I fear for Mojo

I would consider my cat, Mojo, as part of my family.  Like I am worried about my immediate family contracting the H1N1 influenza, is it necessary that I have to worry about the flu being passed to my cat?

Initially, according to infectious disease experts, the answer was no.

Tuesday, National Public Radio reported that a 13-year-old cat caught the virus, probably from its human owners who presented flu-like symptoms.  The humans weren’t tested but the cat was, and tested positive.

Previously to this case, cats have been known to contract certain flu viruses. For example, big zoo animals in Thiland have tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus.

Should I fear the worst for Mojo? Probably if she’s exposed to my mother, who as I previously reported, tested positive for the virus.

Other species that tested positive for the swine flu virus, according to the American Veterinary Medicine Association, are pigs in Minnesota, Indiana, Alberta, swine herds in Argentina, Iceland, Singapore, Northern Ireland, Norway and Japan and turkeys in Turkeys in Canada and Chile.  They conclude to say that ferrets are particularly suseptable to the virus.

The viruses are most probably contracted from human contact.  To protect pets from the virus, it’s important to wash hands and distance animals from coughing and sneezing.

Advertisement

~ by awhite2 on November 5, 2009.