These abstracts were presented during the feline stream at College Science Week, the annual congress of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists, in July.
Feline Demographics, Lifestyle and Husbandry in Australia and New Zealand: Results of an Online Survey
Laura Johnston, Phillip McDonagh
Boehringer Ingelheim, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Email: laura.johnston@boehringer-ingelheim.com
Background: Consideration of the husbandry and lifestyle of cats is important to optimise veterinary care.
Aim: The aim of this survey was to provide up-to-date information on the husbandry, lifestyle and demographics of cats in Australia and New Zealand.
Methods: An online survey consisting of 19 questions was created using SurveyMonkey. Cat owners were invited to participate through advertisements in veterinary clinics and social media.
Results: The average number of cats in a household was two. The majority of cats lived in free-standing houses (78%) in the suburbs (66%). The majority of cats were desexed (49% female neutered; 45% male neutered). Fifty-seven percent of cats had been strays or came from an animal shelter. Forty percent of owners had intended not to let the cats outside when they first bought them. Sixty-three percent of cats were described as indoor–outdoor cats. Although owners described 34% of cats as ‘indoor only’, 64% of those cats had access to the outdoors. The majority of respondents’ cats were vaccinated annually (63%) and visited a vet at least annually (79%). The most common reasons to take a cat to the vet were for vaccinations or because the cat was unwell. The most common reasons not to regularly take the cat to the vet were that the cat was never unwell, cost or stress for the cat.
Conclusions: Cats across Australia and New Zealand have a variety of different and changing lifestyles. Therefore, careful owner questioning is required at each visit to maximise healthcare outcomes for cats.
Feline Leukaemia Virus Infection in Client-Owned Domestic Cats in Australia
Mark Westman1, Richard Malik2, Paul Sheehy1, Jacqueline Norris1
1Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
2Centre for Continuing Veterinary Education, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
Email: mark.westman@sydney.edu.au
Background: Due to a previously reported low prevalence of feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) infection in client-owned cats in Australia (<2%), many veterinarians do not pursue testing for FeLV in some clinical situations.
Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the FeLV prevalence in a group of healthy client-owned cats in Australia.
Methods: Normal healthy cats (n = 390) were recruited from around Australia as part of a case-control study into the field efficacy of the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) vaccine (Fel-O-Vax FIV; Boehringer Ingelheim). Cases were FIV-vaccinated cats (n = 119) with unknown retroviral status, while controls (n = 271) were age-, sex- and postcode-matched cats never vaccinated against FIV and with unknown retroviral status. In addition to testing for FIV infection, all cats underwent extensive testing for FeLV infection. This involved the use of three different point-of-care test kits to detect p27 core antigen as well as proviral PCR testing. Cats were classified as being (i) not exposed to FeLV or had an abortive infection (p27 antigen and PCR negative); (ii) progressively infected with FeLV (p27 antigen and PCR positive); or (iii) regressively infected with FeLV (p27 antigen negative and PCR positive). PCR amplicons were sequenced and basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) searches performed in GenBank to confirm that amplicons were genuine FeLV sequences.
Results: Of the 390 animals, one cat was progressively infected with FeLV (0.3%), 10 cats were regressively infected (3%) and 379 cats had either not been exposed to FeLV or had an abortive infection.
Conclusions: FeLV infection was rare in the cats tested. Regressive FeLV infections were 10 times more common than progressive FeLV infections. More research is required to determine the impact of regressive infections on feline health, especially the potential for lymphomagenesis. Clinicians cannot discount the possibility of FeLV infection when presented with a cat with unexplained anaemia, immunosuppression or lymphoma.
Inflammatory Myopathy and Flexural Deformity of the Distal Limbs in Cats
Leonie Thom1, Richard Malik2, Roy Poole3
1Wilston Vet, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
2Centre for Continuing Veterinary Education, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
3Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas, USA
Email: leonie_thom1@bigpond.com
Background: We report the clinical and histopathological findings for a 13-year-old Devon Rex cat suffering severe bilateral contraction of the forelimb phalanges, and compare these with the retrospective reports of 16 other cats with similar presentations.
Aim: The aim of this study was to better understand the pathomechanisms underlying this previously unreported clinical presentation.
Methods: The historical observation, clinical signs, physical findings, laboratory test results, imaging findings, treatment, outcome, post-mortem results and histopathological findings were reported for the primary case and retrospectively for 16 other cases.
Results: Breed analysis revealed 24% of cases were Devon Rex, 59% were domestic shorthair and 17% were other/unknown. Eighty-two percent were above 4 years of age. Ninety-six percent of affected limbs were forelimbs and 59% of cats had more than one limb affected. Nine cases (53%) had radiological studies performed, of which 89% showed no significant findings. Seventeen percent were treated with surgery, and 12% with corticosteroid injections. No additional gross abnormalities were found on post-mortem examination of the primary case. Histopathology of the muscles and tendons revealed focal lymphoplasmacytic myositis associated with skeletal muscle degeneration, atrophy and fibrosis.
Conclusions: A morphological diagnosis of fibrosing myofascitis of antebrachial muscles causing contracture and flexural deformity of the carpi and distal phalanges of the forelimbs was made in respect of the primary case. A literature review allows some similarities to be drawn with feline immunodeficiency virus myopathy, fibrotic myopathies in dogs and cats, and Dupuytren’s contracture in man; however, determining a definitive cause and effective treatment options requires further study.
Complex Congenital Cardiac Abnormalities in Cats
Brittainy H Stebbing, Elizabeth Bode, Geoff Culshaw, Amanda Boag, Yolanda Martinez Pereira
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Email: brittainy.stebbing@ed.ac.uk
Background: While the majority of cardiac disease is acquired, congenital cardiac abnormalities are widely recognised in companion animals, often offering the clinician a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Congenital cardiac disease in dogs is commonly encountered in general practice and is frequently corrected or alleviated successfully by recognised interventional and surgical techniques. By contrast, our knowledge of the incidence and treatment of feline congenital disease is limited.
Aim: This study reviewed the published literature on complex congenital cardiac abnormalities in cats, and retrospectively assessed the incidence of these abnormalities at the authors’ institution.
Results: Literature review determined that, over a 10 year period, 5% of cats presenting to the cardiology service at a large teaching hospital in the US (University of California, Davis) were diagnosed with congenital cardiac disease. In a European survey of 2935 kittens (2009–2012), heart murmurs were present in 4.6%, with congenital disease present in 1.6% (47/2935). The most commonly diagnosed conditions were atrioventricular valve dysplasia and ventricular septal defect; 9/47 kittens with congenital cardiac problems had combined abnormalities. An estimated 3% of feline cases assessed by the Cardiopulmonary and Internal Medicine services at the University of Edinburgh between 2008 and 2015 were diagnosed with congenital cardiac disease.
Conclusions: Generally, feline complex congenital cardiac abnormalities have been reported previously as single case reports due to their rarity. Future research is warranted, exploring presentation and the diagnostic process, including advanced imaging modes and management at referral level; the clinical significance and embryological basis of conditions; and treatment options.
Autochthonous Feline Leprosy Due to Mycobacterium Species Strain Tarwin in a Cat From the Central Coast of New South Wales
Emma Torii1, George Reppas2, Mark B Krockenberger3, Janet Fyfe4, Carolyn R O’Brien4, Richard Malik5
1PETStock VET Gosford, West Gosford, NSW, Australia
2Vetnostics, North Ryde, NSW, Australia
3Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
4Victorian Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
5Centre for Veterinary Education, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
Email: etor8298@uni.sydney.edu.au
Case summary: A 5-year-old spayed female domestic crossbred cat (4.6 kg) was presented for the sudden development of a raised hairless nodule on its right upper lip, immediately caudal to the middle row of vibrissae. A small satellite lesion was present adjacent to the primary lesion. Fine needle aspirate cytology demonstrated abundant intracellular and extracellular negatively stained bacilli associated with pyogranulomatous inflammation. Histopathology confirmed the lesion was granulomatous, with multinucleate giant cell formation and abundant intracellular acid-fast bacilli, consistent with mycobacterial aetiology. PCR testing on fresh tissue from the satellite lesion using ‘mycobacterial primers’ targeting the internal transcribed spacer region, and subsequent sequence analysis, identified the mycobacterial organism involved as Mycobacterium species strain Tarwin. The lesion was treated by marginal resection, followed by a 3.5 week course of clarithromycin (62.5 mg q12h). The lesion healed unremarkably. There was no sign of recurrence at the time of writing, some 11 months after surgery.
Relevance and novel information: To the authors’ knowledge, this is the second reported autochthonous case of feline leprosy caused by Mycobacterium species strain Tarwin in New South Wales, Australia.
