When Ted Nugent sang “It’s nothin dangerous I feel no pain ” in his song Cat Scratch Fever, he never knew how wrong he was. The fact is that we are now able to diagnose Feline Bartonellosis (Cat Scratch Disease or CSD) much more readily now and treat it more aggressively as well. As a veterinarian, I am seeing more and more apparently healthy cats test Positive for Bartonella than ever before. Part of it is due to the fact that we are routinely testing more cats, but also because the source of the disease, the common flea, often goes untreated in cats. In fact the best prevention for Bartonellosis is the use of effective and consistent flea control products recommended by your veterinarian. But, the problem doesn’t end there. Because Feline Bartonellosis is a Zoonotic disease ( transmissible from animals to man and vice verse), its diagnosis is even more important.
In cats, the symptoms of Feline Bartonella are numerous and varied, ranging from stomatitis ( oral or gum inflammation ) to chronic respiratory signs ( chronic nasal discharge and conjunctivitis ). In people, the symptoms can be even more varied, from skin lesions that take a long time to heal to swollen lymph nodes. Even signs of brain disease, eye diseases, or flu like symptoms are commonly associated with Feline Bartonellosis ( CSD ). The difficulty in diagnosing the disease in people, however, is not the lack of sensitive and specific tests, but the lack of physicians who consider it as a differential diagnosis. I will discuss an actual case in next week’s blog that will “bloggle the mind”. Meanwhile, if you would like to learn more about Bartonella and CSD, go to www.natvetlab.com where you will find numerous articles and reference sources that will provide you with resources to expand your knowledge.

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