Scabies is a contagious skin disease caused by scabies mites. Sick cats have severe itching and eczema-like changes in their skin. Among cats, there is a highly contagious ear mite disease that first manifests symptoms on the head and auricles. It is caused by ear mites, which are a type of scabies mites.

Insect characteristics and disease transmission:

The body of the scabies mite is nearly round or oval, with a raised back and is milky white or light yellow. The size of female mites is 0.3~0.5×0.25~0.4mm; the size of male mites is 0.2~0.3×0.15~0.2mm. The jaws are short and small, located at the front end; the chelicerae are like pincers with small teeth at the tips, suitable for eating the cuticle tissue of the host's skin. The pedipalps are divided into three sections. No eyes and valves. There are horizontal wavy stripes and rows of scaly skin spines on the back of the body, and there are several pairs of rod-shaped bristles and long bristles on the back half of the body. The ventral surface is smooth, with only a few setae and 4 pairs of legs. The legs are short and thick, divided into 5 segments, and are conical in shape. The distance between the front two pairs of feet and the rear two pairs of feet is relatively large, and there are horny protrusions at the base of the feet. Both male and female mites have claw pads with long handles at the ends of the front two pairs of legs, called ambulacra, which are sensitive parts; the ends of the rear two pairs of legs are different in males and females. The female mites have long setae, while the third pair of male mites have 4 pairs of feet have suction pads at the ends. The oviposition hole of the female mite is located in the center in front of the last two pairs of legs, in the shape of a transverse slit; the external genitalia of the male mite is located slightly behind the fourth pair of legs. The anus of both species is located in the middle of the rear edge of the body.

Symptoms and diagnosis:

This disease is a parasitic disease that is transmitted through contact, so contact with sick cats, sharing grooming and bathing tools between sick cats and healthy cats, and cross-contact between breeders are all causes of the disease.

Scabies mainly occurs on the head (the bridge of the nose, eye sockets, auricles and the base of the ears). Sometimes it can also occur on the chest, lower abdomen, armpits, inner thighs and tail base. In severe cases, it can spread to the whole body. The affected cat is itchy, restless, scratches the affected area with its forelimbs, bites the affected area with its mouth or rubs the affected area on surrounding objects. The affected area is flushed with rash-like nodules, the subcutaneous tissue is thickened and scaly, and the affected area is often hairless. Severe scratching and biting can cause local infection and suppuration, otitis externa and local bleeding. Acariasis caused by ear mites or small ear mites first occurs in the ears, causing severe itching. The affected cat constantly shakes its ears and shakes its head. The ears are often scratched and bleeding, and become infected with pus, forming abscess-type acariasis. In order to distinguish it from alopecia areata and other diseases, it is best to scrape skin scraps from the junction of the affected part and the healthy part of the sick cat, dissolve it with 10% caustic soda solution, and then observe the scabies mites under a low-power microscope.

Treatment:

Maintaining sanitation of the environment and utensils is one of the most important preventive measures. Cats should not be allowed to roam freely, and sick cats should be isolated and treated in a timely manner. Cats should be groomed and bathed on time, catteries and cat utensils should be disinfected regularly, feeding and management should be strengthened, and the cat's physical fitness and disease resistance should be enhanced. Deal with sick cats firstThoroughly trim the hair on and around the head, soak and wash with warm soapy water to remove dirt and scab, and then apply 0.5% trichlorfon aqueous solution or ointment locally. Apply firm friction when applying to allow the medicine to penetrate into the skin, leaving intervals of 5 to 7 seconds. Repeat once a day, usually 2-3 times can be cured. However, the surface area of ​​the animal's body cannot be applied to more than 1/3 each time to prevent poisoning. 0.1% phoxim emulsion, 0.1% Lexamethasone (dimethacrylate) solution and methacrylamide are all effective.

Disease prevention:

Regular deworming

Since some intestinal parasites (such as roundworms) are eaten or transmitted by other organisms (such as fleas, mosquitoes, etc.), and kittens in the same litter like to lick each other, kittens must be dewormed regularly. Adult cats use scent as a social guide and to meet friends. They will inevitably use their tongues to come into contact with the secretions or excrement left by other dogs on the grass. This will cause them to be infected with parasites. Therefore, adult cats should also be dewormed regularly.

Common internal parasites include: roundworms, tapeworms, coccidia, hookworms, trichomonas, giardia, burnworm and heartworms, etc. The main external parasites include: Demodex, scabies, ear itching Mites, fleas and lice etc.

The editor recommends that starting from the age of 10 weeks, you should promptly eliminate the interference of parasites on the growth and development of kittens and prevent the occurrence of parasitic enteritis. The selection of anthelmintic drugs should be very scientific. They are not exactly the same as human anthelmintic drugs, and the dosage is also different. Therefore, you should choose a regular pet hospital and don't let "charlatans" affect your baby's health.