Feline diseases Flashcards
What is FeLV?
Feline leukaemia virus
What is FIV?
Feline immunodeficiency virus
What category of virus are FeLV and FIV?
Retroviruses
What is the prevalence of FeLV and FIV?
FeLV - 3% of shelter cats
FIV - 11% of shelter cats
What type of signalment of cat is FeLV normally found in?
Adult cats
Clinically ill
What type of signalment of cat is FIV found in?
Adult males (neutered or entire) With outdoor access
How is FeLV transmitted?
Close prolonged contact
Oronasal exposure to infected saliva
How is FIV transmitted?
Biting and fighting
Infected saliva and blood
How does transmission of FeLV and FIV compare?
FeLV - friendly virus
FIV - unfriendly virus
What does abortive exposure to FeLV mean?
Virus is overcome - immune system gets rid of the virus before it becomes a problem
What are the two different forms of FeLV infection?
Transient viraemia
Persistent viraemia
What is a transient viraemia?
Virus is overcome but after a while (4 weeks)
Bone marrow will be infected after 3 weeks
What is FeLV infection of the bone marrow called?
Latent infection - provirus is present
What is a persistent viraemia?
Lifelong infection
Poor prognosis
How is the pathogenesis of FIV different to FeLV?
Do not recover from FIV infection
Can recover from FeLV
What are the stages of FIV infection?
Primary infection - first few weeks, mild illness
Asymptomatic period
May have recurrent infections - feline AIDS
What are the main clinical signs of FeLV?
Immunosuppression
Anaemia - regen and non-regen
Neoplasia
What are the main clinical signs of FIV?
Immunosuppression Anaemia Chlamydia felis Herpes virus Chronic rhinitis Stomatitis/gingivitis
How do you diagnose FeLV?
ELISA
PCR
Immunoflorescence
What is detected in the FeLV test?
Antigen - p27
How do you tell if it is a transient/regressive FeLV infection or persistent/progressive FeLV infection?
Retest after 4 weeks
How do you diagnose FIV?
ELISA
PCR
What is detected in the FIV ELISA test?
Antibodies - p24
How do you test kittens born to an FIV infected queen?
Test after 6 months old due to maternally derived antibodies
What is detected in the FIV PCR test?
Provirus
When are false positives for FeLV and FIV a worry?
In healthy cats - 50% likely to be a false positive
only 10% likely to be a false positive in sick cats
How do you treat FIV?
Treat secondary infections
Treat lymphomas with chemo/radiotherapy
AZT - stomatitis/gingivitis
How do you treat FeLV?
Treat secondary infections
Treat lymphomas with chemo/radiotherapy
How do you prevent FeLV and FIV?
Keep indoors, neuter, separate
Vaccinate for FeLV - non core vaccine
No vaccine for FIV