry face, a lover of all pets, a  face to lick, a midwife, a delivery coach, a dental hygenist, a Vet's best friend, a pet's best friend, a babysitter, a physical therapist, a mother, a father, a playmate, a chew toy, a protector.

I Can...

Make the pain go a way, save a life, see whats wrong, clean anything, ease a mind, fill drug orders, show the right way, end suffering, clean teeth, give kisses, get kisses.

I Have...

A strong stomach, a big heart, a thoughtful mind, the strength to do the right thing even when it hurts, the ability to fall in love in 5 seconds,
and the deepest love for all creatures...

I am a Veterinary Technican and proud of it!