Cat diseases, please get other names!

[taty caty]

It seems that cats diseases have some scary names that have nothing to do with its reality.

Feline Herpes Virus is just a sort of strong flu, it has nothing to do with the herpes that comes to mind.

Feline Leukaemia Virus does not cause leukaemia. as its name suggests.

The name stems from the fact that the first disease associated with the virus was a form of leukemia. By the time it was discovered that the virus was not the same as leukemia, the misnomer had already found its way into the vocabulary of pet owners.

I think vocabulary should be changed. I once read in some blog that one of the dangers of mixing with cats, is that they might infect people with leukemia virus!

This is nonsense of course, but there are people there who seem not to like cats and will misinterpret anything, and would say, see child, you should not get a cat, it will infect you with so ans so.

Just a though I felt like sharing.

 

[ritz]

Actually the problem with feline herpes is that it can become chronic; it's a manageable disease but not curable.
And actually FeLK is pretty serious; while it's not leukemia per se, it can cause other chronic conditions. It's particularly heartbreaking when kittens are definitely diagnosed with FeLK (there are false positives). I volunteer for a cat sanctuary that has a separate room for FeLK cats. The sweetest kitten of around six months old is FeLK+; you look at him, and he purrs. Yet, he has little chance of being adopted unless it is to a one-cat only person or one with another FeLK+ cat.
Both are contagious, FeLK more so than FIV.
I do agree that people should be educated once they learn that their cat may have any kind of chronic condition or disease. That includes going to TCS and well as other well-regarded web sites. (Don't believe everything you read....)

 

[catwoman707]

Definitely the herpevirus is misleading, as it has nothing to do with human herpes at all.

It acquired it's nickname because of it being ongoing for life, just as herpes is, but is no relation at all.

Once a cat/kitten has herpevirus, which is preventable through vaccines of course, (the "R" in the FVRCP Vac-Rhinotracheitis)  it is infact for life, but after it's initial outbreak of symptoms have passed-(cold/upper respiratory infection) , the receptors in the brain tell it to become stored and keeps it there, except it is triggered in times of illness or stress of any kind.

In kittens it tends to recur much easier until the kitten has a more mature immune system.