Veterinary session

Amount of wild cats is reduced yearly since their territory is continually being reduced, so racial preservation progamms are playing increasing role to prevent exctinction of those animals. But despite of the fact that living conditions of wild cats, kept in parks, zooparks relative to their wild representatives are more safe and healthy, their life is usually shorter, than expected. It can be explained in several ways , sourcing from infectiuos, or non-infectious diseases.

I have done my analysis in a preservation animal park in France. In the area of Le Parc des Félins there are 25 different species of wild cats, including several sub-species, like the threatened Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) and the Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus).

My retrospective analysis covers the case of 100 representatives of 22 species, died in the last 6 years in the park.

38 of those were male, 31 female animals, in the case of 31 animals it was impossible to identify the gender, because the early phase of life, when the life ended. All animals in the mentioned park were born in captivity. 49 of all instances, I had screened, arrived at the park at the grown-up age, 51 was born in the park. In the case 30 of 100 I found that death was result of some infection. In 20 of cases was found virus, and in 12 cases infection was caused by bacteria. In 10 of 100 cases I observed heavy infection caused by parazites. Animals, living in the park, are regularly threated by medicals for Feline Rhinotracheitis Virus, Feline Calicivirus, Feline Leukemia Virus, Feline Panleukopenia Virus, Feline Herpesvirus and Chlamidia, and animals regularly receive anthelmintics drugs.

As a result of my study I concluded, that despite of medical, anthelminthics threatments there is a considerable level of death-toll because of presence of infections.

One possible reason for that can be the fact, that for those animals in the park the population is much higher, they have close and frequent contacts, which helps the disease to spread, increasing the death toll.

In the Le Parc des Felins, 29 % of the mortality was infectious and 71 % was non-infectious originated. Pneumonia and gastro-intestinal inflammation were common in the infectious cases, while chronic interstitial nephritis and cardiomyopathy were common in the non-infectious cases.