EPIDEMIC AMONG CATS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25214, 1 May 1943, Page 2

EPIDEMIC AMONG CATS

< An epidemic sickness affecting cats has reread over a wide area in and around New Plymouth (states the Taranaki Herald), and scores of these domestic pets are said to have died within the past week or two. The sickness is said to be a form of pneumonic enteritis and unless measures are taken immediately the first symptoms arfe observed there is very little chance of the animal surviving the attack. The first indication of trouble is that the animal goes off its food and its ordinary drinks, but has an insatiable craving for water, and also seeks out cool places in which to sit or lie. Some of them have been seen to collapse and die while'in the act of drinking water. The trouble commences in the intestines and spreads through the system until it affects the heart. The beats are tremendously accelerated and are said in some instances to have been distinctly audible at a little distance away from the cat. The origin of the epidemic is at present undetermined, as it cannot be said to spring either from lack of care or over-care.