Conference misery::feline_v1

    I hope someone else can shed some light on this, if not, I will look it
    up in my vet book tonight.  I am very sorry the vet wouldn't allow you
    to hold the cat.  She sounded very beautiful.  I hope your dad is doing
    better too!
    Karen, Ruby, Stinky, Wing +5

    People can get an illness from cats called Cat Scratch Fever, but from
    what I know, this is not cause to put the cat to sleep.  It is more of
    an individual reaction on the part of the human.  I have not heard of
    the cat having to be put down if someone gets this.
    
    The only disease that I can think of that would require the cat to be
    put down if they bit someone is rabies.
    
    Are you in the UK by any chance?
    
    Feline Distemper is called Panleukopenia and kittens and cats should be
    vaccinated against it.  As far as I know, it is not contagious to
    humans.  Panleukopenia is a virus, and can be carried by airborne
    particles, therefore an indoor cat can still be exposed to it.  This is
    a good reason to be sure that your cat is up to date on it's shots.
    
    I am sorry to hear that the cat had to be put down.  The vet was
    probably trying to protect you from whatever illness this was and that
    is why you were not allowed to handle the cat while the shot was
    administered.
    
    Jo

    I'm so sorry about your cat, and your Dad's illness.  I'm
    thoroughly confused about which exact disease the cat had, it
    sounds like a couple of ones are mentioned at once. I'm sure
    the vet was trying to protect you from becoming ill like your
    Dad.  Your cat knew you loved her, which I'm sure was very
    reassuring to her.
    

    I have never heard of distemper being transmited to a human.  I have
    had cats that have died of distemper and some that have lived thru it,
    and not once did any of my family contact this.  And I handled my cats
    all thru their sickness/death.
    
    I would check into this if I were you and make sure that they diagnosed
    your father correctly.
    
    Anna/Zildjian/Spunks
    

    Well, I'll tell you exactly how it happened...
    
    On Wednesday night, she walked up behind my Dad and *sunk* her 
    teeth into the calf of his leg.  She had never bit anyone before 
    and she was declawed so there was never a scratching problem.
    Then she just walked away to her bed and went to sleep for the
    night.  Dad washed the wound with peroxide and put a band-aid 
    on it.  
    
    Next morning, his leg was *very* red and swollen in the area of
    the bite so he re-washed it with peroxide and put on a fresh 
    bandage.  Around lunch time he had very little feeling in the 
    lower part of his leg and it got continually worse over the 
    afternoon.  About 5:00 he called his doctor and told him what
    happened and how he felt.  The doctor met him at the emergency
    room, examined him, and put him on an intravenous drip of 
    antibiotics.  He was sent home with a prescription for Penicillin
    and told to return to the ER for another IV the following evening
    at 6:00.  Again he went through this on Sunday morning...  
    
    ON Friday the doctor said the cat should be put to sleep because 
    Dad had "cat fever from a cat carrying distemper".  We put off 
    doing anything until Saturday morning because Dad felt he had to 
    do this himself and he still was not walking well.  In the end I 
    knew it would hurt him more than the wound to put her down so I 
    did it. (It hurt me to know it hurt him and what a waste of beauty 
    - she was the most beautiful cat I had ever seen - and I've seen 
    many of them).
     
      

       I believe there may be some un-answered questions here. I've seen
    and heard of cases where medical doctors make some unfounded decisions
    ragarding animals...especially when there is an animal readily
    available to blame and the M.D. doesn't have all the answers...
      It may be a good idea to check this out further with your vet...
    If the cat's body is available, it may even be an idea to have an
    autopsy on her to see exactly what if anything was wrong.
    
      A bite is sometimes something that will cause an infection...and
    infections can be very bad..and if not taken care of can actually be
    fatal... 
    
      I'm not a doctor or vet...but this seems to be a bit strange and
    bizare to say the least...
    
    
    JM

    I am so sorry about your situation.  You are a wonderful person to have
    spared your father the hurt of having to have his friend put to sleep,
    even though you knew it would be a difficult thing to do.
    
    I agree with .6 that it might be a good idea to have the cat examined,
    if possible.  Cats show very evident symptoms when they are suffering
    from distemper - you know there's something definitely wrong with them.  
    Did kitty show signs that she was ill?
    
    Terry
    

    My husband was bitten on his forearm by our cat Mocha. (Mocha  couldn't
    have what he wanted that very minute) so he bit Tim. We washed the
    puncuture marks with soap and water and peroxide. Next morning Tim
    called me from the emergency room when he was having antibiodicts
    interveinously. This lasted for approximately 3 hours. The doctor
    asked it Mocha was current on his shots especially rabies and Tim
    said yes. The doctor told Tim the germs from the bite had already
    gone to work on the nerves, veins and muscle in his arm and if Tim
    had not gotten attention he would probably have lost his arm. The
    doctor said it is like gangerine but much faster. Fortunately the
    antibodidicts did the trick and all was well.
    
    I believe another feline noter just had this happen recently.
    Nancy are you out there?
    
    I do hope the kitty was not put to sleep because of someone
    ignorance.
    
    
    Barbara

    > I believe another feline noter just had this happen recently.
    
    I think this is me! My friend Ann (Rolfs breeder) got a nasty bite at a
    show. She was fine though - no infection. However, my fiance got a TINY
    bite on his hand when we first got Florence and his thumb went numb, no
    infection.
    
    This sounds so sad. Please let your dad know how we feel.
    
    :-(
    
    Lisa.
    

    I also have been bitten - and by a cat that was a feral.  I'm
    reasonably sure Jasmine hadn't had her shots when she bit me.
    The bite didn't even become infected.  Perhaps because it was
    in my hand and not near a large blood vessel to carry the 
    infection.
    
    At any rate I am very very sorry to hear about your dad and
    his cat.  I have no insight to offer, but I do encourage you
    to do a little more research.  I don't know how a cat that is
    up to date on its shots would have distemper.  
    
    We have something called the Silver Lining memorial and we make
    donations to animal shelters etc every quarter in memory of all
    the cats and other animals who have died during the last quarter.
    I would like to list your dad's cat for this quarter.  What
    was her name?  (See note 2228 for details)  Tell your dad that
    a donation will be made in her memory.  Perhaps that will help
    just a bit.
    
    I also think you were very brave to take care of putting the
    cat to sleep and sparing your dad the pain.  
      Nancy DC
    
    

far too often we forget that doctors are human too.  A doctor that dislikes
cats can make a decision that a cat caused an infection and therefore, the
cat should be destroyed.  It isn't necessarily medical truth.

I just called my vet on this one.  With the exception of rabies and 
toxoplasmosis, there are no known diseases for which a cat can serve as a 
vector for transmission to a human.  Cat blood is radically different from
our blood and generally viruses that can live in cats cannot live in us 
and vice versa.

Cat bites can be very infectious - they are small puncture wounds and
that is ALWAYS potentially a very bad problem.  Some humans can be very
vulnerable to infection from cat bites.  Cats can carry parasites, such as 
tapeworms, which can be transmitted to humans if conditions are unsanitary
and the human comes in direct contact with the parasite.  However, with the
exception of rabies, none of these conditions should lead to the destruction
of the cat.  

That said, I am extremely concerned that you had to deal with something that
my vet doesn't know about....a disease that I should be worried about.
Please provide any additional information you can get from your vet....from
your description of your vets behavior in not allowing you to touch your
cat, I should be concerned...and I AM.

I am sorry that your father had to lose his beloved pet; I know how it hurts.
Perhaps it may make him feel a little better to know that we are all learning
from this experience.

    Dad is feeling much better and he visits my 4 furfaces (+ 2 dogs) 
    every day.  The description of .8s wound and reaction sounds just
    like what happened to Dad.  
    
    When I took her to the vet, he only said that a cat causing such 
    serious effects on a human must have rabies or distemper.  This
    vet had given her all the shots and was concerned that she was 
    carrying something from her stray days (over 2 years ago).  He 
    said it pointed to distemper also so we weren't going on just my
    Dad's doctor's opinion.  Another thing, I didn't (nor did my Dad)
    want Kitty put through an autopsy.  I personally have very bad
    feelings about that scene ever since I witnessed one on a human.
    
    I want to thank all of you for your good wishes to Dad.  He has 
    been offered another kitty but said he will just come visit mine.
    Sort of like grandchildren - wonderful to visit but...
    
    -Glenda     Meghan, Dennis the Menace, 
                Pedo, Furfie Purrsalot + 2 
                    Molly and Shadow
    
      

    I worked at an animal hospital prior to my job here at digital (sept.
    1990) and I can tell you for a fact that the only *disease* a cat can
    transmit is rabies. I spent over 8 months as a veterinary assistant and
    was bitten several times by cats. Cats have a particular bacteria in
    their saliva that (depending on human reaction) can cause illness. Cat
    bites infect very easily and can cause what doctors like to call *cat
    fever*. The only thing a human doctor can really detect is the saliva
    in the system...as for distemper.. unless they were a vet... 
    		Distemper is a disease that affects the feline nervous
    system. It is kind of hard to understand and even harder to find simple
    explination for. There are several small symptoms that can be looked
    for ... loose stool ... canstant use of the litter pan... excessive
    vomiting, listlessness... there are free pamphlets you can get from
    your vet that can show how the process occurs and vets are usually
    happy to sit down either in person or over the phone if they have time
    to explain in simple terms what it is...
    
    ****a note to all you cat lovers out there!!****
    	The best treatment for a cat bite is to immediately soak the wound
    in betadine soluion...either full strength or diluted evenly with water
    .... It is better than peroxide at drawing out the dirt and
    bacteria...if inflamation, numbness or pain occur be sure to see a
    doctor.  ***** Trust me . The animal hospital always had betadine
    solution handy and everytime I got bit they made me sit down for an
    hour and soak the wound.... It is also good if your precious kitty gets
    a cut (puppies too.) or gets bit by something.
    
    	rhonda...
    
    is 

    Betadine solution is available at most drug stores and
    from vet supply houses.  I buy it by the gallon from
    a vet supply house, as I have a horse....the little 8 oz
    bottle doesn't go far to disinfect one of his booboos! :-)
    
    It contains iodine, hence the red color.  Great for dogs,
    cats, & people, too!
    
    Lynne

    There are other diseases that folks can get from their cats.  Chlamydia
    can be passed (a feline upper respiratory disease that causes an eye 
    infection in humans), toxoplamosis can be passed from a cat to a human.
    
    Most diseases are species specific, but if your cat has either of these
    two illnesses then you should be careful to wash up after handling
    them.
    
    Jo

    Jo,
    what are the symptoms of Chlamydia in cats/the related eye infections
    in humans?
    
    Deb-who-just-thot-allergy-season-started-early

    Deb,
    
    Chlamydia in cats causes mild to severe upper respiratory symptoms
    along with conjunctivitis.  In humans, it causes a conjunctival
    infection.  If your cat has chlamydia, and you find yourself with
    itchy, sore, burning eyes, get yourself to your eye doctor for some
    tetracycline eye drops.
    
    If your cat is being treated for an eye infection, even if it isn't
    diagnosed as chlamydia, be sure to wash your hands after applying any
    medications to the cats eyes.  Chlamydia is underdiagnosed.  Most vets
    will just prescribe an eye antibiotic without trying to find out
    whether the infection is chlamydia or not.
    
    Jo

    Jo, thanks. Would an over the counter product like Visine with
    tetracycline help? 
    
    Deb

    Do they make an over the counter Visine that contains tetracycline??
    If so, I didn't know that.  Tetracycline is the antibiotic of choice
    when it comes to chlamydia.
    
    Jo

    re: allergies - Its been a bit tough this winter because its been
    relatively mild.  My biggest allergy is to mold and its been kicking
    up on and off all winter.
    

    Jo,
    
    I've heard an ad for Visine with tetracycline, so I assume that it is
    available as an over the counter drug.
    
    Nancy,
    
    I'm also allergic to mold, so that (coupled with being in a dusty
    customer site) is probably what my problem is. I kind of figured it to
    be allergy related since I stated taking my Hismanal again and it is
    helping. (I normally don't need it in the winter)
    
    Deb

    I've had to stay on my full dose of Seldane all winter this year.
    Usually I can cut back.