Cat Illnesses

When the family cat becomes ill, it is natural to want to diagnose the problem as soon as possible. Many cat illnesses are deadly if ignored. This is why early intervention is crucial to saving your cat's life. These five cat illnesses are a few of the most common disease and infections.

Feline Diabetes

Older, overweight, male cats are the most likely to be afflicted with cat illnesses like feline diabetes. The symptoms of feline diabetes closely mimic the symptoms seen in humans with diabetes. These symptoms include excessive thirst and urination, weight loss accompanied with an increase in appetite and general lethargy. Over time the symptoms will become worse and the cat will also begin to experience digestive problems and even hair loss. To treat feline diabetes, the cat's diet is augmented and he is given oral medication and insulin shots.

Urinary Tract Infection

When a cat experiences a urinary tract infection he will often howl out when using the litter box. Since a feline urinary tract infection causes the cat a lot of pain during urination he will begin to urinate all throughout the house to find relief. The cat relates the pain to the location he is urinating rather than an internal problem. While the causes of feline urinary tract infections are unknown, they can become deadly if the urinary tract becomes completely blocked.

Feline Leukemia

Unlike the human version of leukemia, these cat illnesses are caused by a virus and are communicable. However, feline leukemia does not survive long outside of the body so transmission of the disease is somewhat rare. Symptoms of feline leukemia include fever, anemia, depleted appetite, blood in stool, diarrhea, constipation, excessive thirst, weight loss, vomiting, breathing troubles and sometimes tumors. There are no cures for feline leukemia but it is important to isolate the cat to prevent further spread of the disease.

Feline Infectious Peritonitis

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is the number one cause of infectious death in cats. This disease is spread as a virus and is very difficult to detect as its symptoms are very similar to a number of other cat illnesses. FIP has a few very serious and dire symptoms, such as recurrent fevers, seizure, eye bleeding, abdominal swelling, loss of balance and weight loss. FIP is fatal. A few treatments of FIP will lengthen a cat's life, but every cat infected with FIP eventually succumbs to the disease.

Immunodeficiency Virus

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is the kitty equivalent to HIV. FIV causes the immune system to weaken slowly over time. This cat illness is most commonly spread by aggressive males through bite marks. Most symptoms of FIV are acute and include fever and swollen lymph nodes. Most cases of FIV go unnoticed until the cat's immune system is so weak that he eventually becomes sick and dies. There is no cure for FIV.

Resources

• Cornell University for information about veterinary sciences