Cat tests positive for H1N1

[jus_the_facts]

Source: KXAN

First case of swine flu in felines
Updated: Wednesday, 04 Nov 2009, 3:46 PM CST
Published : Wednesday, 04 Nov 2009, 3:46 PM CST

SCHAUMBERG, Illinois (KXAN) - An Iowa cat tests positive for the H1N1 influenza virus. This is the first time a cat has been found with the strain of the flu.

It is believed that the cat caught the virus from an owner that was sick with H1N1. There is no evidence that the cat passed the virus on to any other humans or animals.

The 2009 H1N1 flu has been found in humans, pigs, birds, ferrets, and now a cat.

The American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Feline Practioners remind pet owners to monitor their pets' health closely. The groups say that some viruses can pass between people and animals.


Read more: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/mobile/cat_tests_positive_for_h1n1

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The 13-year-old indoor cat in Iowa was brought to the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where it tested positive for the H1N1 virus. The diagnosis is the culmination of collaborative efforts between IDPH, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Center for Advanced Host Defenses, Immunobiotics and Translational Comparative Medicine, USDA, and IDALS Animal Industry Bureau.



http://www.idph.state.ia.us/IdphNews/Reader.aspx?id=8FBE90B3-4667-4960-9AF5-1B9B477A3805

[saracat]

1. But will the cat recover?

[jus_the_facts]

2. Doesn't say...but its age makes me worry....

...and being a cat owner and lover...I do NOT like hearing about this jump to felines. :(

[aquart]

4. Thank you. That was my question.

[merwin]

6. The second link in the article says that the cat and the family recovered completely.

[eridani]

8. Good question. Many virues can go across species. However-

--they are often lethal in one species and asymptomatic even in closely related species.

[idrahaje]

3. Well that was a mouthful

the location

[merwin]

5. But what exactly are the signs of H1N1 in cats?

I've got a 7 year old Pixie-Bob who's been acting wonky since my family got H1N1... a little faster breathing than normal, pretty much spends his entire day now on a single rug in the bathroom, laying down on his stomach rather than his side, generally depressed... of course, he's had a continuous skin condition/allergy since he was 2 that the vets can't figure out. Black gunk in the ears that isn't anything identifiable. Been tested a few times and they can't figure out what it is, doesn't respond to antibiotics either... just have to clean it out and have nail caps on his back claws to stop him from ripping his head apart. That's been getting worse as well as of late, so it could just be that making him feel crappy.

I'm just a bit paranoid because we lost our 8 year old a few months back to what I think was Cryptococcus Gattii... spread throughout his entire lungs fairly rapidly, and the vets couldn't figure out whether it was cancer or fungus and by the time we caught it there was really nothing we could do unless we were willing to spend about 10k (just after completing bankruptcy) on the good fungal medicine that would have had a chance at beating it.

[unc70]

12. Have you tested against the fungus from bird droppings?

I realize that Cryptococcus Gattii has been found in WA, but this fungus is systemic and looks like all sorts of other things including cancers.

My fifteen year old cat is also showing symptoms now similar to those the rest of us have had the last 10 days.

[Techn0Girl]

7. Oh just Great .....

If things aren't bad enough already, now my pussy can get the flu.

[Lochloosa]

9. Just pet it and keep it warm and everything will be ok.

[chat_noir]

10. Why would they think to even test for H1N1?

[Ian David]

11. Veterinarians might want to get published in medical journals, too.

Sometimes, when you think you hear a zebra, it really IS a zebra.

[kestrel91316]

15. It wound up at the U of IA vet school. Probably with the owners sick with

H1N1 and the concerns about spread to pigs in IA, the vet they initially saw was on high alert.

[arikara]

13. Oh thats just great

now all the paranoids who watch too much TV will be taking their cats to be euthanized or worse dumping them on the side of the road. They did that during all the media induced aids hype in the late 80's too. Feline Immumodeficiency Virus is also referred to as feline aids so the fools thought they could catch aids from their cats.

Just great.

[kestrel91316]

16. I doubt it. Public health officials are QUITE clear that the only thing to worry about

is spreading it to the poor cats if YOU have H1N1 already. Several common cold viruses are easily spread to cats and cause fairly mild illness. I have seen some of these, and the big difference IMHO is that cough predominates rather than sneeze.

[arikara]

18. I sure do hope you're right

But I remember vets putting out articles informing people that they could not catch aids from their pet cats and it didn't help then either. Unfortunately when the media gets on these fear inducing frenzies there is a lot of collateral damage done.

[kestrel91316]

14. H1N1 now officially a reverse zoonosis in cats. I hope I don't catch it,

I'd have to stay home from work even longer than usual so as not to put my patients at risk. Although, we can spread some varieties of the common cold to cats, and nobody gives a hoot, because it doesn't do the cat any great harm. It looks just like any other feline respiratory virus, lol.

I bet a lot of other cats have caught H1N1 from their people, and because they had mild illness never even went to the vet........

[jus_the_facts]

17. Hope not too... for you and your patients....

...take extra care! :)

[BrightKnight]

21. .

[AlphaCentauri]

24. any possibility that H1N1 mutate in cats then Cats infect humans with a new strain? n/t

[devilgrrl]

19. I'm wondering if my cat had some sort of flu.

He's been weezing and snifflely lately, like he has a cold. :-(

[BeHereNow]

20. Four of my FIVE cats had the same symptoms recently.

Fortunately, a course of Clavimox seemed to bail them out.
Strange, I wondered if there was a connection to Swine flu, and
them I came across this thread...
BHN

[Rhiannon12866]

22. Yikes! Thanks for the heads-up! Passing this on...

:scared:

[seekerhiker]

23. I believe my cat had it...

Last Thursday (11/19/09) I brought my 11 yr. old female domestic shorthair cat to the vet as an emergency. She was lethargic to the point of being unable to walk and almost unable to lift her head. Her lung function was normal. She had vomited a large amount 18 hours earlier. She is diabetic with moderate control.

The vet checked her blood and found high white blood cells and high (5x normal) AST, ALT, and GGT liver enzymes. She was also undergoing ketosis, implying that her blood sugar was not in control and her body was burning protein. She was given IV antibiotics and potassium in addition to the usual mix of IV fluids. She slowly improved in energy and appetite, allowing them to release her to me today. The liver numbers are still unresolved and they want me to follow up in two weeks on them.

Our household has 4 other cats (all DSH males), and two or three of them exhibited some sneezing recently, but otherwise seem OK. All of the cats are indoor/outdoor, with the female going outside the least (1-2x per week, two hours max). We live adjacent to a farm that has chickens, goats and cows, no pigs that I am aware of. Myself, my wife and our daughter exhibited some mild gastro flu symptoms a few weeks ago, and I had been given the seasonal flu vaccine 6 weeks ago, and my daughters had the H1N1 vaccine 2 weeks ago (one week prior to the cat getting sick).

I think the vaccines are coincidental but I do believe that my cat had an H1N1 infection. She has compromised immunity due to the diabetes, so the other cats may have just been carriers or were unaffected and she got the virus either from a human in our house or one of the other cats. The vet does not know what she had, and does not rule out H1N1. The liver numbers and lack of respiratory distress are throwing off the vet, I believe, but in humans there are documented cases of H1N1 without respiratory involvement and WITH sudden onset of hepatitis (3x normal liver enzymes or higher). Thankfully the human hepatitis cases resolve quickly once the virus is gone.

Anybody think my cat had H1N1? Any other ideas?

And the vet did not test for H1N1. I do not know if they have any convenient or economical avenue to do so.

-Chris in New Hartford, CT

[kestrel91316]

25. The three known cases of H1N1 in cats all had lower respiratory disease:

their lungs were affected. It's not much to go on, but if a cat DOESN'T have a problem with its lungs, H1N1 is not very high on the list. A recrudescence of feline herpesvirus infection is billions and billions of times more likely (with apologies to Carl Sagan).

[seekerhiker]

28. More evidence

I just got the results of yesterday's follow-up labs on my cat. WBC and RBC, normal. Liver function - NORMAL! Vet has no idea what could have spiked the liver numbers and allowed them to return to normal so quickly. I will be attempting to follow-up with a nearby University with vet medicine to see if she had H1N1.

[seekerhiker]

29. No free testing available in CT

I just called my state's animal pathology lab and they said CT has no funding for surveillance of H1N1 in any animals but birds, and that to perform a test a vet would have to take blood from a "deep sample site" (painful for kitty) and it would cost $50 for the test alone. I am not a philanthropist who can fund research on my own money, so she will not be getting tested.

[Devil_Fish]

26. purrrrrrrrfectly as planned. NT

[therealbarack]

27. Oh, this is

purrrfect