Cat Poxvirus Infection

Re: Cat Poxvirus Infection

Martin Atkinson — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:14:58 GMT

IMO cowpox virus in cats is more common that is generally recognised, the majority of lesions are self-limiting with or without treatment and may be mistaken for cat fight wounds. The important thing is to recognise the possibility and don't needlessly use corticosteroids for undiagnosed cat skin lesions. It is potentially zoonotic (indeed I believe cats are the most common source of infection for humans) and again probably more common than generally recognised but is of little consequence except for immunocompromised individuals. I can't see any issue over re-homing once the lesions have resolved.

Re: Cat Poxvirus Infection

Mike Nikolaou — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:06:54 GMT

Update: the cat has been moved to another local surgery.

I contacted the cp, as the cat was feeling better, asking if they have a suitable kenneling facility where the cat could be transported as strictly speaking it doesn't need to be hospitalised anymore, but kept in isolation and protective measures taken from staff, so they arranged for it to go to another surgery(!!!).

Re: Cat Poxvirus Infection

Mike Nikolaou — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 17:30:56 GMT

Thanks Catherine, I have read that the cat stops being infectious when the scabs fall off but I cannot seem to find any info on how long this would take...Had no nurses today to inform so they will be in for a surprise on monday. They have been careful with the cat as it stank to high heaven when it first came in , so they were gloving up routinely, fingers crossed they haven't caught anything...

Re: Cat Poxvirus Infection

CatherineThomas — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 16:13:29 GMT

We've had one that has been diagnosed with pox virus about a week ago. It was my colleague who has been dealing with it so I'm not sure of the details. Ours was a CP kitten brought in by the fosterer. The kitten had several nasty looking lesions. I think it's just been put on antibiotics for secondary infections and we are waiting for it to get over the virus itself but I could be wrong about that. I know that it is a zoonosis and our nurses were worried about it as they got scratched, none of them have come down with anything yet but the fosterer and her daughter have now also been diagnosed with pox virus. I think my colleague found information about it on the FAB website, so it would be worth looking there.

If it doesn't already have a home you might struggle to rehome a cat with a zoonotic disease.