Cats are lovely pets to keep at home. It will be very happy and exciting to see your cats get happy and healthy. If you want to have some ideas of how to make your cats happy at home, you can see ways you should do to make your cat happy. Simple ways will surely make your cats feel greatly happy.
Back to chlamydia, some of you might be wondering what chlamydia is. Chlamydia is a disease caused by a bacterium called Chlamydophila felis.
This disease can lead to conjunctivitis, which is an infection and inflammation of the conjunctiva that covers the inner surface of eyelids and the white part of the eyes. For the first aid of cat’s eye infection, you can check the ways on how to treat cats eye infection.
Different with chlamydia in humans or in general, chlamydia in cats mostly attack conjunctivitis. While chlamydia in humans is mostly known as one of the sexual transmitted diseases.
Even the bacteria causing chlamydia in humans and with cats are different. In humans, chlamydia is caused by Chlamydia trachomatis. Moreover, chlamydia in cats mostly attack conjunctivitis area, while in human it attacks reproduction system.
Causes of Chlamydia in Cats
As told before, chlamydia in cats is caused by a bacterium called Chlamydophola felis. This bacteria occupy and infect the conjunctiva cells that leads to inflammation and ocular discharge.
At first it only affects one eye, but within a few days it might possibly affect both eyes. If your cats have some dirt on its eyes, you can follow these 6 simple steps to clean your cats eyes at home.
Then when the inflammation gets worse, it will include severe swelling and redness in the conjunctiva. After that, a thicker yellowish liquid will also appear. Another possible symptom is mild fever.
The transmission of this disease happens between cats. Cats in all ages are prone to this disease, but it mostly attacks young kittens at the age of 5 to 12 weeks. Cats living in a rescue center will also possibly get infected. Infection will occur once the infected cats are in contact with other cats.
This disease is serious enough if it is not treated well, but the bacterium can be killed simply by common disinfectants and it does not survive for a long time in the environment.
Signs and Symptoms of Chlamydia in Cats
There are some signs and symptoms of chlamydia in cats. Let’s see what the symptoms and signs of it:
- Inflammation of conjunctivitis – it is the inflammation of the pink line around the eyelid area and transparent covering of the eyeball.
- Reddened eyes – because of the inflammation, your cats’ eyes will turn red.
- Presence of eye discharge – your eyes start to produce watery to thick liquid. The discharge may be sticky as well after several weeks and months later. It will surely need constant and regular removal.
- Loss of appetite
- Sneezing
- The presence of cat flu
If your cat suffers from influenza, you can check whether your cats recover from flu by reading these signs of cats recovering from flu.
Treatment of Chlamydia
There are some antibiotics that can be used to cure infections caused by C felis. Antibiotics such as tetracyclines are believed to be effective for treating this chlamydia infections.
Another best antibiotics for treating chlamydia is doxycycline. However, this antibiotics is supposed to be given once daily to infected cats. Some other antibiotics are believed to be effective as well, but no antibiotics work as well as doxycycline.
Tablets are also best for treating chlamydia. For treating the eye infection, you can use eye drops or ointment to make the recovery process and comfort your cat as well.
For prevention, make sure your cat is vaccinated regularly to protect it from this chlymadia conjunctivitis. It won’t prevent the infection, but at least it will reduce the severity of the disease.
Can it be Transmitted to Humans?
Humans are possible to get infected with chlamydia felis but the risk is very low. Make sure you practice some routine hygiene precautions to reduce the risks of getting infected by the bacterium. Wash your hands after stroking or giving medication for the infected cats.
Humans can feel relieved of the low possibility of chlamydia transmission to human, but you need to be aware of your cat’s scratch. If you get cats’ scratch, you can check these treatments for cat scratch disease on human. Surprisingly, cats’ scratch can be dangerous to humans if it is not treated carefully.
Chlamydia is a serious disease for cats and humans as well, but it can be prevented and treated well if you do it in advance. Prevention is one of the keys. Make sure your cat always gets vaccinated regularly. you can check the essential vaccines for cat.