Breed & General Cat Health Issues to be Aware Of
Breed Issues
Generally speaking, the Lykoi are a healthy breed of cat. Due to its diverse genetics, the Lykoi tend to avoid the issues noted in other breeds such as HCM and kidney/liver disease. However, the Lykoi have two specific issues a potential buyer should be made aware of: Skin issues and teeth issues.
Skin
There was a study commissioned in regard to this breed that noted the original lines of Lykoi had significantly less pores in their skin than the average cat. This resulted in some cats developing a lot of cysts and blackheads as they matured. This issue still exists within the breed however not to the degree we saw in some of the original lines. We are working diligently at creating cats with good skin for their lifetime-- this means we may be sacrificing the perfect mask/bare feet in order to have healthier skin. We are willing to make this sacrifice here in order to have a healthier breed in the long run.
Teeth
This is an issue that is typically rare in the breed, but owners and fanciers should be aware of. It appears that the Lykoi may be more proneto stomatitis than the average cat. Stomatitis is when the immune system attacks your cat's gums and often the only treatment that works is removing the teeth. Cats can and do live long, happy, healthy lives without their teeth and this issue seems to be a rarity.
Cat Issues
While the Lykoi breed is healthy as a whole, they still have the same issues all cat breeds face-- upper respiratories, sensitive stomach, and FIP. We are not vets at Nevada Lykoi nor do we pretend to be veterinarians-- the following is for information purposes only.
Upper Respiratories
Cats, like people, are exposed to a myriad of germs and viruses at birth and as they grow. Even when a breeder practices very strict vaccine protocols, as we have all learned recently within the past few years-- vaccines are never 110% effective. However, even if a vaccine isn't completely effective against upper respiratories-- it does help mitigate the response and therefore it is extremely important to keep up on your cat's vaccines throughout the year.
Here are Werecats, we actively strive to ensure our kittens are fully vaccinated and are not exposed to any viruses before going home. We have a very strict vaccine protocol, but as stated above-- vaccines are never 110%. If you are facing an upper respiratory that is persistent and will not respond to Clavamox, we highly recommend an upper respiratory PCR.
Here are a list of a few common upper respiratories:
Herpes Virus
Feline herpes is not an STI-- instead it exhibits as an upper respiratory infection. Cats with an active herpes infection will often have ocular (eye) issues as well as upper respiratory infections. Herpes is a viral infection and while there are antivirals that will help your cat, unless the infection is severe, most vets will only prescribe antibiotics to ensure there are no secondary infections. Ensuring your cat has all of its vaccines and a healthy immune system is the best way to prevent/fight feline herpes.
Calici Virus
This is another upper respiratory, but it has a giveaway-- when a cat is first exposed to calici, it may start limping and it may develop ulcers in its mouth. Your vet will probably prescribe antibiotics to treat this condition. Most cats fully recover without any lingering issues. A strong immune system and appropriate vaccines are your best defense here as well.
Bordetella Virus
Bordetella (also known as kennel cough to dog owners) exhibits as an upper respiratory that may also produce a hacking cough. Some resesarch states that it can be passed between canines to felines. Antibiotics are necessary to treat bordetella successfully.
Sensitive Stomachs aka Diarrhea Issues
Before your kitten leaves our cattery, we proactively treat them for coccidia/giardia-- just like you would expect a puppy to be dewormed by its breeder. Because coccidia/giardia are the most common parasites out there, we choose to treat all kittens before they head home. We also ask our owners to deworm their kittens a second time at the vet. If we learn that the cattery has been exposed to any other parasite, we treat the entire cattery asap as a precaution. We do not, however, routinely treat against parasites except the two aforementioned ones.
Again, please note-- we are not veterinarians. This is information we have learned throughout the years of working with cats, owners and fellow breeders. It is debatable as to whether this is a breed trait or related to certain lines, but the Lykoi can have sensitive stomachs. However before diagnosing your cat with sensitive stomach, consider a fecal PCR if diarrhea does not resolve with metronidazole. We always recommend a course of metronidazole for any diarrhea issues-- as it soothes the stomach as well as kills parasites.
Coccidia
Coccidia is typically easy to spot in the litterbox-- a kitten or cat exposed to coccidia will often have very yellow diarrhea. Treatment for Coccidia is Albon or Toltrazuril. Most vets will prescribe Albon.
Giardia
Giardia is one of the most common causes of cat diarrhea-- and yet, it's also one of the most common causes that can fly under the radar. Giardia is not always successfully found via fecal examination and yet it has a high prevalence in catteries and pet households. It can easily be tracked into the house and this is why we proactively treat kittens for Giardia before sending them home.
However, if your kitten or cat is experiencing diarrhea, we recommend treating for giardia even without a positive fecal test. Treatment is either metronidazole or secnidazole. Most vets will prescribe metronidazole, but secnidazole (which needs to be compounded) is better at treating and killing off giardia.
Tritrich
Tritrich is one of the most insidious and obnoxious causes of diarrhea that felines face. Why? Because it's estimated that even with a feline diarrhe PCR-- only 30% of positive tritrich cases will be caught. Cats can have tritrich and have no symptoms. Cats can have tritrich and have the worst diarrhea you've ever seen. Most cats will actually 'grow out' of the disease by their second year of life-- but no one wants to deal with diarrhea for two years!
Treatment for tritrich is ronidazole for two weeks-- you will want to have this compounded and ensure you are dosing it exactly for your kitten/cat's weight.
FIP-- Feline Infectious Peritonitis
The good news-- we have an effective treatment for FIP in 2023! The bad news? There is no way to 100% prevent your cat from developing FIP.
FIP-- in a nutshell-- is a mutation of a common cat cold virus (the coronavirus-- no, not that corona. It is feline specific and is not new to feline medicine.) Typically, this cold runs its course and doesn't cause any true trouble, but on rare occasion-- corona mutates into FIP-- feline infectious peritonitis. Unlike the name suggests, it actually is not infectious-- and if one of your cats develops FIP, your other cats probably will not. Up until the past 5 years, FIP was a death sentence-- but now there are antiviral drugs with a 90% success rate at first attempt and almost a complete success rate if you need to repeat the course of medication.
We would love to say we've never seen a case of FIP at Werecats, but unfortunately, that is not the case. We have seen nothing but success with treatment, however, and work diligently to ensure our lines are healthy, happy and have strong enough immune systems to hopefully avoid an FIP diagnosis. We do not guarantee against FIP as there is no way to predict it or prevent it-- we do guarantee that we will replace any baby lost to this horrible disease, however, within the first year of life. If/when we can trace FIP to a certain line or cat, we also guarantee we will fix that cat and no longer produce kittens from him/her.
Symptoms for FIP vary-- dry FIP exhibits with diarrhea, ocular changes, lack of appetite, and dull/dry coat. Wet FIP presents as a bloated abdomen with yellow viscous liquid upon examination.
Treatment for FIP now runs from $800-$1200 over the course of 84 days. Either via shots or tablets, owners treat their cat daily and will see almost a complete turnaround in 2 weeks time. Completion of the treatment is necessary to prevent relapse.
Generally speaking, the Lykoi are a healthy breed of cat. Due to its diverse genetics, the Lykoi tend to avoid the issues noted in other breeds such as HCM and kidney/liver disease. However, the Lykoi have two specific issues a potential buyer should be made aware of: Skin issues and teeth issues.
Skin
There was a study commissioned in regard to this breed that noted the original lines of Lykoi had significantly less pores in their skin than the average cat. This resulted in some cats developing a lot of cysts and blackheads as they matured. This issue still exists within the breed however not to the degree we saw in some of the original lines. We are working diligently at creating cats with good skin for their lifetime-- this means we may be sacrificing the perfect mask/bare feet in order to have healthier skin. We are willing to make this sacrifice here in order to have a healthier breed in the long run.
Teeth
This is an issue that is typically rare in the breed, but owners and fanciers should be aware of. It appears that the Lykoi may be more proneto stomatitis than the average cat. Stomatitis is when the immune system attacks your cat's gums and often the only treatment that works is removing the teeth. Cats can and do live long, happy, healthy lives without their teeth and this issue seems to be a rarity.
Cat Issues
While the Lykoi breed is healthy as a whole, they still have the same issues all cat breeds face-- upper respiratories, sensitive stomach, and FIP. We are not vets at Nevada Lykoi nor do we pretend to be veterinarians-- the following is for information purposes only.
Upper Respiratories
Cats, like people, are exposed to a myriad of germs and viruses at birth and as they grow. Even when a breeder practices very strict vaccine protocols, as we have all learned recently within the past few years-- vaccines are never 110% effective. However, even if a vaccine isn't completely effective against upper respiratories-- it does help mitigate the response and therefore it is extremely important to keep up on your cat's vaccines throughout the year.
Here are Werecats, we actively strive to ensure our kittens are fully vaccinated and are not exposed to any viruses before going home. We have a very strict vaccine protocol, but as stated above-- vaccines are never 110%. If you are facing an upper respiratory that is persistent and will not respond to Clavamox, we highly recommend an upper respiratory PCR.
Here are a list of a few common upper respiratories:
Herpes Virus
Feline herpes is not an STI-- instead it exhibits as an upper respiratory infection. Cats with an active herpes infection will often have ocular (eye) issues as well as upper respiratory infections. Herpes is a viral infection and while there are antivirals that will help your cat, unless the infection is severe, most vets will only prescribe antibiotics to ensure there are no secondary infections. Ensuring your cat has all of its vaccines and a healthy immune system is the best way to prevent/fight feline herpes.
Calici Virus
This is another upper respiratory, but it has a giveaway-- when a cat is first exposed to calici, it may start limping and it may develop ulcers in its mouth. Your vet will probably prescribe antibiotics to treat this condition. Most cats fully recover without any lingering issues. A strong immune system and appropriate vaccines are your best defense here as well.
Bordetella Virus
Bordetella (also known as kennel cough to dog owners) exhibits as an upper respiratory that may also produce a hacking cough. Some resesarch states that it can be passed between canines to felines. Antibiotics are necessary to treat bordetella successfully.
Sensitive Stomachs aka Diarrhea Issues
Before your kitten leaves our cattery, we proactively treat them for coccidia/giardia-- just like you would expect a puppy to be dewormed by its breeder. Because coccidia/giardia are the most common parasites out there, we choose to treat all kittens before they head home. We also ask our owners to deworm their kittens a second time at the vet. If we learn that the cattery has been exposed to any other parasite, we treat the entire cattery asap as a precaution. We do not, however, routinely treat against parasites except the two aforementioned ones.
Again, please note-- we are not veterinarians. This is information we have learned throughout the years of working with cats, owners and fellow breeders. It is debatable as to whether this is a breed trait or related to certain lines, but the Lykoi can have sensitive stomachs. However before diagnosing your cat with sensitive stomach, consider a fecal PCR if diarrhea does not resolve with metronidazole. We always recommend a course of metronidazole for any diarrhea issues-- as it soothes the stomach as well as kills parasites.
Coccidia
Coccidia is typically easy to spot in the litterbox-- a kitten or cat exposed to coccidia will often have very yellow diarrhea. Treatment for Coccidia is Albon or Toltrazuril. Most vets will prescribe Albon.
Giardia
Giardia is one of the most common causes of cat diarrhea-- and yet, it's also one of the most common causes that can fly under the radar. Giardia is not always successfully found via fecal examination and yet it has a high prevalence in catteries and pet households. It can easily be tracked into the house and this is why we proactively treat kittens for Giardia before sending them home.
However, if your kitten or cat is experiencing diarrhea, we recommend treating for giardia even without a positive fecal test. Treatment is either metronidazole or secnidazole. Most vets will prescribe metronidazole, but secnidazole (which needs to be compounded) is better at treating and killing off giardia.
Tritrich
Tritrich is one of the most insidious and obnoxious causes of diarrhea that felines face. Why? Because it's estimated that even with a feline diarrhe PCR-- only 30% of positive tritrich cases will be caught. Cats can have tritrich and have no symptoms. Cats can have tritrich and have the worst diarrhea you've ever seen. Most cats will actually 'grow out' of the disease by their second year of life-- but no one wants to deal with diarrhea for two years!
Treatment for tritrich is ronidazole for two weeks-- you will want to have this compounded and ensure you are dosing it exactly for your kitten/cat's weight.
FIP-- Feline Infectious Peritonitis
The good news-- we have an effective treatment for FIP in 2023! The bad news? There is no way to 100% prevent your cat from developing FIP.
FIP-- in a nutshell-- is a mutation of a common cat cold virus (the coronavirus-- no, not that corona. It is feline specific and is not new to feline medicine.) Typically, this cold runs its course and doesn't cause any true trouble, but on rare occasion-- corona mutates into FIP-- feline infectious peritonitis. Unlike the name suggests, it actually is not infectious-- and if one of your cats develops FIP, your other cats probably will not. Up until the past 5 years, FIP was a death sentence-- but now there are antiviral drugs with a 90% success rate at first attempt and almost a complete success rate if you need to repeat the course of medication.
We would love to say we've never seen a case of FIP at Werecats, but unfortunately, that is not the case. We have seen nothing but success with treatment, however, and work diligently to ensure our lines are healthy, happy and have strong enough immune systems to hopefully avoid an FIP diagnosis. We do not guarantee against FIP as there is no way to predict it or prevent it-- we do guarantee that we will replace any baby lost to this horrible disease, however, within the first year of life. If/when we can trace FIP to a certain line or cat, we also guarantee we will fix that cat and no longer produce kittens from him/her.
Symptoms for FIP vary-- dry FIP exhibits with diarrhea, ocular changes, lack of appetite, and dull/dry coat. Wet FIP presents as a bloated abdomen with yellow viscous liquid upon examination.
Treatment for FIP now runs from $800-$1200 over the course of 84 days. Either via shots or tablets, owners treat their cat daily and will see almost a complete turnaround in 2 weeks time. Completion of the treatment is necessary to prevent relapse.
