Can Your New Cat Make You Sick?

One of the most important reasons to keep your cat healthy is to keep  your family healthy as well.  Kittens are cute, but can be carrying a variety of zoonotic diseases.  Following your veterinarian’s recommendations on routine health care, vaccines, screenings, and wellness exams, may prevent health problems from spreading to you or your family

 

What is Zoonotic Disease:  a disease that can be transmitted from animals to people or, more specifically, a disease that normally exists in animals but  can infect humans.

 

How would you catch a disease from your cat?

Transmission of a zoonotic disease can happen when a person comes into direct contact with bodily fluids or waste such as saliva (via a bite) or feces (while handling or cleaning a litter box) from an infected cat. Additionally, a disease may be contracted through contact with water or food that has been contaminated by an infected cat.

What diseases can you catch from your cat?

Bacterial Infection

            Cat-scratch disease/fever is by far the most common zoonotic disease associated with cats

Parasitic Infections

            Intestinal parasites, including roundworms and hookworms, can also cause disease in people

Fungal Infections

            Ringworm

Protazoal (single cell organisms) Infections

            Common protozoal diseases in cats and humans are cryptosporidium, giardia, and toxoplasmosis.

Viral Infection

            Rabies!

Prevention is of KEY importance.

By identifying any health issues with your cat early, through a veterinary visit and diagnostics as recommended by your veterinarian, you can stay safe. General hygiene practices are also extremely important for any pet owner.

Who is at the highest risk of catching a disease from your cat?

Some people are more at risk than average. Those with immature or weakened immune systems, such as infants, pregnant women, individuals with immunodeficiency problems, the elderly, and people undergoing medical therapies or taking certain medication, are more susceptible to zoonotic infections than others.

 

How can you protect yourself?

Common sense and good hygiene will go a long way toward keeping you, your family, and your cat free of zoonotic diseases. Here are a few simple precautions recommended by www.vet.cornell.edu:

• Wash hands before eating and after handling cats.
• Schedule annual checkups and fecal exams for your cat.
• Seek veterinary care for sick cats.
• Keep rabies vaccinations current.
• Avoid letting your cat lick your face, food utensils, or plate.
• Consider keeping cats indoors.
• Seek medical attention for cat bites.
• Feed cats cooked or commercially processed food.
• Scoop litter boxes to remove fecal material daily.
• Periodically clean litter boxes with scalding water and detergent.
• Cover children's sandboxes when not in use.

Stay safe out there!

Kim, CVT 

Fox Valley Cat Clinic

MRSA and your cat...

I fielded a question from a client this week about MRSA and cats.  As many of you know, MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.  MRSA is considered a zoonotic disease.

A zoonosis (pron.: /ˌzoʊ.əˈnoʊsɨs/) (also spelled zoönosis) is an infectious disease that is transmitted between species (sometimes by a vector) from animals other than humans to humans or from humans to other animals (the latter is sometimes called reverse zoonosis or anthroponosis). (Wikipedia)

With the recent Salmonella contamination of many of our pet foods and human foods  in the last year (spinach, tomatoes, peanut butter....) I thought it would be a good idea to share a web page that is one of my favorite sources for information about specific diseases that both people and pets can share (ie zoonotic diseases).  

This web page blog contains well researched information sheets for pet owners on each specific disease such as:  MRSA, Salmonella, Giardia, Rabies, Toxoplasmosis, Cat bites and more.  For each disease, they divide the disease risk into 2 catagories:  Healthy Adult/ Older Children and Young Children/ Immunocompromised persons.

 Here's the link:  http://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/

Worms and Germs Blog is supported by the Ontario Veterinary College's Center for Public Health and Zoonoses.  Please trust this site for fact based information pertaining to safe pet ownership -not just with cats, but the many different species of animals we chose to share our lives with.  We love our pets, but it is good to remember that we can share more than love....

The internet is a powerful tool for knowledge -but sometimes it is not easy to know what to believe.  I hope you find WORMS and GERMS as valuable as I do.  As always, if you found this information helpful, please share with other cat lovers.

Dr. Maureen Flatley
Fox Valley Cat Clinic

Salmonella found in Evo and Innova

Every week it seems there is another pet food recall.  This week it is Natura Pet Food.  They make brands like Evo and Innova.  These are brands that I consider excellent quality, and I know many of my clients feed them.   As I discuss daily with my clients, in this day and age, no pet food brand is safe from recalls.  All we can do as pet owners is be wary, and vigilant, and ROTATE BRANDS to minimize the effects a recall will have on your cat.

Salmonella is a zoonotic disease -a disease that people can get from animals -and in this case,  also by handling pet food. It should be a reminder to all of us to wash our hands carefully after preparing our pets food. And to prevent young  children from ever  handling pet foods.    Diseases like Salmonella are most dangerous to children and also immune compromised individuals.

Here is a link to more specific information, and  the specific production lots that are being recalled: http://truthaboutpetfood2.com/natura-pet-food-recall

As always, please share this information with other cat owners.  It could save a life.
Dr. Maureen Flatley
Fox Valley Cat Clinic