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#1
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HN15 Is in the UK now.Do we need to fear it for our cats sake's?
As everyone who watches the news knows, HN15 (Bird Flue), has reached
the UK. So far, we are being reassured that there have only been two noted cases of it. The first was a dead swan that was found to be carrying the virus, & more recently, the second case was found in a well known turkey farm, where all of the current stock is being culled. We know that HN15 is transmutable to other species, including humans. All of the staff working there have been treated with antiviral vaccine. My question is this:Is it possible for cats to catch the virus, (If anyone knows)..? And, should we fear this virus for our cats that do go outside and & hunt birds? Although both Lucy(fur!) & Ringo are fed fully @ home, I notice that both cats still hunt birds, & leave them as gifts/presents for us outside the back door. After Lucy(fur's!!) recent treatment to remove a collar that was embedded into her neck, I am loathed to fit her with another one, even to alert birds that she is around..I know that there are some available that do alert birds to the cats presence. I don't like the fact that they hunt birds, but can't find an option to stop them, without the use of a collar. If there is a risk, However remote , & do we need to be more aware- what can we do to help our own cats and feral cats too? |
#2
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HN15 Is in the UK now.Do we need to fear it for our cats sake's?
on Mon, 05 Feb 2007 23:45:49 GMT, "sheelagh"
wrote: If there is a risk, However remote , & do we need to be more aware- what can we do to help our own cats and feral cats too? Cats can definitely catch avian flu. They don't appear to be able to pass it along to humans (yet? Influenza viruses do change and evolve). Avian flu can be and has been fatal to cats. What's really scary is that they can transmit it directly to other cats. Would you consider not letting your cats outside anymore? They would certainly complain for a while, but they would adapt. I would do this and also fit all the ferals with collars that have bells. Make sure the collars have safety releases. -- Lynne |
#3
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HN15 Is in the UK now.Do we need to fear it for our cats sake's?
In article . com,
"sheelagh" wrote: As everyone who watches the news knows, HN15 (Bird Flue), has reached the UK. So far, we are being reassured that there have only been two noted cases of it. The first was a dead swan that was found to be carrying the virus, & more recently, the second case was found in a well known turkey farm, where all of the current stock is being culled. We know that HN15 is transmutable to other species, including humans. All of the staff working there have been treated with antiviral vaccine. My question is this:Is it possible for cats to catch the virus, (If anyone knows)..? And, should we fear this virus for our cats that do go outside and & hunt birds? Although both Lucy(fur!) & Ringo are fed fully @ home, I notice that both cats still hunt birds, & leave them as gifts/presents for us outside the back door. After Lucy(fur's!!) recent treatment to remove a collar that was embedded into her neck, I am loathed to fit her with another one, even to alert birds that she is around..I know that there are some available that do alert birds to the cats presence. I don't like the fact that they hunt birds, but can't find an option to stop them, without the use of a collar. If there is a risk, However remote , & do we need to be more aware- what can we do to help our own cats and feral cats too? That's H5N1, or HPAI for "highly pathogenic avian influenza". If you Google "cats & h5n1", you will find that practically *all* studies associating pet cats and dogs with transmitting the flu to humans have been debunked, although the suspicion remains (not unlike the reasonless, superstitious fear, loathing and ultimate eradication of cats just prior to the disastrous bubonic plague outbreaks in Europe, while it was *rats* who carried and spread the disease). If any mammal is likely to spread the virus to humans, it is likely to once again be rodents or swine; they possess the animal kingdom's most common close approximation of human physiology. According to the latest WHO studies I could find (dated 2/28/2006): " There is no present evidence that domestic cats play a role in the transmission cycle of H5N1 viruses. To date, no human case has been linked to exposure to a diseased cat. No outbreaks in domestic cats have been reported. " Although cats can catch the virus, almost all confirmed feline cases were caused by the cats eating the raw carcass of infected birds. The study noted that some cat-to-cat transmission occurred among tigers who were fed infected birds. http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_02_28a/en/index.html |
#4
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HN15 Is in the UK now.Do we need to fear it for our cats sake's?
On 6 Feb, 01:16, Lynne wrote:
on Mon, 05 Feb 2007 23:45:49 GMT, "Sheelagh" wrote: If there is a risk, However remote , & do we need to be more aware- what can we do to help our own cats and feral cats too? Cats can definitely catch avian flu. They don't appear to be able to pass it along to humans (yet? Influenza viruses do change and evolve). Avian flu can be and has been fatal to cats. What's really scary is that they can transmit it directly to other cats. Would you consider not letting your cats outside anymore? They would certainly complain for a while, but they would adapt. I would do this and also fit all the ferals with collars that have bells. Make sure the collars have safety releases. -- Lynne I have already answered this post once, but for some reason it hasn't come up on screen...So here goes again.! I had been off line for some time, so didn't read your posts until after I had fed the community cats this morning. I will be keeping our cats in for the foreseeable future, or at least until we get the all clear. Your right, both Ringo & Lucy(fur!!) have got the hump with me, but as I have explained to them in intricate detail, it is better to be confined to barracks than it is to get very ill, then die.. unfortunately, they don't seem to agree with me.. I thought that the best happy medium that we could find, would be to allow them out in the cat runs, but not loose to bring gifts home. They are still pretty sulky, but that doesn't matter...she who must be obeyed, has spoken!! I just dragged Paul out to the local pet store, to help me in the haggling process regarding the tinker bell cat collars. Paul went to school with him, so I thought that if I took him, we might get a bit of discount in aid of a god cause...it worked too, Hooray! I wish I could get a bell collar for all of the visitors, but realistically, that would be impossible, so I settled for 15. That would cover all of the cats that visit, plus a couple spare in case of new ones. OT:Interestingly, we have had a new near- kitten visiting for a couple of days now. I am wondering if she might be one of Lucy(fur's"")?She looks just like her! We are going to start collaring the cats this evening. Most of them won't mind at all, but about 4 of them are not going to even entertain the thought- So I am dreading doing them. If anyone has any good idea's on how I might entice them into allowing me to pick them up & bring them indoors, so that we can get the welding gloves out again & Not be scratched silly. ANY Idea's would be gratefully received on this one! I thought that it might be transmutable to cats..It is very scary indeed. I wonder how I could let people know that their cats are @ danger of catching it, without either looking a total crack pot, or scaremongering? I did think about going to see the local vet & asking her if she supported the theory of putting a notice in her own window, to encourage people to buy tinker bells for their cats to a give them a fighting chance of not catching birds & the avian flu too. Do you feel that would be effective enough to warrant asking people to? (I have noticed that whenever I walk my other cats, they are never interested in dead birds, only live flying ones. Is there a reason for this at all?) Not everyone is like me & would keep their cats in, so it seems the very least that they can do for their furry best friends doesn't it ...? I feel ever so embarrassed asking this question... (but I would rather embarrass myself than remain ignorant!) When people tell me to Google something, are you saying, Ask google & do a search on the subject? Thanks for the info from both of you too. S;o) |
#5
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HN15 Is in the UK now.Do we need to fear it for our cats sake's?
On 6 Feb, 01:28, wrote:
In article . com, "Sheelagh" wrote: As everyone who watches the news knows, HN15 (Bird Flue), has reached the UK. So far, we are being reassured that there have only been two noted cases of it. The first was a dead swan that was found to be carrying the virus, & more recently, the second case was found in a well known turkey farm, where all of the current stock is being culled. We know that HN15 is transmutable to other species, including humans. All of the staff working there have been treated with antiviral vaccine. My question is this:Is it possible for cats to catch the virus, (If anyone knows)..? And, should we fear this virus for our cats that do go outside and & hunt birds? Although both Lucy(fur!) & Ringo are fed fully @ home, I notice that both cats still hunt birds, & leave them as gifts/presents for us outside the back door. After Lucy(fur's!!) recent treatment to remove a collar that was embedded into her neck, I am loathed to fit her with another one, even to alert birds that she is around..I know that there are some available that do alert birds to the cats presence. I don't like the fact that they hunt birds, but can't find an option to stop them, without the use of a collar. If there is a risk, However remote , & do we need to be more aware- what can we do to help our own cats and feral cats too? That's H5N1, or HPAI for "highly pathogenic avian influenza". If you Google "cats & h5n1", you will find that practically *all* studies associating pet cats and dogs with transmitting the flu to humans have been debunked, although the suspicion remains (not unlike the reasonless, superstitious fear, loathing and ultimate eradication of cats just prior to the disastrous bubonic plague outbreaks in Europe, while it was *rats* who carried and spread the disease). If any mammal is likely to spread the virus to humans, it is likely to once again be rodents or swine; they possess the animal kingdom's most common close approximation of human physiology. According to the latest WHO studies I could find (dated 2/28/2006): " There is no present evidence that domestic cats play a role in the transmission cycle of H5N1 viruses. To date, no human case has been linked to exposure to a diseased cat. No outbreaks in domestic cats have been reported. " Although cats can catch the virus, almost all confirmed feline cases were caused by the cats eating the raw carcass of infected birds. The study noted that some cat-to-cat transmission occurred among tigers who were fed infected birds. http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_02_28a/en/index.html- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Brilliant information & thank you very much for the link. It was really interesting to read too. I thought that I might print it out & take it with me to show Lola, our vet. I think that it might swing her into putting it into her window advertising the fact that it is transmutable and evolving all the time. It also might induce a few more people into injecting their cats for common cat flue as well. When talking to her socially the other day, she was telling me that less than 38 % of her feline customer's, choose to inject their cats against anything @ all!! I found that statement shocking, but as she told me, "what can you do to make people understand the reality of what some of these diseases do to their cats, other than give them leaflets to read regarding them , having refused the injections"? Shocking really. I thought it might be a financial thing, but she tells me it is not the case at all, it is more people simply don't believe that they will ever be affected. Increible really isn't it? S;o) |
#6
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HN15 Is in the UK now.Do we need to fear it for our cats sake's?
In article . com,
"sheelagh" wrote: When people tell me to Google something, are you saying, Ask google & do a search on the subject? Yes. The word "Google" has become a legitimate verb meaning exactly that. Generally, such advice is accompanied by a search term written in quotations (as I suggested "h5n1". When typing the suggested search term into Google, omit the quotation marks. I'm glad you found the information useful. |
#7
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HN15 Is in the UK now.Do we need to fear it for our cats sake's?
On 7 Feb, 10:01, wrote:
In article . com, "sheelagh" wrote: When people tell me to Google something, are you saying, Ask google & do a search on the subject? Yes. The word "Google" has become a legitimate verb meaning exactly that. Generally, such advice is accompanied by a search term written in quotations (as I suggested "h5n1". When typing the suggested search term into Google, omit the quotation marks. I'm glad you found the information useful. I did.Thank you very much indeed, also for this post too! S;o) |
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