we're all sick

My 13 year old cat came down with a major respitory infection. I took her to the vet and got her started on medication. My husband got sick next and now I have it. I've always heard you can't catch anything from an animal but it sure looks like we did. She sleeps with us everynight. I had to take her back because she relapsed. Now we have dr. apts. Don't know what this is but it's tough to get rid of. Just wondering if anyone else caught anything from their cats?

Uhh, I belive there are some things you can get from animals, aka HIV!

But I'm pretty sure you can't get a URI from a cat!

Yikes! Wrong!!

O. Disease Transmission (Zoonoses).

Some diseases can be transmitted from cats to people (zoonoses). Most cannot. For example, you absolutely cannot contract AIDS from a cat with FIV or FeLV, although the diseases are related (all are retroviruses). This misconception led to the tragic deaths of hundreds of cats as panicked owners got rid of them.

Anyone with an impaired immune system is at risk of exposure to germs and other things from cats that healthy people would not contract; this is regardless of the health of the cat.

You are more likely to contract diseases from other people than your pets. Transmission of disease generally requires close contact between susceptible people and animals or their oral, nasal, ocular or digestive excretions. Use common sense and practice good hygiene to reduce your risks.

From the Cornell Book of Cats:


Here is a good site that lists what type of infections you can get from an animalZoonoses

Thanks Hissy.

For a second I was nervous.

So was I! It was rumors such as that one that led to the senseless death of hundreds of cats when HIV first became prevalent. I wanted to stop it quickly before it spread again.

Thanks I'll sure look it up. My daughter just called and said my cat's having a hard time chewing the hard food. She's chewing and then spitting it back out. I also feed her canned food. Sure hope she won't have to go back to the vet. I may have to get a night job.

lol I just wanted to make it clear, that I wasn't saying FIV and FeLV cats transmit the HIV virus to humans. I was just making an example of like the monkeys who were orginial careers of AIDS. hee hee.

I remember when Seven was sick then Abby got sick. After the virus floated around here for a few weeks it mutated into the worst sinus infection I've ever had. I was out for like 2 weeks or so with it. The vet told me I could get it if the kittens sneezed on me close to or around my face. He was right.

We probably did get it from her then because she sneezed constantly. Also sleeps with us. She slept good last night and ate almost a whole can of food. Hopefully she's on the road to recovery and we're not far behind her.