Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Inflammatory response in 3 cats with Anaplasma infection
By Geisen, Vera et al.·Published in Tierarztliche Praxis. Ausgabe K, Kleintiere/Heimtiere·2024·LMU Small Animal Clinic, Germany·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection associated with strong inflammatory response in 3 cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Three cats in Germany were diagnosed with anaplasmosis, a tick-borne infection, after showing symptoms like fever, lack of appetite, and general weakness. One cat also had limb pain and another experienced vomiting and reluctance to move. Blood tests confirmed the infection, and all three cats had high levels of a protein indicating inflammation. They were treated with doxycycline, which led to a quick improvement in their symptoms and a return to normal blood test results after about four weeks.
People also search for: cat fever and vomiting · cat limb pain treatment · anaplasmosis in cats · doxycycline for cats · tick-borne diseases in cats
Abstract
Anaplasmosis is a vector-borne disease caused byspp. which currently is still rarely diagnosed in cats. This article describes 3 independent cases of anaplasmosis in cats from different regions of Germany presented to veterinarians in 2021. All cats showed unspecific clinical signs, such as fever, reduced general condition, and decreased appetite. One cat additionally had generalized limb pain, another showed reluctance to move as well as vomiting. On complete blood cell count, only 1 of 3 cats showed mild thrombocytopenia.was detected in blood samples of all 3 cats by polymerase chain reaction. Additionally, in 2 cats (in which blood smears were evaluated) morulae could be detected within neutrophilic granulocytes. Initially, all 3 cats had highly elevated serum amyloid A (SAA) concentrations. Treatment with doxycycline caused a rapid improvement of clinical signs, followed by a decrease of SAA concentrations to normal levels as well as negative PCR results after a treatment duration of at least 28 days. In cats with fever, otherwise unspecific clinical signs with only mild or no hematological changes, elevated SAA concentrations, and previous exposure to ticks, attending veterinarians should consider anaplasmosis as differential diagnosis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38412957/