Understanding vector-borne threats to feline health

Lindsay Starkey, DVM, PhD, DACVM (Parasitology), sat down with dvm360 ahead of her lectures at Veterinary Meeting & Expo (VMX) to provide an inside look at some of the most common vector-borne diseases infections feline patients are faced with. Throughout the interview, Starkey shared the common infections and diseases fleas, mosquitos, and ticks can transmit as well as what regions are likely to see them, although they are not completely limited by region.

Below is a partial transcript

Lindsay Starkey, DVM, PhD, DACVM (Parasitology): So glad we're talking about cats. I feel like they get the back burner sometimes, but there are definitely some really important vector-borne infections and diseases to consider when you're thinking about cats. And so you can kind of break it down. You've got flea-associated things, mosquito-associated things, tick-associated things.

So for the fleas, bartonellosis is high on the list, mycoplasma. There's even some Rickettsial species, transmitted by fleas and then tapeworm, which not so important for feline health, but very important for the human-animal bond. And then when we think about mosquito-borne, heartworm really is the mosquito-borne infection to be thinking about when you consider feline health. And for tick-borne stuff, I think there's a lot of emerging evidence about ticks and tick-borne diseases and cats. So geographically speaking, if you're in the Northeast or the Upper Midwest, Anaplasmosis is probably something you might see, hopefully not frequently, but it just depends on where you are and the cats you're dealing with.