Panleukopenia

For those who has experienced on having cat, you may have known of this Feline Panleukopenia before. It has been known as one of the worst disease that could cause bad suffering to your feline friend as it has a high mortality rates especially in kittens under 6 month old. 

Feline Panleukopenia is caused by Feline Panleukopenia Virus from Parvoviridae family and is in the same family with the deadly Canine Parvo Virus in dogs. This type of virus known to be resistant to physicals factors and chemical substance causing the agent is able to survive in several conditions. The clinical manifestation in cats suffers from Panleukopenia usually starts with the loss of appetite, moderate to high fever, lethargic, diarrhea and vomiting. This symptoms usually are the basic symptom of several other diseases in animals thus a fast diagnose needs to be taken before the disease gets worse. The fastest way to get the diagnose is to take your feline friend to the nearest vet and get them tested for rapid FPV test. Because the virus is shed through the feline's feces, the vet will usually take sample from the stool for this test. 

For short explanation, FPV mainly stay in your cat digestive system and cause destruction in their instestines. This causing diarrhea and also failures of the intestines to absorb required nutrition from the food to the body. Persists diarrhea and vomiting will lead to dehydration that would worsen the cat's condition.

What to do if my cat get diagnosed with FPV?

Usually the vet will suggest for your feline friends to be hospitalized for several days because of the vomiting and diarrhea symptoms can lead to severe dehydration and it will not be easy for you to give medicine through their digestive system especially if the vomit persists. With a very high mortality rate, I may need to warn you that a chance to survive from this disease is very slight (but not impossible). Unlike bacterial or parasitic disease, anti-viral drugs isn't a choice for this disease eventhough it's caused by virus agent as the specific anti-virus for this agent hasn't been found yet. The only possible therapy to be done would be a supportive therapy related to the symptom and giving imunity booster to help the cat produce antibodi that will eventually fight against the viral agent. In the vet's hospitalized care, your cat will be given fluid therapy through the vein infusion, together with the necessary drug of choice. Vein route is the fastest route for drugs administration as it's  circulated with blood and directly goes to the organ.

How does my cat get infected by FPV and how to prevent it?

The virus sheds through the body excrete like stool, urine, vomitus and saliva. With its capability to survive in several condition, the virus shed can still be infectious even after several months. Un-protected or low immunity cats would have a higher risk of being infected by this virus. Proper desinfection and cleaning might be effective in caged cat or closed environtment with several time repetition done if you had an infected cat before, but you can't control nor clean the viruses shed in outdoor or public environment. The best way to prevent your feline friends from getting this viruses is by a vaccination.