Can my indoor cat get sick from an outdoor stray cat?

Question

There are two stray cats that come around periodically. They are both clean looking and are maybe even outdoor cats someone owns. I am not sure. With the weather being nice, I have my windows open. I haven't seen either cat in awhile, but this evening when I walked into my bedroom, the stray cat was sitting on the windowsill on the outside of my bedroom window, meowing and "talking" to my cat who was sitting on the inside windowsill. Only a screen seperated the two cats. I thought it was really cute, but I shut the window right away because I was worried my cat could catch a disease. Is this true? I heard Feline Leukemia is airborn. Now I am paranoid about leaving the windows open, for fear they may get sick. Is this a valid concern or am I being overly paranoid? My cat is behind on his vaccines, but only because she has some behaviorial problems that we are working on in order to take her in. She should be good to go to the vet this Fall. Any feedback?

Answer 1

Feline Leukemia is not air born, it is transferred through bites, etc, so if you're pretty sure that there wasn't any physical contact, you are most likely okay. You may want to consider giving your cat the FL Vaccine. One of the strays we found has it, and it's a horrible disease, but the stray is able to stay with the other vaccinated cats, according to our vet.

There are other possibilities though for your cat to have gotten fleas or possibly some other type of disease that I might not know about, but unless there is physical contact, your cat did not contract FL.

If I were you and I was worried, I would take the cat to the vet. I'm a worrier, so for me, the $40 for the visit is worth the piece of mind.

Answer 2

Um I'm sure it's possible, I had lots of stray cat's that hung out around my house. I had a cat, and usually when I would open the door the strays would come in. I also brought them into my home during Hurricane Katrina. My cat never got sick. I know these strays had no owners. The mom just kept having babies like every 3 months, there was bout 20 kittens, and 4 adult cats. I bought the advantage flea stuff and put it on all of them, so when they did have to come in or just roamed in on their own, they wouldn't infest my house.


I think it's unlikely your cat will get sick from the cats outside, especially if they are not in close contact all the time.

If my cat didn't get sick from the ones around my house I doubt yours will.

Answer 3

Yes Feluke is airborne, but the cat has to sneeze onto your cat and you'd pretty well tell if the other cat has running nose and eyes. But they're finding that Leukemia is harder to pass than they thought so I wouldn't worry about infection through a window screen.

FIV is even harder to pass, and needs a bite by an infected cat into a non-infected one. And usually more than one bite to pass it, so FIV won't be a concern at all if the screen is there.

But a URI or fleas can get through the screen if the cats are nose to nose and/or the screen has holes large enough for the fleas to pass.

Still, I wouldn't stress over it, the liklihood of any of this passing during what you saw is pretty minimal.

Answer 4

Acually, Sometimes, they can get sick from a stray. You should try watching over them. They may be on to something(you know... A realationship or something) take a picture of the cat and make flyers that say" is this ur cat? call _______ to claim" or something like that.

Answer 5

Feline Leukemia is not airborne, but can be caught but touching noses. If your cat is only a few months behind on his vaccinatins, he should be alright. Good luck!

Answer 6

Anything airborne maybe, but usually as long as no fluids mix or they don't have sex, they should be ok, and as long as the other don't bite him through the screen. They like each other.

Answer 7

until eventually now turning the cats exterior, I even have some concepts/questions: a million. Are your cats spayed and neutered? sometimes they're going to "mark" over one yet another in the event that they have territory subject concerns with one yet another- regardless of in the event that they seem in any different case friendly 2. have you ever tried including multiple little bins, possibly in extra desirable than one section so they are ordinary to get to? each and each cat ought to have a minimum of on little field, 2 is counseled in line with cat 3. concentration on the place they are peeing- in many circumstances a fave "section" could be taken care of with a product like Nature's Miracle and then placed tinfoil on the section for some days; maximum cats do no longer in basic terms like the sensation on there paws 4. Cats in many circumstances pee whilst they are unhappy; is there something which would be frightening the cats, including grimy muddle, a scented muddle they do in comparison to, a canines or newborn that would desire to difficulty them? Even something like a nutrition they dislike would desire to be affecting their bathing room behavior. 5. attempt to isolate the "source" of the pee- if one cat is grimy, all of them flow grimy. attempt and locate out which cat "went undesirable" and concentration no longer on all 3 cats, however the only that each and every person started the concern 6. as quickly as a cat is going grimy, that's totally no longer ordinary to interrupt the habit, in spite of the shown fact that that's carried out. attempt shifting the muddle bins to the place the cats relish going, ever %. up some extra bins on the thrift save or dollar save and placed muddle bins anyplace they pee- get them back into the habit of utilising little, no longer the floor. 7. Use a product designed to eliminate cat urine fragrance- including bleach, Nature's Miracle products or different comparable products. basically considering the fact which you won't be able to scent it, does not propose the cats won't be able to, and it basically lead them to choose to "redo" their enterprise and get the fragrance back. attempt a number of those tips, in case you haven't any longer already, and you could desire to o.k. see a turn-around of their behavior!

Answer 8

You should be very careful and make sure those cats dont make any contact with yours. I would hurry up and get those behaviour issues taken care of.

Answer 9

You are right to be concerned. Get your cat vaccinated ASAP, behavioral problems or no.

Answer 10

get yourself a traveling vet, most will come to yur home to administer shots, and routine exams..it is very important to keep your pet immunized, because there are contagious diseases that outdoor pets can acquire...