{"id":1435603,"date":"2013-03-04T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging-wp-int.laboklin.com\/what-to-do-with-chronic-feline-upper-respiratory-infections-uri\/"},"modified":"2024-07-24T13:13:25","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T11:13:25","slug":"what-to-do-with-chronic-feline-upper-respiratory-infections-uri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laboklin.com\/ch-fr\/what-to-do-with-chronic-feline-upper-respiratory-infections-uri\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do with Chronic Feline Upper Respiratory Infections (URI)?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Feline Upper Respiratory Infections (URI) is a collective term for infectious diseases of the upper respiratory tract and the mucous membranes of cats. It thus is a complex of symptoms, caused by different pathogens, affecting nasal and oral cavities and the eyes. Pathogens are different viruses as well as bacteria and fungi.
\nSince most of these pathogens benefit each other and can therefore occur parallel and as the therapy against these diseases has several similarities, the collective term URI is still entitled.
\nIt should, however, always be clarified if foreign bodies (e.g. swallowed blades of grass), feline asthma or allergies as well as a tumors come into consideration.
\nTherefore feline respiratory diseases are always multifactorial events.<\/p>\n

Feline URI symptoms are complex and can therefore not be assigned to a specific pathogen. They range from a mild, only watery, nasal defluxion to terminal general diseases. It comes to sneezing and conjunctivitis, lesions in the oral cavity, fever and pneumonia.
\nOwners report on hoarseness or noises when the cat is inhaling (most likely an involvement of the upper respiratory passages) or exhaling (most likely an involvement of the lower respiratory passages).
\nOften a viral infection is the trigger of this \u201cvicious circle\u201d, causing lesions, swelling of the mucous membrane and promoting inflammatory mediators. The nasal concha surface gets affected and bacterial secondary infections are supported.<\/p>\n

For the most part there firstly are viral infections. Most common viral pathogens are, besides unspecific Adeno-, Rhino- or Pneumo viruses<\/i>, the Feline Herpes virus (FHV)<\/i><\/b> and the Feline Calici virus (FCV). <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Feline Herpes viruses (FHV)<\/i><\/b> have a low environmental stability. This means that they are solid in their genetic variation and therefore much easier to detect by molecular diagnostics (PCR) than Calici viruses<\/i>. In FHV, respiratory symptoms like sneezing and sinus infections with ocular and nasal defluxion are predominant. Conjunctivitis and corneal ulcers often occur. The cats suffer from respiratory distress\/dyspnoea and anorexia. Usually, these symptoms fade away relatively quickly.
\nHowever, the FHV infected cat remains a lifelong virus carrier and the latent infection can be reactivated under stress at any time. Complications following FHV infections are rare, although sometimes the ocular alterations are so severe that the cat may go blind. The disease can even be fatal in very young kittens due to very high fever and general weakness (Fading Kitten Syndrome).<\/p>\n

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