Todays challenges in Feline Breeding

Transcription

1 When you are a scientific communication officer, one day or another, you will have to do lectures. I am not complaining here since, in my current position, this is something I really enjoy! It gives me the opportunity to connect with our clients and discuss their questions and concerns. No better way to stay in touch with the field! When you lecture so often, you tend to become perfectionist. I now focus on many little details I really did not care about when I first started. In 2015, one I will particularly pay attention to: providing our attendees with written notes. It makes total sense: our lectures usually contain lots of information and, as shown by several studies on human cognitive psychology, we only retain 10% of the content that was presented. In the past I was sharing a copy of my slides but more and more, these only display pictures: no text, so hard to remember what the message was, especially when you review the slides few days or weeks after the event took place. All my new presentations will now come with lecture notes in an e-book format. Here is the one from the talk I did in 2015: Todays challenges in Feline Breeding As much as I like lecturing, I like writing even more. I hope this document will be helpful for you guys, and if you have any comment/idea on how to make the content part of our seminars even better, don t hesitate to let me know, I m always open to constructive suggestions! You ll find my contact info at the end of this e-book! Good reading then!

2 This e-book focuses on today s challenges in feline breeding. But are there really? If you are involved in cat breeding for a while, I am pretty sure this is a discussion you might have had at least once. If not on a regular basis. People not involved in this activity have usually difficulties understanding how there can even be associated challenges when you breed cats, one of our planet s most prolific species. I found myself one of them. I grew up on a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. My grandmother was a cat lover so during my childhood I was literally surrounded by many of them. Try to picture my situation for a second : the 80 s, a tropical scenery Pet medicalization? Nearly inexistent. Feline contraception? Definitely far away from anybody s concerns Let s go back to the tropical thing : few variations in the length of days throughout the year. Which means cats cycle all year long Most of them living outdoor The main problem we were facing was definitely feline overpopulation. Let me tell you that at this time, even in my wildest dreams, I never thought that breeding them would require any kind of veterinary assistance. I had so much to learn still

3 Obviously, after spending my childhood with all those pets around, I wanted to become a veterinarian. So I left my island and moved to continental France. I ll skip the details but as you can see I succeeded. When I finished my studies I just wanted one thing : go to private practice. And you know, sometimes life takes unexpected turns. I went to complete my last year at the veterinary school of Alfort (Paris). I wanted to learn a bit more about canine reproduction before going to private practice. I wasn t expecting what happened next. I really fell in love for the discipline. I was so fascinated that I spent the next 7 years within these walls, learning about all the different aspects of canine reproduction. Yep, you heard me right. It was essentially canine. At least at the beginning! Things changed when we got involved in a continuing education program for cat breeders. It gave us the opportunity to meet a lot of feline breeders. To discuss with them about their passion for cats. To learn the difficulties they were experiencing. And to start thinking on what we could do to help them face those challenges. Things really changed. When I started we were receiving maybe one call every other week related to feline reproduction. When I left, it was moreless on a daily basis.

4 I learnt that feline breeding was not as easy as I pictured it during my childhood. And I can tell that I admire how passionate you guys are. Because I learnt that you in fact face several challenges. In my field, the 3 most common I see are the following : Infertility Neonatal mortality Weaning diarrhea We could definitely add other stuff like upper respiratory disorders, skin issues (with ringworm), etc. But this e-book will never come to an end then! So let s focus today on the 3 aforementioned disorders. I can already tell you : these are not hopeless. Let s focus then on what I think you guys need to know to prevent these problems inside your cattery. Here are 10 tips that I hope will definitely help you in your structures.

5 A few years ago, one of the breeders I met during one of the training sessions I mentioned contacted me. He was having fertility issues with one of his queen (obviously the one he had the greatest hopes for his genetic selection program). He tried several males. But none of them was able to get his girl pregnant. So when he contacted me, I could feel how desperate he was. He was wondering if we had any high-tech approach to this kind of problem. Sure we have, I told him. But let me ask you one question first. Any idea which question I asked to this breeder? I just asked him if he had observed the breedings. He stopped talking for a while, I guess he was wondering if I was joking or not, but I insisted. Turned out he had never taken a look. He was assuming his presence was not necessary. It turned out that in this case, the problem was that the queen was not allowing the males to breed her. As soon as they were getting too close, she was rolling on her back and that was the end of it. This is an important question : the 1 st cause of infertility in felines is indeed related to absence of / insufficient amount of breedings.

6 Many people wonder how this can even be possible. Let s face it : putting a female in season and a male together is no guarantee that breeding will occur. Even in the feline species. There are several reasons that could explain absence of mating : - Inability of the male to breed : dental diseases can prevent the neck bite the male does to immobilize the female during breeding ; hair mats around the penis can make erection painful ; back pain can prevent the male from breeding - Aggressive behaviour of one of the partners ; - Preferences (there are indeed) ; - Poor libido ; - Something I call the old couple syndrome : a tomcat and a queen that were raised together since kittenhood and simply have no interest in each other ; - Whatever the reason, there is today no doubt that absence of breeding is the number one cause of infertility in felines.

7 Fertility is always a complex equation that integrates male and female factors. Both sides always have to be considered to try to solve the problem. Knowing the number one cause of infertility, you better understand now my first tip : OBSERVE. It is simple, it may seem trivial, but believe me this will make a huge difference when it comes to deciding what is the right approach in an infertility case. So observe what is happening during the breeding. Some cats will be ok if you are around. Some obviously will not. You know your cats, you know how they will react. And good news : in today s world, it is no big deal to observe without being seen. Webcams of all kind exist and you can use one of them to watch what is happening in the breeding room while quietly sitting in your kitchen, sipping a cup of coffee. You need to observe, ok, get it. But you also need to observe the right things.

8 Breeding in cats come with a succession of specific behaviours : very loud meowing of the female as the male copulates and ejaculates / aggressive reaction towards the male after ejaculation / frenetic rolling & licking [ More about this in our short webcast here ] The succession of those signs is called the post-coital reaction. You might not see all of them, all the time. But most of them will be present at each breeding. And this will confirm you that it did occur. But that s not all, you need to observe something more.

9 Queens are induced ovulators, which means that ovulation is triggered by copulation. Let s focus on the underlying hormonal mechanism. When the male breeds the female, it stimulates some receptors in the vagina that will trigger the release of a hormone in the brain of the queen. This hormone is called LH (which stands for Luteinizing Hormone). Each copulation lead to the release of a certain amount of LH in the bloodstream. However, a certain threshold needs to be reached to definitely trigger ovulation. And here is an important fact to know : One breeding leads to ovulation in only 50% of the cases. At least 3 breedings are required to induce ovulation in the queen. To tell you the truth it is usually no big deal. Some males will indeed breed the queen 10 times per day during 5 days. But again, because of preferences, poor libido, etc. this might not always happen which can lead in certain cases to fertility troubles. So observe to confirm the breeding, but you also need to confirm the number of breedings as well. FYI : The typical breeding schedule we recommend : - 3 days in a row - starting 3 days after beginning of the season of the queen (because this is when the ovarian follicules are at their best).

10 Confirming that breeding did not occur is a mandatory first step, but it is in my opinion not enough when dealing with a valuable breeding queen that suffered from infertility. I do believe it is important then to confirm a few things with your veterinarian.

11 First : confirm that ovulation indeed occurred. Because if there was no ovulation, no need to look further : if the oocytes were not released by the ovaries, they could never have met the male s spermatozoa. And therefore no doubt the queen isn t pregnant. That is something very simple to achieve, just drawing blood from your breeding animal to assay the main hormone of gestation : progesterone. Indeed, if ovulation occurred, progesterone is secreted in high amounts by the ovaries (via the corpora lutea). A week after the breeding, progesterone concentration should be elevated. If not, problem solved then. The second thing I will recommend you to do is an early pregnancy diagnosis by ultrasounds. This can be done as early as 3 weeks post breeding. [ More info in our webcast here ] What you want to see: healthy embryos implanted in the uterus. What you do not want to see : embryonic resorptions. Embryonic resorptions are embryos that started to develop, but for some reason, their development stopped. There are multiple reasons leading to embryonic resorptions, you will find a good summary here Seeing them however tells you one thing : a pregnancy started but something prevented it to reach its end. The goal now would be to try to identify what this thing is.

12 Worst-case scenario : your queen did ovulate, but is not pregnant. If you consider her a valuable breeding individual, which could be an interesting addition to your genetic selection program, then it is important to investigate a bit further. On the contrary to what one might think, finding out can be helpful. Many of the causes can indeed be medically treated. And therefore maintain the fertility potential of the considered animal. Here are the most important steps to take in my opinion on this type of case : - Screen for infectious diseases : in catteries, this is ALWAYS a must-do. The queen should be tested for one agent in particular :FeLV (aka Feline Leukemia). I know, you usually test your animals for this disease before they enter your cattery (and that definitely something you should keep be doing!). However, FeLV is THE disease you want to rule out each time you deal with fertility issues : do not hesitate to re-test then. Better safe than sorry here. - Ask for an ultrasound of the genital tract : uterine diseases are considered the 2 nd most common cause of infertility in the queen. Uterine diseases do not necessarily mean pyometra (=pus in the uterus) which usually comes with clinical symptoms. It could also be something we call cystic endometrial hyperplasia (=small cysts in the uterus preventing implantation of the embryos) or mucometra (=sterile liquid in the uterus). Both these disorders are totally asymptomatic. Good news however : some of them can be medically treated. And fertility restored afterwards. - Assay progesterone again : at the time of pregnancy diagnosis, if the queen is infertile, always assay progesterone. If ovulation had occurred and was previously confirmed, progesterone should still be high. If this is not the case, we could suspect something we call luteal failure. It

13 means that the corpora lutea are not able to produce progesterone properly throughout pregnancy. Rule of thumb in feline reproduction : no progesterone, no gestation This condition is not common in cats. But as breeders, you know that you are predisposed to see uncommon things, right? It is not common but it has been described, and a recent report hypothesized that it could be more common in Maine Coons. If this is identified, it can be medically cured. [ For more information on infertility in felines and what can be done, watch this webinar we did on the topic : ] Let s now move to the second challenge on my list : neonatal mortality. Kittens are the result of your genetic selection program and therefore hold an important value. They are also unfortunately the most fragile individuals in your cattery. There are two distinct periods of their life to consider : - From birth to 3 weeks of age : this is what we refer to as neonatology ; - From 3 weeks until they reach adult age (in average, 12 months) : this is what we call pediatry. I very often get phone calls or s on neonatal mortality (= mortality of kittens during their first 3 weeks of life). I am not gonna lie : this can be one of the most frustrating clinical syndrome to deal with. It is often multifactorial, and always hard to point out what the origin of the problem was. We are going to see the diagnostic tools that are available. However, on your side I definitely think it is important here to focus on preventive measures.

14 As I said, kitten neonatal mortality is complex and often, multifactorial. Main causes that are identified: - Dystocias in the mother (= difficulties to give birth) ; - The 3-H syndrome that can affect newborn kittens : 3-H stands for Hypothermia / Hypoglycaemia / DeHydration ; - As usual in catteries, we always need to keep infectious diseases in mind, and as much as we can, try to rule them out. Let s see what preventive measures you can take here to give your kittens their best shot.

15 As mentioned on the previous slide, difficulties to give birth can severely impact the neonatal survival rate in kittens. Those are not frequent in the general cat population and account for 0.4% of the parturitions. However, when we only focus on purebred cats, their incidence dramatically increases to 13.3%! Difficulties to give birth lead to prolonged expulsion of the kittens. They are then more likely to suffer from anoxia/hypoxia (=lack of oxygen) and something we call metabolic acidosis (=modification of the ph of the blood that can severely impact the different organs). In these situations, the neonatal mortality automatically increases. That s a fact : cats are a polytocous species (=several offsprings) which make the outcome of parturition always difficult to predict with certainty. That;s why I find it important to monitor the mother throughout gestation : - in order to detect the risk factors that could eventually increase the risk of dystocia ; - Take if needed correctives measure to optimize the queen s condition at the time of parturition.

16 Best way to optimize the parturition process? During the queen s gestation, have all the cards already in your hands. This means two things : - Estimate the date of parturition : pregnancy in the queen lasts 65 ± 1 days from the day of ovulation. This one is easy to determine if you remember what we said a few slides ago. Ovulation usually occurs on the second day of the breeding period (BTW, another good reason to observe the breedings!). When you have the day of ovulation, you can determine a window during which the queen should give birth. If nothing happens after day 66 post ovulation, do not hesitate to check if everything is ok with your veterinarian. NB : As you can see on the graph above, the breed might also influence the length of pregnancy. You can however see that most of them still fall in the window we previously described. - Know the litter size : if you know how many kittens the queen expect, you have then all the tools to properly manage parturition when this happens. Remember that ultrasounds will ONLY give you an estimate of the size of the litter. The only way to have a definitive number is to perform an X-Ray at 50 days of gestation.

17 An important thing to focus on during the queen s gestation : the mother s body weight. It is important because overweight conditions can happen during gestation. And overweight will lead to extra-fat accumulation that will infiltrate the muscles including the myometrium, the uterine muscle that will support kittens expulsion during parturition. This fat infiltration decreases the strength of the uterine contractions and in parallel increases the risk of dystocia in the mother. How can a queen become overweight during gestation? First it is important to keep in mind the basics of how to feed a queen during pregnancy. Take a look at the graph above. You can see that there is a gradual increase in terms of weight, correlated with a gradual increase of the queen s energy needs. She needs to accumulate fat reserves during gestation in order to be able to maintain her lactation ( which is the most energy consuming lifestage). [ More info on how to feed the pregnant queen here ] Very often in catteries, queens are free-fed. However, not all of them are able to properly regulate the amount of food they should be eating. That s why I think it is always important to monitor the amount of food you daily feed to your queen. You can let it at their disposal so they can take several small meals per day, but you still need to make sure they will not eat more than needed. An easy way to monitor: weight them on a weekly basis. As you can see the weight gain is somehow linear. And at the time of parturition, a queen should weigh 15-40% more than her optimal body weight.

18 Do the maths and you can determine her appropriate weight gain during pregnancy. It is not absolute, but it is still a very good way to monitor the mother during pregnancy. You will obviously daily check on your pregnant female. When you do so, always take a look at the vulva to be sure there is nothing abnormal there. By abnormal I mean abnormal vulvar discharge. What is an abnormal vulvar discharge in a pregnant queen? Easy answer : any kind of discharge during gestation must be seen as abnormal and must require a veterinary check. I am mentioning that because I very often see posts on social media on this topic : my queen is losing blood from the vulva, she is pregnant and supposed to give birth soon. Is it normal?. No, it is not. The only kind of discharge you should see at the time of parturition should be brownish in color, This is the queen placental pigment. And that tells you that the placenta is no more anchored [ More detail on the following blog post : ]

19 Monitoring the queen does not end with parturition. You need to continue this during lactation. The most important thing to look for in my opinion : the mammary glands. Queens usually have 8 mammary glands, and the ones that will produce more milk are the two abdominal ones. Kittens essentially rely on this milk production during the first weeks of life so : - You need to ensure that there is proper milk lactation ; - You need to ensure that there is nothing abnormal in this milk production. Lactation is the most energy-consuming lifestage for felines, and whatever happens, most queens will lose weight during this period despite the reserves they made during gestation. This is the only stage when we recommend real free-feeding (with an energy dense diet) because depending on the litter size, the energy demands can be humongous. You also need to ensure there is no mastitis (inflammation of one or several of the mammary glands) developing during this period. Mastitis is often of bacterial origin and can therefore lead to something we call toxic milk syndrome that will obviously impact the newborn kittens. From a clinical standpoint, mastitis usually means red / painful / hot mammary gland. The color of the milk might be altered as well (brownish, red) but not always! Kittens drinking this altered milk might then develop neonatal diarrhea, which is always a problem. [ More info on that here ]

20 So daily check the mammary glands: - Palpate them - Take a look at the color of the milk just to make sure there is nothing abnormal While growing up kittens might irritate the mammary glands with their nails, which might favour the development of mastitis. So don t forget to cut their nails while they get bigger or if you see this starts to become a concern for your female. And if you are under the impression that the mammary glands starts to be irritated, as in humans you can use lanolin. This waxy substance is used in humans for sore nipples during lactation and is well tolerated by the newborns. Always something to have on hand when you have a lactating female. Care of the newborns is crucial. Most queens are usually good mothers, but again you know your animals and you will know which one might require more attentions. Pay particular attention to primiparous queens (=queens that give birth for the first time). They are often the ones having mothering difficulties. If you need to help or replace the mother, there are few things you need to have on hand.

21 Right during the parturition process, it is important for you to have on hand a suction. When the kitten is born, this will help you evacuate the liquid that can be in their oral/nasal cavities. In the past, we were swinging the kittens : this works well for sure to evacuate the fluids, but it is today something we do not recommend anymore because what is described as the shaken kitten syndrome. [ See my post on this here ] The suction is way more interesting : it does not cost much and will be much safer for the kittens. After birth, dry them well : if you let wet newborn kittens dry by themselves, the energy required for evaporation of the liquid will be taken from the kitten itself. Which means that in order to get dry, it will somehow decrease its body temperature. Never a good thing in individuals which can suffer so much from hypothermia as we are going to see!

22 I mentioned the 3-H syndrome at the beginning of this part : the 3 Hs stand for : Hypothermia / Hypoglycaemia / DeHydration. Kittens are highly sensible to these three conditions during the first 3 weeks of life : - Hypothermia : kittens are not able to regulate their body temperature during the first three weeks of life. On the contrary to adults which are able to shiver if they are cold, kittens cannot do t hat. If they are cold, they will get colder since they cannot thermoregulate. Keep in mind that the normal body temperature of a newborn kitten is 36 C (96.8 F). When temperature drops below 34 C (93.2 F) digestion stops. When temperature drops below 32 C (89.6 F), they lose their suckling reflex. This is important to keep this in mind since very often, when a kitten is not doing well, first thing we will do is to try to bottle feed them. You understand that the first thing you need to do is in fact to check their body temperature. - Hypoglycaemia: kittens have low energy reserves at birth. It will essentially come from the milk of their mother. Kittens usually nurse times per day but if they are not able to drink enough milk for any reason, hypoglycaemia might develop. From a clinical standpoint, a kitten suffering from hypoglycaemia will be weak, lethargic and might exhibit seizures or tremors. - DeHydration : kittens are made of 82% water. If they stop nursing or if they get diarrhea, they might quickly get dehydrated with more severe consequences than in adults. An important thing to keep in mind : you cannot assess the hydration status of a newborn kitten by pinching its skin as we would do in adults. Best way to do it on your side is to check how humid the

23 mucosas (the gums especially) are. In veterinary clinics we can even be more accurate by checking the urine density of the kittens. As you can see, those 3 conditions are somehow interconnected : one can indeed lead to the other and vice-versa. If a kitten is hypothermic, he might stop nursing and then develop hypoglycaemia (because she does not nurse anymore) and then obviously get dehydrated (because she lacks the high water content of the milk). Two things you absolutely need to have on hand therefore to monitor your newborn kittens health : 1/ A thermomether NB : You also need to ensure that the nest is warm enough. Many breeders use a heat lamp, which is in my opinion a great alternative. You can also use heat pads. Here are our recommendations in terms of temperature at the nest level during the first 3 weeks of life (when kittens cannot thermoregulate): - 30 C (86 F) the 1 st week of life - 28 C (82.4 F) the 2 nd week of life - 25 C (77 F) the 3 rd week of life. 2/ A scale Rule of thumb : a healthy kitten gains weight on a daily basis. They can eventually lose up to 10% of their birth weight the day following birth (very often this is related to the expulsion of the meconium, the first stools of the kittens) but then they must gain weight. If you observe a plateau or a weight loss, there might be something wrong and this will always show up before you notice any other clinical symptom. In case this happens, I always recommend first to start bottle-feeding them. If you see no improvement after 24-hours of bottle-feeding, consult with your veterinarian. There might be something else going on (very often : a concurrent bacterial infection).

24 So as previously said you might sometimes have to bottle feed the kittens because they are not gaining weight or because the mother has not milk (which is also a situation you can run into when breeding cats). Always important therefore to have a milk replacer on hand. And this, before the kittens are even born! Remember the 2 queens out of 3 will give birth in the middle of the night. If you realize the queen is not lactating and you don t have a milk replacer on hand, you might lose precious minutes (especially when you know how problematic the consequences of hypoglycaemia in kittens are). Here are our recommendation on how often to bottle-feed a kitten - 8 meals/day the 1 st week of ife - 6 meals/day the 2 nd week of life - 4 meals/day the 3 rd week of life Follow the feeding guidelines : some kittens might be voracious and drink a lot. This can sometimes overload their digestive capacities and lead to the development of neonatal diarrhea. Remember that defecation/miction are reflexes in kittens so when you are done bottle-feeding them, you will need to stimulate these reflexes. To do so, after each meal apply a gauze moistened with tepid water on the perineum of the kittens. The type of milk replacer you are using is also key here. Very often I read posts online mentioning the use of goat milk or cow milk, human milk replacer. None of them are adequate. With each of them, you expose yourself to the risk of neonatal diarrhea.

25 Carnivores milk is indeed very specific and way more energy dense that large mammal s. I definitely recommend you to go for a dedicated feline milk replacer, that will be way more adapted to the newborn kitten s specific nutritional needs. [This is a topic we discussed in more details on our blog, here are few interesting links ] Neonates are the most fragiles individual in your cattery. And as I mentioned several times already, in catteries, one of the biggest challenge we have is related to infectious diseases. Cats are indeed not really meant to live in communities and if too many cats live in close contact, well there is always a risk for an outbreak of any kind. The same is true for kittens. Here are few things you can do in terms of prevention.

26 At birth, kittens have no immune system (because of the specificities of their placenta). They will receive their first immune system via the colostrum of their mother. Colostrum is in fact the first milk of the mother, which is enriched in antibodies (proteins of immunity that can inactivate pathogens). They need it to be protected. Few things to need to know on colostrum then : - It is produced only during the first 24h of lactation : that is important to keep in mind since some queens will start lactating before giving birth. At the time of birth, there might not be colostrum anymore in the mammary glands. - The best way to check : look at the color. Colostrum is yellowish, milk is white. - Kittens are able to absorb the colostrum during their first 12h after birth only. So they need to receive it as quickly as possible. [ We discussed this in a webinar we did a couple of years ago, here is the link you will find there all the information you need regarding this matter : ]

27 The umbilical cord is a blood vessel, that directly connects the abdomen with the outside environment. In mammals, infection of the umbilical cord is very often a cause of neonatal morbidity. That s why in many species an ultrasound examination of this region is always part of the testing required when the neonate is not doing well. Care of the umbilical cord is therefore crucial right after birth, and this even if the mother cut the umbilical cord herself. Disinfect its terminal end 2-3 times a day with an antiseptic solution like Betadine or chlorhexidine (I have a preference for the last one). It will usually fall down 3 days after birth but sometimes it can remain longer. I had a case recently where it took around 15 days!

28 Environmental contamination is definitely an important route of neonatal infection. Most common clinical signs we see in newborn kittens : skin or ocular infection or inflammation of the umbilical cord. Sanitation is therefore key. In fact, in all catteries, it is in my opinion the cornerstone of what we call prophylaxis (=measures you take to prevent a problem). Nobody likes to scoop the poop, but that what makes a real difference in the end. We wrote several blog posts on these topics that you can read here, these were initially meant for shelters but same sanitation concepts can apply in breeding catteries:

29 One thing that definitely makes it easier is the way the maternity is built. Materials used must be easy to clean and disinfect in order to maximize the benefits of the sanitation protocol. Lots of alternative are available on the market, but if you are looking for ideas or are just curious, I would definitely recommend you to visit Pinterest and search for cat whelping boxes and cat maternity. I am sure it will give you lots of great ideas on how to set up your maternity. You can also follow my board where I share lots of ideas Infertility and neonatal mortality are certainly important challenges feline breeders have to face. In my experience however, the most frequent one I see and from far! - is diarrhea in kittens. To tell you the truth there is no one week that goes by without me being consulted on the topic. Very often this diarrhea happens at the time of weaning, generally between 3 and 8 weeks of age. This is somehow not surprising. At the time of weaning indeed, kittens are under a lot of stress : - They are transitioning from milk to solid food : the morphology of their digestive tract is changing, they are going through changes in terms of digestive enzymes. Their digestive system is definitely more fragile. - This period often corresponds to the waning off of the maternal immunity they acquired at birth. We refer to it as the immunity gap. Kittens are therefore more sensitive to infectious diseases. And many of them act at the digestive level : Giardia, Coccidia, Cryptosporidium, Trichomonas, Altogether these kittens are more fragile. Anything that impact the digestive tract around this time can therefore have severe consequences. Certain breeds also tend to show a higher sensitivity, like Rex Devon and Rex Cornish.

30 If you ever have to deal with weaning diarrhea in kittens, this is something you always need to keep in mind : screen for the pathogens we know of. Because in catteries again, in every situation, infectious diseases are always something we need to rule out first. One thing to keep in mind when an entire litter is affected: we want a diagnosis for the cattery, not necessarily for every single individual. In catteries we usually recommend to test at least 10% of the affected individuals. This usually gives a good idea of what is going on inside the cattery and help your veterinarian determine the best course of action.

31 The list of pathogens that can be involved in the weaning diarrhea syndrome is long Very long. The most commonly involved pathogens are viruses (panleukopenia virus, coronavirus, ) and protozoa (Giardia, Coccidia, Cryptosporidium, Trichomonas, ). Keep in mind that a fecal test will NOT detect all of them. We use more and more PCRs (Polymerase Chain Reaction, tests that will detect the DNA of the pathogens). They are great tools, but again they will not detect all the pathogens that can cause weaning diarrhea. In my opinion it is always good to combine both tests to be sure we are not missing out on something. Something I think is important to mention : PCRs can detect even a very small quantity of pathogens. And we know that many of these pathogens are present in the digestive tract of healthy individuals. A PCR is difficult to interpret and for the digestive tract, this should only be done based on clinical symptoms observed. If there are no clinical symptoms and you do a PCR and you find something positive, does this mean you need to treat the entire cattery? That is a tough decision to make just based on a result Remember that the test is not everything. The way it is interpreted really prevails. As time goes by we might have better knowledge of those pathogens but keep one thing in mind : if the result is negative, it does not mean it is not something infectious. It just means the test did not detect anything at this time. Some pathogens moreover like Giardia have an intermittent secretion. Which means you can miss them.

32 That s why I always prefer to focus on the litter (and not on every single individual) to reach a diagnosis. In catteries we usually recommend to sample at least 10% of the symptomatic individuals to try to reach a diagnosis. Something else to keep in mind : there are pathogens that have been identified (astrovirus, norovirus, rotavirus ) but we do not have tests to screen for them in routine. Remember we just said that the digestive tract of these kittens is submitted to a lot of stress since it goes through a lot of changes. That is why the way you conduct the nutritional weaning MUST be as smooth as possible. Here are our key recommendations : - Use a highly digestible diet to ease the digestive process ; - Start weaning kittens around 4 weeks of age and move them progressively from milk to solid food. At the beginning they should be fed something with the consistency of a mush. Beware : sometimes I see in catteries that kittens are allowed to directly eat the dry kibbles of their mother. This might not be well tolerated by all of them and might lead to the development of diarrhea in certain cases. - Weaning must be progressive : conduct it over 4 weeks. - In puppies, research showed that the number of meals per day will influence the stool consistency. We do not have similar data for kittens but we assume the same could be tried

33 here. 4 meals per day is usually a good way to decrease the digestive workload and limit the risks. - Always control the amount of food you give the kittens : do not free-feed them. Some of them might again not be able to control their appetite and will eat as much as they can ; this can overload the already limited digestive capacities of the kitten and lead to the occurrence of a diarrhea of overconsumption. [ Here are some links to blogs related to this topic that will provide you with more information on what you can do to prevent this problem. You will also find my recipe for weaning kittens : ] I already mention how important the hygiene inside the cattery is. This is in my opinion even more important when it comes to weaning diarrhea : - Some of the pathogens that can cause the problem, we do not look for them or we do not have tests yet to look for them in routine (especially the viruses like astrovirus, norovirus, rotavirus, etc.) ;

34 - Some of the pathogens that cause this problem persist in the outside environment and can recontaminate the animals afterwards : this is especially true for the protozoas Giardia and Coccidia. In these cases for the medical treatment to be efficient, it will be also be important to control the environment. [ Here a link to a short webcast to better explain you the main concepts when in comes to sanitation in catteries ] Since this is digestive pathogens we are dealing with here these measures MUST focus on the litter box. In a litter of kittens, I would definitely recommend to do a full cleaning / disinfection of the litter box daily. It is not enough just to pick the stool and then add some litter, you need to do a full clean/disinfection. This is important because this is usually where the animals can recontaminate themselves. If you have several litters at the same time I would recommend a separate cleaning material for each litter box as well.

35 The disinfectant you use is also important. Keep in mind that disinfectants are not efficient against all pathogens unfortunately, they all have their specific spectrum of action. And as you can see on the table above, it can vary a lot. In catteries I would definitely recommend you to use something efficient on nude viruses (parvovirus, calicivirus) AND protozoa (Giardia, Coccidia). Protozoas can be tough ones to deal with but a great alternative consists in using steam cleaning : the high temperature will indeed make the cysts of protozoa rupture.

36 When a parasite is resistant in the environment, passive carriage can occur : - With your hands : so wash them thoroughly and on a regular basis, especially if you are dealing with kittens suffering from diarrhea. You don t want to turn yourself into a fomite that will spread the disease in your cattery; - A measure we often do in kennels when there is a diarrhea problem is to bathe the animals once a week. This will decrease the passive carriage of the pathogens on their coat which sometimes can be really important. In cats, I understand it can sometimes be a real challenge but some breeders are able to do it. So if you can bathe your cat without causing it any excessive stress, go ahead, it is definitely worth it!

37 I just walked you through the 3 most common challenges I see in the field of feline reproduction. I ll just reiterate that breeding cats is not something as easy as one might think. If you ve been breeding for a while, you probably ran into some of these challenges. If you are a newbie breeder, you ll probably encounter some as well. That is the harsh reality of feline breeding. Does it mean this is hopeless? Oh no, for sure! Why would you be reading this if it was the case! If you reached this final page, I guess it is because you want to learn as much as possible on these challenges. So you know what you can do to overcome them. So you can do whatever is possible to offer the healthiest life to your animals. We learn as we go. After facing difficult situations, we learn even more. So please never stop doing this : the more knowledgeable you are, the healthier your pets! And in my opinion, the future is bright. Many scientific teams across the world are working on feline reproduction and other aspects of feline medicine. More and more options will become available in the future (like artificial insemination for instance). More and more options that will help us better face the challenges of feline breeding.

38 Which leads us to my final advice : if you read this all, it is because you are passionate. Passionate about feline breeding, passionate about your animals. That what feline breeding is all about right? Passion can move mountains. Passion can make you accomplish things you would never believe. In a world where so many people look for answers, that will be my final advice : stay passionate. Because as long as you are, you ll always find strength to overcome any of these challenges.

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