"Just the annual
vaccination for the
Ragdoll," the mother
and a young adult
son and teenaged
daughter came on
this bright sunny
Sunday morning, all
the way from Bedok.
From my
observations, most
Singapore cat owners
don't bother to
vaccinate their cats
or do annual health
examination, and so
I was surprised to
see them. The son
used his handphone
to take images of my
vaccination jab. I
checked the medical
record. The spayed
female cat, born in
December 25,
2006 was vaccinated
in October 2011 and
Sep 2012.
The Ragdoll had a
full thick coat.
"Any fleas?" I noted
no black spots or
scales on the skin.
"No," the owner
said. I turned the
cat upside down as
part of the physical
examination. Earlier
I managed to open
the mouth slightly
as the Ragdoll
wanted to claw me in
objection. I asked
my assistant Naing
to give her two
halves of a
deworming tablet. He
gripped the side of
the mouth and put in
the two halves and
then closed the
mouth. "Rub on the
neck to make the cat
swallow," I said.
The owners had great
difficulty in
deworming this cat
at home and so
I asked Naing to do
it to gain some
experience in
deworming since he
was a new graduate.
Some vets will just
do it but I usually
give the dewormer to
the owner to do it
at home. Everybody
was happy when the
cat swallowed.
Soon, one half of
the tablet popped
onto the
consultation table.
This Ragdoll had
outwitted the human
being causing
laughter amongst the
owner. "You get
50/100 for
deworming," I said
to Naing. Naing
repeated again and
was successful this
time. The reason I
had the tablet cut
into two halves is
to make them easier
to swallow. Some 8
years ago, I saw a
boarding kennel
operator dose a cat
with one tablet and
the cat choked and
died. Many vets give
one tablet via the
mouth without
mishaps but I better
not take chances.
I was not expecting
any hair loss since
the cat looked
great. "What are
those red circular
patches on the groin
area?" I asked the
owners. "They look
like ringworm or
some skin irritation
from the litter
sand."
"The hair loss is
due to the cat
grooming and licking
as the skin is
itchy," I said. "How
long has these red
skin patches been
present?"
"This hairless area
has been present for
some 6 months. The
cat grooms it more
times."
I switched off the
room lighting and
asked my assistant
to hold the cat
upside down with the
help of the owners.
I asked intern
Terrance to come in
to see what I would
do with Wood's lamp
which is used to
check for ringworm.
Around 30% of the
ringworm species
will fluoresce green
when exposed to the
ultra-violet light
from the Wood's
lamp. If positive, a
microscopic
examination or
fungal culture of
the infected hairs
can be done.
The teenaged
bespectacled
daughter did not
want to see any
feline procedure and
looked towards the
floor. I asked her
to stand up and
looked away while I
switched on the
light. No
fluorescence of the
hair edges at all.
"Only 30% of
ringworm will
fluoresce,"
I advised. "I will
check under the
microscope."
I plucked some hairs
at the periphery of
the ring-like skin,
stuck them on the
tape and put the
tape onto the slide.
I examined the hairs
under the
microscope.
Surprising discovery
- I saw moving
mites with brown
heads and legs.
"I don't want to
see," the teenaged
daughter protested
while her mum and
brother saw the
mites.
"It is good to
acquire more
knowledge by seeing
the real things
affecting your cat."
She saw the mites
under the microscope
and in my
illustration.
.
I asked them to
bathe the cat with
an insecticide but
it was difficult to
do at home as the
cat would have no
such nonsense as
being wetted.
.
"How about those
spot-on insecticide
to apply on the skin
to kill the mites?"
the mum asked.
"Bathing first and
then use them,"
I got the cat bathed
in insecticide at
the Surgery and
prescribed
Revolution spot-on
insecticide to be
used monthly for 3
months.
The cat fur mite,
Lynxacarus Radovskyi
is said to more
common in hot and
humid countries.
They cling to the
hair shafts and
grasp them. Hence
they are known as
hair-clinging or
hair-grasping mites.
They are seen as
black spots and
cause itchiness and
hair loss in cats.
In this Ragdoll,
some months ago, I
saw her backside
losing hair on both
sides, a condition
known as bilateral
symmetrical alopecia
one year ago. This
could be due to
licking as this fur
mite infests the
back areas
frequently. They are
said to cause
gingivitis and
diarrhoea in some
cats. This Ragdoll
has gingivitis but
overall, the coat
does not have the
black spots or hair
loss except for the
groin area. I had
not done any skin
hair analysis then.
As for today's case, I asked Intern
Terrance to take
images of the
mites as his 2nd
project so that he
would benefit from
being hands
on writing clinical
research projects
rather than standing
around to observe
the vet. His first
video project on the
"Lemon Law Affecting
New Pets" is still
in progress. I had
asked him to draw
the mites as seen
under the microscope
but he could not do
a good illustration.
Some people just
can't draw despite
me telling him to
use circles, squares
and rectangles as
perspectives. So, I
asked him to take
images.
I
am a bit more able
to illustrate as
seen on the left
taken from another
cat with fur mites
seen under the
microscope, in 2003.
This is not as good
as the real images
but that was the
best I could do
without the present
software in my old
microscope. I had
researched on "how
to draw" by reading
such books from the
libraries and so you
can see I have got
the proportions
rights.
Terrence took some
really good images
from the software in
my microscope. I did
the Photo-shopping
to produce sharper
images for his
video. He would be
producing a video on
the cat fur mites in
a Singapore Ragdoll.
He works on Sundays
whenever he is off
from National
Service full-time
obligations and will
be studying
veterinary medicine
later.
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 6361
-6367. The Bedok cat has fur mites under the microscope. 2013 case study |
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<--- 2003="" a="" as="" cat="" details.="" female="" finer="" from="" fur="" hair-clasping="" hair-clinging="" illustration="" in="" is="" it="" known="" lacked="" like="" looks="" mite.="" mite="" my="" or="" s="" td="" the="">
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Many Singapore
pet owners just want
an annual
vaccination to save
on costs. It is best
to do a general
physical examination
to screen the health
of the pet and
institute preventive
disease measures.
This will be good
for the pet. "Show
and tell" is a
better form of
client communication
and education to
retain client
loyalty, than just
announcing the
diagnosis. The
images engage the
whole family. It is
more time-consuming
for the vet to do
it, but his staff
may be trained to do
it.
Other article at:
http://www.asiahomes.com/singaporetpvet/1210hair_mites.htm
An interesting dialogue is price comment. I feel that it is best to write more on this matter, it may not be a taboo topic however usually individuals are not enough to talk on such topics. To the next. Cheers.
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