[NAFEX] How to get (and keep) a junk yard cat

Lucky Pittman lucky.pittman at murraystate.edu
Tue Feb 13 10:06:56 EST 2007


At 09:06 PM 2/12/2007, Joan wrote:
>If you let the animal live outside (as opposed to an indoor/outdoor 
>pet) and you have raccoons in your area, you have the prospect of 
>the cat running into a raccoon at night.  The raccoon might have cat 
>for dinner or the cat might catch racoon distemper, for which there 
>is no vaccination.
Distemper in raccoons is caused by the same virus which causes 
distemper in dogs - and cats are not susceptible to it.  Feline 
'distemper' is more closely-related to the parvovirus which infects 
dogs and raccoons - but I'm unaware that cats are susceptible to 
infection or disease due to canine/raccoon parvovirus.

If, however, you live in a part of the country where raccoons are an 
important sylvatic reservoir for rabies, then transmission of rabies 
virus to the cat is a possibility.
The primary reason - and it is quite effective - for vaccinating dogs 
and cats against rabies is to place them as a 'barrier' of sorts, 
between the human population and the wildlife rabies 
reservoir.  Protection of the individual pet is not really the goal; 
recommendations are for euthanasia, even for vaccinated pets, if they 
have an encounter with a confirmed rabid animal, though allowances 
are typically made for re-vaccination and quarantine.

>  Every animal must be neutered and have its shots and be dewormed 
> before you bring it home
>If you really want to have a cat colony, look up the TNR trap neuter 
>release programs on the web, and check out the designs for housing 
>and maintenance needs.
Agree.  If you're going to have outdoor or 'junkyard' cats, PLEASE 
have them neutered.  For more reasons than one, but certainly if you 
consider Toxoplasmosis, kittens are the principal source of 
infectious oocysts - which may cause serious infections in humans, as 
well as wildlife and livestock;  adult cats will have, in all 
likelihood, had prior exposure and immunity, and will not be shedding 
Toxoplasma oocysts in their feces.

Lucky



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