Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Infectious diseases and kitten survival in Swedish breeding cats
By Ström Holst, Bodil & Frössling, Jenny·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2009·Department of Animal Health and Antimicrobial Resistance·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: The Swedish breeding cat: population description, infectious diseases and reproductive performance evaluated by a questionnaire.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A survey of breeding catteries in Sweden found that most breeders had around six cats and some allowed their cats outside. While serious infections like feline panleukopenia and feline leukemia were rare, 8% of breeders reported having a cat die from feline infectious peritonitis. Conjunctivitis, which causes eye irritation, was noted in about a third of the catteries. The average litter size was nearly four kittens, with some stillborns and early kitten deaths, especially in older queens or larger litters. Overall, the study highlighted various health and reproductive challenges faced by breeders.
Abstract
The questionnaire based study gives a combined description of management, infectious diseases and reproductive performance in breeding catteries during 1 year. The mean number of cats per cattery was 6.1, and 25% of the breeders let some of their cats have free access to outdoors. Breeders reported that infection with feline panleukopenia virus, feline immunodeficiency virus or feline leukaemia virus was uncommon, but 8% of the breeders had sold or had themselves owned a cat that died of feline infectious peritonitis. Presence of conjunctivitis was reported by 33.3% of the breeders. Mean litter size was 3.7+/-1.5, with 9.7% stillbirths and 8.3% kitten mortality week 1-12. The percentage of stillborn kittens increased with the age of the queen and litter size, and also differed among breeds. Kitten mortality differed among breeds, but did not increase with age of the queen. Seven percent of the litters were delivered by caesarean section, significantly more during winter and positively associated with presence of stillborn kittens.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19254857/