5 cats & outbreak of kitty clahmydia, help!

Hi, I need some advice.

I've just been to the vet with my kitty Jessie, and the vet told me she has feline clahmydia. He diddn't do any tests, but he has given her the threatment. My boarders cat Skittles has the same symptoms as Jessie, and is due at the vet sometime this week, 2 of my other cats are showing signs of it, one of which is pregnant. Luckily my eldest has all her up to date vaccinations and stays away from the other kitties due to being tempermental, so she's got no signs of it, i'm assuming she's fine.

The purpose of this post, is that I'm FREAKING OUT.............. I live in a house with 3 other people, and Jessie and Skittles are indoor cats whereas the other 3 are outdoor cats. The vet told me that humans can catch kitty clahmydia! Skittles sleeps on her owners bed, and Jessie lounges on our couch. We thought it was just conjunctavitis so treated it with tea, like we were advised to do... taking all our cats to the vet can cost $100+ a time, so when you have alternatives you tend to try them. But then Skittles got ill, more so than Jessie and Jessie got worse, that's when we realised something else was going on.

I'm now freaking out, because I'm not sure whether A) us humans have this disease B) If it's just in our upper or C) god forbid, we have it down below! does anyone know how it effects humans? I know that human clahmydia can severely affect human fertility, and that would be absolutely horrible. Not to mention my younger siblings have been around our cats! God I hope they don't have it, the thought of an 8 year old, a 13, 15 and 17 year old catching clahymydia is just horrible.

We're going to clean and sterilise everything. Does anyone know how this will effect my other cat's unborn babies? Does anyone have any advice? Is it as bad as I think it is, in terms of being transmited to humans?

I know I'm ranting, I'm sorry, i'm just freaked and stressed.

ABlue

well, thats a definate trip for all to the vet asap!

oh dear oh dear, i'm so sorry i can't really help..hopefully someone will be along to do so shortly. In the mean time i'll do a bit of research about this & try get back to you!

*edit*

Quote; Can humans catch infection from cats?

Humans can be infected with Chlamydia but the bacterium that infects cats, Chlamydophila felis, is highly adapted to this species. There have been one or two reports that have suggested human conjunctivitis has occurred following contact with a cat harbouring C felis, but the risk appears to be extremely low. Routine hygiene precautions are recommended when handling and treating infected cats (washing hands after stroking or giving medications and avoiding close face-to-face contact until the infection has resolved).

You have to treat all the cats at the same time and finish the treatment even if they seem to be well. It has to be the correct antibiotica. You might need a combination of antibiotics if both eyes and lungs are effected.
This is a nasty bacteria that might come around again if the cats becomes weak for another reason - if you don't get rid of it completely. I would treat my healthy cat also if I where you. You don't have to take them all to the vet. Have him prescribe enough medication from seeing the worst ill ones.
We are now treating seven cats for chlamydia. This is the second outbrake since the cats are feral and we couldn't get to the recently trapped mothers the first time. We had an outbrake of the sneezing disease two weeks ago and the Chlamydia attacked immediatly.
For getting to humans - with five kittens to treat and two of them partly being bottle fed - I gave up being carefull very soon. I was to tired and they needed to much love and closeness.
My health is crappy from chronical bronchitis so I should be vulnerable, but after kissing and huging them for two month and having them in my bed for quite a while now I am still not infected. I have even catched my self weting my thumb in my mouth to take the dirt around their eyes away - as you might do with your own kids.
If a human catches it - it will effect you the same way as it effects the cat - in eyes and lungs, due to my doctor. It is treatable with antibiotics.
So don't freak out. Just heal your cats. If treated in an early stage, they will be okay after ten days with antibiotics.
Our kittens was almost blind and two of them had severe pneumonia when we found them. We saved their eyes and their lungs are ok now. This time we treat them in time and the prognosis is good.
Good luck.

Treat all of them. When Clio came home with us she had a "cold". Turned out to be clamydia. Her and our older cat Callie passed it back and forth for months before the vet caught on. Callie was ten at the time and was really sick and lost a lot of weight, she never fully regained her health after that. So please treat all of them and be done with it hopefully. Good luck with them.

What are the symptoms of this anyway in a cat?

Originally Posted by Bugaboo1

What are the symptoms of this anyway in a cat?

Click to expand...

conjunctivitis...flu/cold like symptoms..sneezing..discharge from nose..sometimes a fever

although some carriers don't show any symptoms at all, but there is always increased eye discharge..

If not treated it can effect the lungs and they will have a severe pneumonia. The eyes will get swollen if it isn't treated. It is very painful for the cat. after a while it will grew scar tissue on the lince it selve ant that is almost impossible to heal. I don't know, what you call the membrane that sometimes covers the eye when an cat is infected with worms, in english. Anyway - in severe cases this membrane covers the eye completely and becomes swollen and red. If not treated at all or if it is resistent to antibiotics the bacteria can spread to the nerv behind the eye and further to inner organs. If there is a risk for this the only option is to remove the eye.

I read my post and realized it sounds as if I want to scare you.
t is just that the poor feral kittens we catched two month ago had severe chlamydia and we faught day and night to save there eyes. We managed - but just thanks to a very good vet and by keeping their eyes moistered, painfree and covered with antibiotica solution around the clock.
If catched on time it is just one pill a day for ten days and then it is over.

How is it going?