North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

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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