Cats

Abstract

Awareness of and treatment options for feline infectious diseases continues to be an important part of the veterinarian's role. Advances in diagnostic technology and pharmacology mean that how veterinarians manage infectious disease risk and the level of care that can be provided to the individual cat continues to develop over time. Indeed, when presented with a sick patient, clinical signs alone frequently may not fit a conventional clinical description that leads to a diagnosis. The astute clinician must be able to assimilate historical and clinical information, along with current knowledge of diagnostic test availability, interpretation, and test limitations, to arrive at a diagnostic conclusion and prescribe a rational treatment regimen in the infected patient. The discussion on feline infectious diseases in this textbook is not intended to be comprehensive. Instead, the diseases presented in this chapter represent the most common infections encountered in cats seen in clinical practice. Updates on practical, accessible, diagnostic testing protocols, treatment recommendations, and prevention/vaccination are included.