Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Fatal psittacosis infection in a 7-week-old kitten
By Sanderson, Hailey et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2021·University of Wyoming·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Fatalinfection in a domestic kitten.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 7-week-old kitten from a rescue center became very sick and lost weight over three weeks, showing signs of jaundice (yellowing of the skin) before sadly passing away. Despite receiving antibiotics, the kitten's condition worsened, and a postmortem examination revealed severe liver damage and pneumonia caused by a rare infection called psittacosis. This case highlights that psittacosis should be considered when a cat shows liver and lung issues. Unfortunately, the kitten did not survive despite treatment efforts.
People also search for: kitten jaundice treatment · cat pneumonia symptoms · psittacosis in cats
Abstract
has not been reported to cause disease in domestic cats, to our knowledge. In contrast,infection is common in domestic cats and typically results in conjunctivitis, upper respiratory tract infection, and less frequently pneumonia. Herein, we report the pathologic findings and diagnostic features of a fatal case of psittacosis in a 7-wk-old domestic kitten. The animal was 1 of a litter of 5 that, together with the queen, were yielded to a pet rescue center in Wyoming. Over a period of ~3 wk, the kittens and queen became sick, thin, and icteric prior to death, despite antimicrobial treatments. Postmortem evaluation of a kitten revealed necrosuppurative hepatitis with Gimenez stain-positive intracellular bacteria, nonsuppurative pneumonia, and mild leptomeningitis. The diagnosis of psittacosis was made by 16S rRNA PCR using multiple primer sets and sequencing from liver. Psittacosis should be considered a differential diagnosis in domestic cats with intracellular bacterial hepatitis and interstitial pneumonia.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33112195/