Quality of Life for Cats with Heart Disease

Reynolds C, Oyama M, Rush J et al: Perceptions of quality of life and priorities of owners of cats with heart disease, J Vet Intern Med 24:1421, 2010.

A shared goal of veterinarians and the owners of cats with heart disease is to provide high quality of life (QoL) while achieving the extension of quantity of life. Because heart disease in cats is rarely cured with treatment, therapy is directed to palliation of clinical sings and maximizing survival time with a progressive disease. Treatment usually consists of medications that improve QoL. This study utilized a questionnaire to owners of 239 cats with heart disease to help identify important parameters when assessing their cat’s QoL, the importance of quality versus quantity of life, and willingness to trade survival time for QoL. Deemed important to QoL were parameters such as appetite, owner interaction, sleep patterns, and litter box habits. Most owners did not feel it was difficult to administer oral medications to their cat though a large enough number indicated their cat was extremely difficult to medicate. The level of concern by owners increased as the number of medications and dosing frequency increased. Owners have significantly greater concern over pet suffering than concern over life expectancy. Most (93%) of owners were willing to trade survival time for good QoL. These priorities and concerns of owners of cats with heart disease should be taken into account by veterinarians in their pursuit to provide optimal care. [VT]

Related articles:
Payne J, Luis Fuentes V, Boswood A et al: Population characteristics and survival in 127 referred cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (1997 to 2005), J Small Anim Pract 51:540, 2010.

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Feline Panleukopenia

Kruse BD, Unterer S, Horlacher K, et al. Prognostic factors in cats with feline panleukopenia. J Vet Intern Med 2010;24:1271-1276.

Feline panleukopenia is a highly contagious and frequently lethal disease affecting all members of the cat family. Clinical disease can range from subclinical infection to a peracute form with sudden death. The more typical signs include fever, lethargy, and loss of appetite. Cats may present with vomiting and develop watery to bloody diarrhea. Patients die from complications that arise from secondary bacterial infections, sepsis, dehydration, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. The cats most affected and at risk of death are kittens up to the age of 12 months. This study looked at potential prognostic factors for survival of cats with panleukopenia. The medical records of 244 cats were evaluated retrospectively. In this study, indoor cats were more commonly affected than outdoor cats, and 14.5% had no contact with other cats indicating that indirect transmission is an important mode of transmission. Transmission can occur by means of contaminated clothing, cages, and insect vectors. The survival rate amongst this group of cats was 51.1%. Age, living conditions, and clinical signs were not associated with illness severity and outcome. It was noted that leukocyte and thrombocyte counts as well as serum albumin and potassium concentrations did represent prognostic factors in feline panleukopenia. Also, vaccination protocols that do not include vaccination of kittens beyond 12 weeks of age may not be adequate to prevent panleukopenia.  [VT]

Related articles:
Truyen U, Addie D, Belak S, et al. Feline panleukopenia ABCD guidelines on prevention and management. J Feline Med Surg 2009;11:538-546.

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Feline Leukemia Virus & Bartonella Infections

Buchmann AU, Kershaw O, Kempf VA, et al. Does a feline leukemia virus infection pave the way for Bartonella henselae infection in cats? J Clin Microbiol 2010;48:3295-3300.

Bartonella henselae is the agent of cat scratch fever in humans. Domestic cats are a known reservoir of this bacterium for human infection via scratches and bites. In cats, it has been associated with a number of disorders including gingivitis, stomatitis, and urinary tract diseases among others. In humans with immunosuppressive disorders, disease following Bartonella infection is much more severe; the impact of immunosuppression in cats on Bartonella infections has not been examined. These investigators collected tissue samples from nearly 150 cats euthanized at German animal shelters over a two year period and assessed them for coinfection with Bartonella and feline parvovirus (FPV), feline leukemia virus (FeLV), and/or feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). The overall rate of Bartonella infection was nearly 8%. Infection of cats with this bacterium was significantly correlated with FeLV infection: of six cats with FeLV, four also had Bartonella henselae; three of these four were latently infected with FeLV (positive for viral genetic material but negative for viral proteins). No correlation with either FIV or FPV was found. The authors concluded that FeLV may enhance the susceptibility to or persistence of B henselae infection. [MK]

Related articles:

Belgard S, Truyen U, Thibault JC, et al. Relevance of feline calicivirus, feline immunodeficiency virus, feline leukemia virus, feline herpesvirus and Bartonella henselae in cats with chronic gingivostomatitis. Berl Munch Tierarztl Wochenschr 2010;123:369-376.

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How Cats Lap Water

Reis PM, Jung S, Aristoff JM et al: How cats lap: water uptake by Felis catus, Science 330: 1231, 2011.

Dr. Roman Stocker, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wondered about the mechanism cats use to lap fluid while watching his own cat one day. Out of that curiosity, a project to answer the question using high-speed video, simulations, and investigations of other feline species was born. Cats use an interesting biomechanical method to drink by bending the tip of the tongue downward toward the chin and pulling liquid into the mouth. The high-speed videos showed that cats don't dip their tongue into the liquid to scoop it up as dogs do. Rather, cats touch the tip of the tongue, with the tip bent downward, against the surface of the liquid before drawing the tongue rapidly back into the mouth. The cat swallows only after several laps have accumulated enough liquid in the mouth.

Related articles:
Matson, J. Cat Lap: Engineers unravel the mystery of how felines drink. Scientific American, Nov 11, 2010.

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