New strain of FCV Calicivirus

kai bengals

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If you are not already aware, there is a new mutated strain of the Calicivirus that is a virtual death sentence for cats and especially kittens.

The traditional calicivirus that we all immunize for is not usually fatal, but this mutated virus has a significantly higher mortality rate.

It's highly contagious and is reported to kill healthy cats in 24 to 48 hours and will infect cats that have been Vax'd against the traditional strain. (FCV)

The new strain is indentified as VS-FCV.

There have been reported deaths in my state, in Rocky Mount, NC and Wilmington, NC.

Ask your Vet about the new vaccine that is available now through Fort Dodge Animal Health.

Clinical signs of infection by this new strain are:

High Fever
Facial and limb edema
Ulceration and hair loss on the face, muzzle and feet
Organ dysfunction

I am having my entire cattery Vax'd against this next week, as soon as my Vet has the Vaccine on hand. He's very worried about this, because if even one cat comes into his clinic and is positive for the new strain, his whole clinic has to be disinfected to prevent transmission to other patients.
 

sharky

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WOW ,.... This is scary ... I will ask my vet about this
 

carrie640

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OMG
You know what??? There is just WAYYY too many things out there that cats can get...WAY too many..and now I am ultra-paranoid about even getting another one.

OMG. How can I even say that yet when Ash isn't even gone yet??
 

starryeyedtiger

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wow!!! thankyou for the heads up!! that is really scarry! do you have any links or other info on it i could read up on?? i wonder if it's hit tennessee yet. uhhh we are constantly getting animals into our shelter- it's sooo hard to make sure they don't all have something.
 
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kai bengals

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Originally Posted by StarryEyedTiGeR

wow!!! thankyou for the heads up!! that is really scarry! do you have any links or other info on it i could read up on?? i wonder if it's hit tennessee yet. uhhh we are constantly getting animals into our shelter- it's sooo hard to make sure they don't all have something.
Here are a few links:

http://www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_vs_fcv.shtml

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/...rus/index.html

http://www.vetpathology.org/cgi/content/full/41/3/257

http://dvm.adv100.com/dvm/article/ar....jsp?id=408460



Originally Posted by white cat lover

Argh! Hopefully, it stays away from MN!!
It's been reported nationwide and in the UK, so it could turn up anywhere. Since it's recently been so close to home for me, I have to be pro-active now.
 

orchard

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Originally Posted by StarryEyedTiGeR

i wonder if it's hit tennessee yet.
Yes. When we went to see our cat-only vet in Nashville in April, they had just seen half a dozen or so cats come in with it. What is really scary to me is that most of the kitties were indoor cats. All of the kitties died within 48 hours.
He said it was like "a feline ebola," very quick and deadly.
 

kittkatt

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This is REALLY scary!! My vet mentioned something about a new disease that is deadly not too long ago: I think this may be it! I'm getting so paranoid about all the cat diseases that seem to be becoming more frequent that I'm afraid to adopt any more. And we have about eight strays that we feed, and have been seriously thinking about taking in two of them who have become quite tame now. But now I'm not too sure I want to take a chance. Who knows what they might have come in contact with??
One of them already coughs & wheezes, and also has pussy eyes sometimes. I sure don't want to infect the cats I already have: we've had enough problems recently as it is...

I getting to the point where I'm absolutely terrified of having cats, b/c it's getting to be so dangerous w/ all the cat diseases floating around. I get so darned attached to them, and then am heartbroken when anything happens.
:censor::censor::censor: is going on???


Thanks for sharing the information!


~KK~
 

jcat

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Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

It's been reported nationwide and in the UK, so it could turn up anywhere. Since it's recently been so close to home for me, I have to be pro-active now.
I've read about this mutated form, but didn't realize it had turned up in the UK. Now it's just a matter of time before it reaches the Continent.

I've merged these threads, so that more people are aware of the danger.
 

rang_27

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Yep my 4 are going on Saturday to be vacinated. I'm concerned because it showed up here in a shelter, and I know how people looking for animals make the rounds to differnt shelters. It would be devistating to have this in our shelter, but even worse if I brought it home. So I decided it was better to be safe than sorry.
 

momofmany

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Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

I am having my entire cattery Vax'd against this next week, as soon as my Vet has the Vaccine on hand. He's very worried about this, because if even one cat comes into his clinic and is positive for the new strain, his whole clinic has to be disinfected to prevent transmission to other patients.
Thanks for the warning! Would your vet come out to your place to do the vaccinations? Some vets still make house calls!
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

Clinical signs of infection by this new strain are:

High Fever
Facial and limb edema
Ulceration and hair loss on the face, muzzle and feet
Organ dysfunction
that symptom i highlighted is how Pixel's herpes flare-ups present... i'd be likely to suspect that 1st, which could be very bad!
i'll be asking about this next week at the vet's.
 

hissy

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A good friend of mine just lost her 7 year old cat to this. She now has to cleanse her entire home from top to bottom and hope she can kill this virus. I hear that Pet Smart has a disinfectant that is helpful by Brampton.
 

rang_27

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Since there has been an outbreak at a shelter not that far from us, our director has orderd the vacinations and all the cats at the shelter will be vacinated.
 

kitytize

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My understanding is every confirmed outbreak has been a unique strain to that outbreak. It is not a case of one new strain spreading through the country. The new vaccine may not provide protection against new outbreaks because the new outbreak will be a new mutation. For those reasons the vaccine is not recommended for widespread use.
 
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kai bengals

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Originally Posted by kitytize

My understanding is every confirmed outbreak has been a unique strain to that outbreak. It is not a case of one new strain spreading through the country. The new vaccine may not provide protection against new outbreaks because the new outbreak will be a new mutation. For those reasons the vaccine is not recommended for widespread use.
That's interesting. That's not what my Vet said. Can you provide links to documentation of this? I'd like to read that for myself.
 
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