Salmonellosis is a general term for diseases caused by various Salmonella bacteria. Some pet doctors also call it Paratyphoid.
■Note: Salmonella disease is a zoonotic infectious disease.
The main pathogen of cat salmonella disease is S. typhimurium (S. typhimurium) in the genus Salmonella, which is a facultative anaerobic bacteria. This bacteria has a strong virulent endotoxin, which can cause fever, mucosal bleeding, toxic shock and even death in the affected cats, and is pathogenic to cats and a variety of animals, including humans.
Salmonella can survive and reproduce in the environment and survive in feed, dust, animal feces, pavements, and soil for a long time. However, Salmonella is very sensitive to heat and most disinfectants. Water can kill Salmonella in meat for 5 minutes at 74℃.
As ordinary shovelers, it is enough to understand these, the focus is below.
What is cat salmonella disease? How to diagnose, treat and prevent? Epidemiology of
Salmonella bacteria are widely distributed and infected animals are very wide.
Sick, bacterial animals and murine hosts are the main sources of epidemic transmission of salmonella disease. This type of bacteria has also been found in many environments, such as water, soil, surfaces of factory and kitchen facilities, and in animal feces.
This disease is mainly transmitted through the respiratory and digestive tract, such as intake of bacterial food and water sources, mistakenly ingesting feces excreted by bacterial cats when licking hair, and prey on infected animals (such as mice).
If the cat is infected with salmonella disease, the source of the infection is likely to be the mother of the cat.
Infected cats will be discharged with feces for a long time or intermittently, contaminating water, soil, mats, environment, supplies and food, and directly or indirectly spread to other cats.
Kittens under two months and older cats over 10 years old are more susceptible, and their symptoms are mostly acute explosive. Adult cats may also be infected under the influence of stress responses, but they are mostly recessive (carrying bacteria but not showing clinical symptoms).
This disease often occurs in cats living in low sanitary conditions, unknown food sources/unsafe, and rainy and humid.
What is cat salmonella disease? How to diagnose, treat and prevent?
What are the symptoms of cats suffering from salmonella?
The severity of symptoms of cats infected with this disease is related to their age. Kittens and elderly cats are mostly bacteremia and toxemia, and they have symptoms such as depression, decreased appetite/anorexia, increased body temperature, weakness, abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, foul-odorless blood samples, and severe dehydration. In addition to the above symptoms, some cats also experience neurological symptoms such as convulsions and shock.
Underage cats over two months of age and under one year old may show symptoms of gastroenteritis, such as mental depression, decreased appetite, body temperature rise to above 40°C in the early stage of the disease, diarrhea, watery stools/slim stools. If treatment measures are not taken or treatment is delayed, the cat will be severely dehydrated, secondary and complicated with multiple diseases, until death.
Adult cats experience chronic disease, without symptoms or manifestations as weight loss, stubborn diarrhea, intermittent fever, etc.
What is cat salmonella disease? How to diagnose, treat and prevent?
How will a pet doctor diagnose cat salmonella disease?
The diagnostic plan of a pet doctor can be divided into two parts: main diagnosis and auxiliary diagnosis.
■Main diagnosis
Main diagnosis includes the owner's main complaint, feces culture and drug sensitivity test, bacterial culture and drug sensitivity test, and excrement PCR detection.
The main complaint information we prepare before the diagnosis is more important, and we can prepare it from these five questions:
After we provide the main complaint materials, the pet doctor will collect pet feces in combination with the main complaint to confirm whether salmonella exists, and then collect samples from other parts except the gastrointestinal tract (such as blood, urine, wound secretions, etc.) for bacterial culture to confirm the diagnosis.
Exhaust PCR detection method has higher sensitivity than bacterial culture and is more tolerant of poor delivery and treatment conditions for excretion samples.
■Assisted diagnosis of
blood routine (CBC), neutrophil enlargement may occur during severe infection, with left nuclear shift and neutral toxic changes, and non-regenerative anemia may also occur.
Biochemical examination shows some non-specific changes, such as hypoalbuminemia, elevated liver enzymes, hypoglycemia, electrolyte abnormalities and prerenal azotemia.
What is cat salmonella disease? How to diagnose, treat and prevent?
Treatment plan for "feet salmonella disease"
Treatment plan for cat salmonella disease is generally divided into these two steps: drug therapy and supportive therapy.
■The effective treatment plan for drug therapy
should be antibacterial therapy.
The most commonly used antibacterial drugs include trimethoprimide, sulfadiazine, and neomycin (tables).
The veterinary drug enrofloxacin is also a good choice, suitable for infections and mixed infections caused by various sensitive bacteria.
■Supportive Therapy
Supportive therapy for cat salmonella disease includes parenteral fluid therapy (what we call infusion), nutritional therapy, and plasma input, which the pet doctor will choose according to your needs.
Note: All drug dosages, frequency of use, and precautions in the treatment plan must be strictly formulated by the veterinarian. Do not use drugs without authorization or increase or decrease the dosage without authorization.
Prognosis: Most cases have better prognosis after treatment, usually recovering within 1-4 weeks. If cats develop severe leukemia at the same time, the prognosis will be poor and the mortality rate is between 10% and 60%. If the cat has potential immunosuppressive disease, the prognosis will be unsatisfactory..
What is cat salmonella disease? How to diagnose, treat and prevent?
How to prevent cats from suffering from "salmonella disease"? (Key points)
Regarding cat salmonella disease, the most important part is prevention.
In the process of raising cats, we must do a good job in daily epidemic prevention, hygiene and disinfection, and take comprehensive prevention and control measures. You can refer to these six points:
1. Adhere to cleaning cat litter box every day. The food bowls and water bowls used by cats should be cleaned and disinfected regularly.
2. Kitchen waste, leftovers with no edible value, expired dishes and fruits, these need to be disposed of in time to avoid mold and worms, causing unnecessary trouble to the family environment. Foods that can be eaten twice must be kept in the refrigerator in time.
3. Unless it is possible to ensure that the source of meat and eggs is healthy enough, do not directly give cats raw meat (chicken, beef, etc.) and raw eggs with uncertain sources. Cooking until the internal temperature reaches 74°C can kill salmonella, in other words, it can provide the cat with cooked meat and eggs.
4. Regularly clean and disinfect your home. I personally recommend chlorine dioxide + ultraviolet lamp (including ozone) for disinfection.
5. If there are mice at home, clean them up in time. Be careful when using sticky mouse plates and mouse traps to avoid accidentally damaging the cat.
6. If you are a family of multiple cats and suspect or confirm that one of them is sick, you should immediately take quarantine measures to avoid cross-infection, especially elderly cats and young cats.