Toxoplasmosis in a cat - diagnosis, treatment

Toxoplasmosis in a cat is an infectious disease . The primary host of toxoplasm is a cat, intermediate carriers can be more than three hundred species of mammals. According to physicians, more than 50% of the world's population is a carrier of toxoplasm, although the data varies depending on the regions. In Russia, for example, the percentage of infection is quite high (70%). The incubation period is very blurred - from a week to a month, or even two.

How do cats become infected with toxoplasmosis?

The causative agents of toxoplasmosis (parasites) are Toxoplasma gondii. They usually get into the feline's body after eating raw meat (goat, lamb, pork) and caught mice. Already in the first two weeks of the pathogen can be found in the feces of a cat.

Toxoplasma can be brought by a person and from the outside - on clothes, shoes. This means that the animal can get infected without even leaving the apartment. Between people transmission of the disease is possible only in the utero (mother-fetus).

Now - more about the life cycle and parasitic activity of toxoplasma. Having introduced into the cat's body, a part of toxoplasm is retained in the intestine and forms so-called cysts. Parasites begin to multiply inside cells. The cell, affected by Toxoplasma gondii, is dying. Cysts go outside with feces and become a source of infection already for other animals and humans.

The infection can only be prevented by cleaning the feces (immediately after defecation) and disinfection. After 3 weeks, the isolation of cysts into the external environment almost ceases. It turns out that the source of infection is an animal that has recently fallen ill.

The remaining part of toxoplasm, passing through the walls of the intestine, moves to the spleen and bone marrow (the organs of hematopoiesis). Once in the blood, the parasite spreads through the body, affecting the cells of all organs. The protective forces of the body in most cases inhibit (and sometimes block at all) the progress of toxoplasm by blood. The latter, thus trapped in the body, "wait for their time," not showing themselves in any way. That is why toxoplasmosis in a cat can not be determined, so to speak, "by sight".

Especially dangerous are toxoplasm for a fetus developing in the womb of an infected mother. The result of infection can be fetal death or miscarriage, multiple pathologies that are not amenable to treatment. If toxoplasmosis in a cat is found long before mating (that is, the cat has already had it), parasites can no longer damage the fetus, because they can not get to it through the placenta ("locked" by the body without the ability to move).

The most frequently diagnosed toxoplasmosis in cats young (up to a year) and more mature (after 7 years), as well as those that eat raw meat (mice, birds, shop meat). Less resistant and weakened animals (sick, after childbirth, after suffering injuries).

Cold or all the same toxoplasmosis?

To symptoms of toxoplasmosis can be attributed to a mild cold and a brief disruption of the gastrointestinal tract. Usually such symptoms in a day or two come to naught. The disease, rapidly passing into a latent form, is not clinically apparent (even with repeated infection), since specific antibodies have already been developed in the carrier's blood. Acute and subacute form are similar: lethargy, purulent discharge from the eyes and nose, a gastrointestinal disorder, often a rise in temperature. The respiratory system can also be affected (manifested in coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, sneezing). All these symptoms can be attributed to a viral infection, so the diagnosis is not always true.

With the defeat of the nervous system, there may be seizures, twitches and even paralysis. In this case, the death of the brain cells (both the head and spinal cord) is not ruled out, the field of which the nervous system can no longer fully work.

Toxoplasmosis in cats, treatment

Since the first days of cysts with feces are not allocated, diagnosis of the disease in these pores is almost impossible (or ineffective). The diagnosis is confirmed by serological analysis for toxoplasmosis in cats ( serum blood test). The vet may suggest taking an additional test (smear) from the nose (or pharynx).

The usual preparations of the antiparasitic properties are powerless here. Treatment is prescribed only by a veterinarian. That is why the article will not give recommendations on treatment. Your task is to follow the doctor's appointments and ensure that the sick cat is isolated from other animals and children until cysts cease to discharge into the environment.

Toxoplasmosis in a cat can be treated with difficulty, because the cells are inaccessible to drugs. Treatment is directed primarily at stopping the reproduction of Toxoplasma gondii and eliminating the symptoms of the disease. Improvements occur quite quickly (in a day, sometimes - two), but the course should be sustained to the end.