Help determine mystery disease in outside cats!?

Question

I have multiple outside cats. Recently, one came home suddenly appearing hunched over and completely lacking energy. He was a little over a year old. We believed he'd been struck by a vehicle. In a couple days he began walking properly again, but drastically lost weight, and allowing us to walk up and pet him (he was wild), then he died.

A couple weeks ago a seemingly healthy kitten (about 4 mnths old) began sleeping all day, ceased eating, dropped weight in a matter of days and then died. Now its only remaining sibling is dropping weight, hardly eating, and has allowed me to bring food right to its nose.

Our dog, who normally investigates (if not chews on) everything, wouldn't go near the corpses of the two that died.

What type of disease could my cats have? Is it possibly rabies? If so...how would this be possible to be a sudden epidemic?

To kill the topic before it begins: We cannot pay to have 8 cats diagnosed at a vets office. Not to mention, only one is tame. The others do not allow us near them.

And please, nothing about getting my pets neutered or the like. Stick to the topic.

I'm concerned about this possibly being able to be transmitted to my dog.

Answer 1

There are numerous fatal diseases that out door cats can get.
1.) feline Leukemia - fatal. Not passed to dogs. Transmitted from saliva of other inffected cats. Causes symptoms similar to a cold, lethargy, and then sudden death.
2.) Feline immunodeficiany virus (fiv) - usually fatal. Not transmitted to dogs. From bites of other infected cats. Causes flu like symptoms, lethargy, and sudden death.
3.) Rabies - fatal. can be transmitted to dogs and humans through bite wounds, and eating an infected animal. recieved by bite from infected wild or domesticated animal.
4.) Severe parasite infection - Hookworms, and other blood sucking parasite can drain a sick cats blood supply, and fast if it is bad enough. These parasites can be tramsmitted to dogs, and people.
5.) FIP - fatal. Only cats can get this. Caused by a weakened immune system due to corona virus infection. Causes flu like symptoms at first, painful abdomen, weight loss, swollen abdomen.
6.) Corona virus - mostly non fatal, but can be bad enough if not treated to kill a cat. Certain strands can be passed to dogs.
7.) Distemper (likely suspect) - usually fatal in sick cats. Only dogs can get canine distemper, not feline distemper. causes upper respiratory problems, and sudden death.

Most of these diseases can cause sudden weight loss, then death. If you cannot afford to take them to the vet, then the disease will spread from cat to cat, most likely killing them all.(unfortunatley) There is not much that you can do for them , excpet take them to the vet. However, if they do have any of the above prob, then they are usually not curable. I wouldn't expect that your dog would go near the dead cats, regardless of what it was. If you suspect rabies, then I would not touch the cats as you can get that, and that would be very terrible indeed. I would call the vet, and get the number for the county humane officer/rabies officer, and have the dead cats checked. This can only be done up to 24 hours after the cats have passed. If your other cats die, then refrigerate the body (as gross as it sounds) and call the vet for rabies testing. It sounds more like a feline leukemia, distemper, or fiv prob to me. Make sure that the cats a hydrated well, and eating. if they are not, then you may want to have them humanley euthanized, so they don't have to go through all this. I know that sounds bad, but it is the best thing you can do for them. If they are barn cats, do not put any more cats in to the barn for 6-12 months, as the viruses can live that long without a host. Then get the new ones vaccinated asap, to prevent the likely hood of this happening again. Good luck.

Answer 2

Two things come to mind immediately- one is feline infectious anemia, and the other is Feline Infectious Peritonitis.

I would suspect the FIP because of the sudden death and the fact that it spread so quickly.

There is a nasal vaccine for this disease, I don't know if it's improved but last I heard its prevention abilities were questionable.

There are two forms of FIP, a "wet" form, where fliud collects in the cat's abdomen, giving it an obvious 'pear' shape, and the 'dry' form, which usually kills before the owner even realizes the cat is sick.

Generally when a cat becomes ill with either of these diseases its immunity was already compromised in some way. Young cats are at high risk especially if they are not vaccinated, fed properly, etc., because proper immunity is
not being supported.

With rapid weight loss and sudden death I'd say FIP.

Answer 3

It could be anything. There are trillions of diseases outdoor cats can get from other cats or from wild animals through direct contact or fleas.
You might be able to take one of the corpses to the county animal control place or somewhere like that and have it necropsied to determine cause of death. I had that done on a cat once to make sure it hadn't been poisoned, because I had an outdoor cat in the same area. It cost around $30 here where I live.

Answer 4

If they are outside unvetted cats then they could be dying from feline leukemia, FIV, FIP or even getting poisoned by something or someone. Sounds like they are carrying a disease, (but the symptoms don't sound like rabies) though and if that's the case it's probably a feline disease not contagious to canines. You should check with your local HS or animal control b/c in most states it is illegal to "harbor" feral cats and supply them with food unless you at least keep them vaccinated for for rabies. THe reason you should check with them is b/c many groups are involved with programs that can help you with feral cats. It's not healthy to have them roaming the community and spreading disease. It probably wouldn't hurt to get your dog a checkup and also maybe you could afford to take one of the cats to a vet to be tested and if one carrying a disease, they probably all are. Best wishes

Answer 5

It's not rabies. I'm not sure what it actually is but one of my cats died because of something like this. She was perfectly fine until on day she was sniffing around in the yard (as usual) and that night she died.
My opinion is that it is something on the plants or in the mice. If you live by a farm or a neighbor uses plant fertilizer ask them what it is or if they have switched brands. If they have it might be getting into the food chain and affecting you cats. If another cat dies I would take your dog to the vet and/or ask the vet about the things you have seen so they can take a guess at what it is.
Good luck!

Answer 6

If you can't afford the cost of taking eight cats to the vet then YOU SHOULDN'T OWN EIGHT CATS. Please call a shelter and have all of these cats picked up and given to someone more responsible. One of the cats dies and yet you STILL have the cats out there? And one (more likely more) only a 16 week old KITTEN? And now it's dead as well?

The outdoors is NOT where cats belong. And your post proves this. It also proves that those that can't afford pets have no right having them.

Answer 7

Could you have a neighbor who is poisoning them?

There is someone who lives near us who puts antifreeze out to control the feral cat population in our area. Can't do anything about it because we can't prove it.

It could also be feline leukemia, but it sounds more like poisoning to me. Maybe rat poison? Doesn't sound like rabies, but be careful. If any of them shows aggression, call animal control.

Answer 8

What about taking the one tame cat to the vet? You'll at least get an idea of what it might be, and can then decide what to do about the others.

Answer 9

Sounds to me like they are getting into something poisonous, such as lawn or farm chemicals, eating mice that were poisoned, or someone is putting out poisoned bait for the cats.

It's not rabies.