Conference misery::feline_v1

  There are very few diseases that are transmissible from cat to human.
  Rabies is transmittable in saliva, but it's a very rare and by the time
  your cat has it, he'd probably be biting you rather than kissing you.
  It's an invariably fatal disease, so you'd best have him vaccinated
  against it.

  Cat mouths are fairly filthy.  They host bacteria, spirochetes, and other
  microorganisms.  In general, kissing them doesn't do any harm, but being
  bitten by them can cause serious infections.  There are no documented
  cases of feline leukemia virus in humans, so it's doubtful if kissing
  infected cats causes any harm.

  The parasite you're worried about is toxoplasmosis, which is shed in the
  feces and doesn't become infective until two days after it's been exposed
  to the outside environment.  It's therefore unlikely that any sporulated
  egg will be on the cat's fur by the time you kiss it.

					-- Jody Kaufman, D.V.M.
					   (typing by Roger)

My 'owners' and I thank you both!

-- Sam

    
    	I'm currently treating a single spot of ringworm that I caught
    from my new Maine Coon kitten.  "Copy" would lie between my arm
    and chest with his chin on my right bicep (sp) as I read lying in
    bed.  Copy's skin condition was diagnosed as ringworm (after scrapings
    and culture).  My doctor diagnosed the spot on my arm as ringworm
    too.  I'm applying a salve to the spot.  Copy is, with much resistance,
    downing 1 ml of foul smelling liquid/day for 6 weeks. He'd rather
    go hungry than eat food doused with it.  
    	Re cat toys:  It makes me thankful, after reading of the Texas
    bill chewer and others, that Copy (short for Copernicus) is well
    behaved.  His favorite toys are things in the bathtub or shower -
    the little tins that Chrystal Lite come in are noisy at 3:00 AM
    though - and a hanging toy made from a shock absorber bushing and
    adding machine paper, threaded through the hole, replaced as needed. 
        Copy was purchased at Prettypuss cattery in Plaistow, NH. When
    I got him, he had such a severe case of ear mites that his inner
    ear was infected.  The damage is permanent, causing him to be a
    bit unsteady and to fall off things.  Not what you'd expect from
    a breeder!  Wouldn't give him up for anything, though.  Purrs like
    a freight train, never meows, but gives the Coon Cat chirp at times.
    	Chris

There are a wide variety of parasitic worms that one can pick up from cats.
Many worms, particularly tapeworms, have a larval form that lives in the
flesh of herbivores and an adult form that lives in the intestines of
carnivores.  The herbivores get infected by eating plants contaminated with
carnivore feces containing the worm eggs.  The carnivores get infected by
eating herbivore flesh containing the worm larvae, and so the cycle goes.

Humans can become infected with the larval form of these nasties through our
association with cats and dogs.  The pet gets infected with the adult from
either from something he caught and ate outside or from raw meat that was
infected with the larvae.  The eggs are then in the pet's feces.  This is
why you should never put litter box contents in a compost heap, lest you
spread the eggs all over the veggies that you will later eat.

Both cats and dogs can spread the eggs directly, since dogs have the habit
of nosing about in fecal piles and cats lick their behinds.  I would guess
that the chance of infection is greater with dogs than with cats, because
dogs slobber all over you a lot more than cats do.

If you have an indoor cat, none of this is a problem, of course.  With outdoor
cats, it's prudent to avoid mouth-to-mouth contact.  Also, if you're going to
eat after handling the cat, you should wash your hands.

--PSW

Okay, how 'bout this:

All three of my cats go outside whenever they wish.  All three have been
vaccinated for normal cat-type things, including rabies. 

If one of them kills something which either "has rabies" or is carrying the
rabies virus, and the cat was bitten by the animal, can the cat become a
carrier even if it has been vaccinated?  Can the cat infect me?  Can the virus
live for short amounts of time on/in the cat's mouth?  How long? 

Similarly, if I find a dead <insert_least_favorite_rodent_name_here> on my
back step, presuming it *was* rabid, how long will it be dangerous to me, if
at all?  (I guess this translates to, "Is rabies transmittable via touch, or
do you have to be bitten to get it?")

Thanks for all the responses!

-- Sam

I wouldn't worry about the dead animal.  Rabies isn't transmissible by touch.

About your question concerning the cats, I don't know.

--PSW

    re: .4
    
    Indoor cats can be infected by tapeworm just as easily as an outdoor
    cat.  I have a beautiful long-haired cat that is strictly an indoor
    cat that has been battling tapeworm for the past couple of months.
    If your cat has fleas, whether it is an indoor or outdoor cat, chances
    are that cat is going to have tapeworm at some point in time.  The
    fleas transmit tapeworm to the cat and the cat can re-infest itself.
    
    Fleas should not be a major problem until approximately mid-June.
    I strongly suggest keeping the home free of fleas and changing the
    litter box every other day, especially when flea season hits, or
    else you may find your cat continuously re-infesting itself with
    tapeworm regardless of the number of trips to the vet for a pill
    or shot.

      And for those of us who live in the south...
    
      Fleas are becoming a major problem right about now.  So start
    your flea killing engines!
    
       tlh
    

This reply is a little late but I'm just getting into this file...

Anyway, I got sick a couple of years ago: swolen lymph nodes, lethargy,
and a couple of other minor things.  I went to the doctor because the
problem was hanging on for a while.  After describing the symptoms the
first thing my doctor asked was, "Do you have cats?"  Turns out that I had
"cat scratch fever".  It STILL sounds like a joke but I have no reason to
believe that my doctor was not telling the truth.  It went away after a
while.

Sometime thereafter I read an article, I think in Science News, about lion
scratches.  It said something to the effect of `Lion scratches get infected
with a very bad germ, but most people who are scratched by a lion do not
develop an infection because they do not live long enough.'  Wonderful.

Both of these were long enough ago that I don't recall the details.

Batman

    Re .9:
    
    I've heard of cat scratch fever.  A doctor told me of it once before
    I had any cats of my own.
    
    I've never been scratched by a lion, but I was once by a half-grown
    Bengal tiger.  No fever.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Cat scratch fever is no joke.  It can result in a mild fever and
    minor problems to a lengthly hospital stay.  The current opinion
    is that it is related to Legionaries disease.  All cats can cause
    this, not just cats that go outside.   Piers Anthony (a fantasy
    writer) had cat scratch fever during a point in time will writing
    a novel.  He spent 5 weeks in the hospital, and three more weeks
    before he could get his right arm (the one scratched) to type
    effectively. 
    
    Final line: Like cat bites, cat scratches should be treated as wounds
    and cleaned/disinfected THOROUGHLY.
    
    DAVE
    

    My sister was scratched by a lion.
    Cub.  Real young one.  At the children's part of the San Diego Zoo.
    The scratches took a long time to heal.
    She was a kid, so she was spooked about going to see lion cubs for
    a long time too.
    No cat scratch fever, though.
    
    I wonder if I'm immune, though: I'm always tussling with friends'
    and other kitties. Any infections have remained just local.

    
    re: .6
    
    This is more a question than an answer but....
    
    scene:   1 dead possible rabid (sp?) animal
    
             1 person worried about infection
    
    
    Surely if you have a small cut on your hand and you were to get
    saliva in it, and the animal had died recently, wouldn't you run
    a high risk of picking up the infection?
    
    I don't know much as we don't have rabies here, but is it not a
    risk?
    
    **************************************************
    
    As AIDs vaccines are being developed and linked with feline luekemia
    does anyone have any idea on the odds of developing an immunity
    of sorts after having been bitten and dribbled on by a leuk. cat.
    
    (Dinah - passed on thro FeLV a while ago - tried to eat my hand
    at the vets.  Vet payed more attention to me than the cat!)
    
    
    
    Bit disjointed, but any comments?
    
    Jo
    Reading, UK.

>    Surely if you have a small cut on your hand and you were to get
>    saliva in it, and the animal had died recently, wouldn't you run
>    a high risk of picking up the infection?
    
Rabies can be transmitted this way and it is recommended that humans
be very careful when handling dead animals....however, the infectious
media depends on live hosts to survive and dies rather quickly when
the host dies.  A matter of hours is all it takes.  But it is a
legitimate concern.    
    **************************************************
    
>    As AIDs vaccines are being developed and linked with feline luekemia
>    does anyone have any idea on the odds of developing an immunity
>    of sorts after having been bitten and dribbled on by a leuk. cat.
    
Not enough is known of the virus(s) that are associated with AIDS to
understand what will protect or not protect us from infection.  It is
foolhardy for any human to assume they have any resistance to the
virus due to exposure to other, non-human infectious, viruses.  The
one assurance we can have about AIDS is that it is not easily passed
from host to host.  EXPERIENCED medical knowledge points to
only two modes of infection (the Masters and Johnson report recently
published is rejected by virtually 100% of the medical community here
as totally without merit, and devoid of research on which to base
claims for methods of transmission):

1)Sexual activity during which damage to membranes or
skin occurs, allowing direct contact between virus-carrier media
(semen) and blood such as that which can occur during anal intercourse

2)Direct blood-to-blood contact with virus-infected blood such
as occurs with infected-blood transfusions and sharing of
needles used for main-line injections of narcotics...

In short, you have to make direct blood contact with the blood
or semen of an AIDS-infected person.

The latest reports I've read have connected the AIDS virus to several
virus infections of primate species in Africa, but the connection
between the AIDS virus and FeLV is not mentioned in the scientific
journals and magazines I and my friends have access to...perhaps
it is no longer an accepted theory? 

    This is a VERY late response, but I've been reading these notes for
    only a few months now. Anyway -- there are two concerns: someone a
    few responses back mentioned that cats could catch tapeworms from
    fleas. (I understand that the flea carries some pre-adult stage of the
    worm and transmits it into the cat's bloodstream when it bites the
    cat.) Two summers ago I was "adopted" by an alley cat. She was such a
    sweet creature that I took to allowing her to come in for visits. She
    had a towel that I spread out on the sofa next to me, and she would
    stretch out there for hours at a time, purring furiously all the while.
    Then, when she felt that she had places to go, she would hop down and
    go to the back door and meow to go out. It was wonderful! I fed her
    every once in a while, never had to buy kitty litter, and never had to
    visit a vet. But then she vanished, never to return, after a noisy July
    4th weekend (my neighbors LOVE fireworks). A few weeks later, it turned
    out that my condo was infested with fleas. And every time that I
    thought I had exterminated them, a few months would go by and back they
    came. It was only when I finally replaced the sofa last February that
    they seem to have gone for good. Well -- my question is simply this:
    could those fleas have transmitted tape worms to me? Another question
    is this: could I have caught ear mites from the cat? About a month
    after she vanished, I developed a terrific itch in both ears and have
    had it ever since. I asked my doctor about it once, and he just
    shrugged it off. But I can't help wondering....
    
    Many thanks for any information you can give me.
    

    re. itching in your ears and your doctor.  Did your doctor look into
    your ears before "shrugging it off"?
    
    It could be that you've developed a case of eczema and there is a
    medicated cream the doctor could prescribe for it if that's what it is. 
    There could also be wax within the ear canal.
    
    In any case, I'd have it looked at by a doctor.
    
    

Tapeworms are not species specific.  This means they will infest and live in
any mammal to which they are introduced.  If you have symptoms of stomach
upset for no apparent reason, a stubborn cronic case of diarrhea, distended
stomach and frequent gas attacks, then take a stool sample to your internist
and get it checked.  If no symptoms exist, then assume you were not infested.

It is better to deal with your concerns than to allow your mind to create
symptoms in your body.  We, as humans, are very good at that.

    The mode of transmission of tapeworms from fleas is thought to be that
    the cat ingests the flea during grooming, thus introducing the tapeworm
    larvae into it's body.  If you did not ingest any fleas, and/or
    tapeworm segments yourself, you are reasonably safe from getting
    tapeworm.  I have not read anywhere that tapeworm could be contracted
    by flea bites.  If so, most cat owners would probably have tapeworm
    too. :^)
    
    In any case, if you notice signs like bloating in your tummy, poor
    hair or nail condition, etc, you may want to visit your doctor just to
    be safe.
    
    Jo