My family have just taken ownership of two kittens from the Cats Protection League.

The male is 12 weeks and the female 9 weeks.

They have come from different litters, 5 in each.

When we first visited them the 'Male' litter was aged 9 weeks and the 'Female' litter 6 weeks.

We couldn't take either at that time because the female was too young (min 9 weeks) and the male and the rest of his litter had cat flu - so the vet had postponed their vacinations until it cleared up.

Now at the time I knew nothing of cat flu and the Cats Protection League described it as if it were nothing to worry about - would clear up in a few days.

So we agreed to take the 9 week male and the 6 week female - we couldn't physically take them for 3 weeks.

We picked them up last week. A few days before the CPL had told us that the reamins of the two litters had been put together and on the day of pick up we were told that the male had developed sneezes again.

On the day of pick up both had visited the vet, the male for an antibiotic shot and the female for here first vaccination. We were given some eye drops for the male.

Now my concerns

I've now been reading up on cat flu and find that far from the trivial way it was described it is actually quite nasty.

As I understand it, the male will continue to have this strain of cat flu, most dormant but can reoccur at times of stress. Furthermore he will always be a carrier.

I don't know what to do. Should I be worried?

I am shocked thet the CPL mixed infect kittens with uninfected and unvacinated ones. Potentially my female is at risk although she doesn't seem to be showing any signs.

The male is pretty happy and apart from the odd sneeze now and then you wouldn't suspect anything.

Is cat flu really as bad as I have read?

How often is the male likely to suffer?

Is the female likely to be infected?

Should I say something about the CPL mixing infected and clean cats?

Thanks for your help,

Nigel

Wow, I am also shocked that CP would mix infected with non infected kittens. And yes you are right to be concerned, cat flu is very serious.

I must say I am also surprised that a 9 week old kitten would recover so quickly (if at all) from cat flu, so my first question would be, are you sure they had cat flu, and not ‘flu like symptoms’ because there is a big difference.

Hi

Feline Calicivirus is a nasty virus but please don't pay too much attention to everything that is on the net! A lot of the info is from the US and we don't have the same strains as them. They can get over it and it is only a small percentage of them that go on to be carriers.

Once they come in to contact with it, they develop flu like symptoms and then the virus will become dormant and may recur at times of stress. A classe symptom is ulcers or gingivitis around the teeth and gums of the infected cat. This can be quite painful for them if it occurs.

Most cats will shed themselves of the virus within 75 days of contact, although I don't know if this is the case when they have come in to contact with it prior to vaccination. Vaccination however doesn't prevent them getting the virus in all cases - it can sometimes only lessen the symptoms if they do get it.

Your vet may recommend treating with interferon which is basically a 200 day course of 'cat antibodies' which is given orally. About £115 per cat but very worth it.

As for cats protection mixing them, it shouldn't be done but I would understand that if these cats are kept in close confinement, it would be difficult to prevent an outbreak anyway. It is very easily transmitted and can survive in the environment for about 10 days, if not more in the right conditions.

Good luck and keep us posted as to how they get on

Louise
X

If the vet was happy for him to be homed then hopefully he is on his way to recovery.
Yes it is true that the virus stays in their system, and it can be shed at times of stress, but that does not necessarily mean he will become ill again. Being well cared for, vaccinated to keep his antibodies high, and well fed will all protect him from becoming run down or physically stressed.
The girl has obviously been exposed , as she would have anyway if you had brought them both home together anyway, but I think if it was me I would want to know why they mixed the litters Unless the 2nd litter was already ill too or previously exposed I really don't understand it? After all, not everyone who homes them will be taking kittens from both litters? I'm as confused as you about that bit.


Cat flu can vary from mild cold symptoms, to a really severe illness. I really don't think they would have let him go to you if he wasn't well [at least I hope not!] and although it's impossible to guarantee he will never suffer again, a lot of cats go on to recover and not show symptoms

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My cat Leo had cat flu (not flu like symptoms) when we got him, vet reckoned he was about 24 hours from being dead. To look at him now you'd never know, he's fully healthy and very well grown. He was probably about 10 weeks when we got him.

This is one of the latest pics of him:



Sadly I don't have one with his full body on, but he's a big fella now, and you'd never know he was ill.

I echo this. it might also be an idea to make the house less stressful with Feliway. It works with some cats but not all. You could give it a go and see how the stress levels go. The CPL know what they are doing and have very good vets and wouldn't do something they thought would be dangerous to the cats. They must have had a reason and tested the kittens strain of flu and check it's response with the antibiotics and vaccinated the other kittens and felt it would be safe. The last thing they want is more ill kittens, trust me. I've worked for a cattery/rescue centre and they are really good at what they do. Your vet should be able to give you the best care and guidance with the kits and if you feel you are not getting the best care you can always go to a different vets. If you feel the kittens are not healthy enough for you, you can also contact the CPL and let them know your concerns and they should help you sort them out.

Oh he is a stunner!

the majority of cats recover from calicivirus and stop shedding it, but they can still be reinfected at a later date. It's herpesvirus that infects a cat for life, however a good percentage (think it's 40-50%) of herpes infected cats never shed virus after the initial infection and do not have symptoms again. One estimate I've seen is that 80% of cats are herpes carriers, it's just like with people.
Cat flu due to whichever virus can indeed be serious especially in kittens, who could develop pneumonia, but it's usually fairly mild in vaccinated adults. The flu vaccines are not very effective (only 60% or so) which is why these viruses are still so very common amongst cats, especially in multi cat situations like a rescue cattery.

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Thanks for the advise.

I also wonder whether it is cat flu - even when I saw all 5 cats with it, none seemed particularly bothered. All happily playing and running around just with some sneezes here and there.

Taking cats from two litters was my family's fault.

There was only one kitten left unallocated in the male litter and he was gorgeous. The five kittens in the female litter all looked pretty much the same (black and white) and my children wanted two different looking cats - my son in particular instantly bonded with the male kitten.

We weren't sure about taking from different litters but CP assured us it was okay. The two kittens are great with each other - no animosity at all.

Cheers,

Nigel

It's great they get along, perhaps it's something as simple as they put the litters together after they were all vaccinated?
Hope everyone continues well

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