Morbidity and mortality
Of the 869 cats admitted into the hospital ' s care in 2019 , 42 were pronounced dead on arrival , 228 required humane euthanasia , and 28 died of natural causes during treatment or recovery .
Male cats had a higher risk of mortality , accounting for 61 % of the patients that required euthanasia , 62 % of the patients that presented dead on arrival , and 64 % of the patients that died during treatment or recovery . Furthermore , entire male cats accounted for 50 % of all patients that presented as dead on arrival to the practice , in comparison to neutered male cats , which accounted for 12 %.
Both entire and neutered female cats were combined into one group , as identifying neuter status in deceased female cats is impossible without performing a postmortem examination . Of the patients that presented as dead on arrival , 38 % were female .
Figure 5 shows some of the reasons for hospital admission among FIV + cats . As identified in previous studies , cat-bite abscesses were a prominent finding in FIV + cats [ 10 ] , accounting for 23 % of the reasons for hospital admission among FIV + patients .
Discussion
This research project found that entire male cats were more likely to contract FIV than neutered male cats , entire female cats and neutered female cats .
Male cats
A substantial difference in FIV + rates was observed when comparing the neuter status of the cats . The highest FIV + rates were found in the entire male cat group , accounting for 89 % of FIV + test results . Furthermore , the entire male and neutered male groups together accounted for 94 % of FIV + test results . This could be explained by examining the differences in behaviour between male and female cats , and more so the differences in the behaviour of entire male cats compared with neutered male cats .
Entire male cats often display undesirable behaviours that can be prevented or reduced by neutering . Roaming and fighting , for example , have both been reported to decrease following surgical castration [ 22 ] . Reducing the statistical risk of fighting and aggressive interaction by decreasing a cat ' s scope of travel could further lower rates of FIV infection and transmission .
Additionally , in this study the entire male cats had an increased risk of mortality , accounting for 50 % of patients that presented dead on arrival to the hospital in 2019 . This could also have been due to the heightened risk of danger associated with the larger distances travelled by entire male cats [ 22 ] compared with the distances travelled by neutered male cats .
Transmission
The main route of FIV transmission is widely reported to be the exchange of infected blood or saliva [ 10 ] , most commonly through penetrative or aggressive biting . Treatment options found to reduce aggressive tendencies could be applied to control and decrease the spread of FIV [ 21 ] .
In this study , on admission to the hospital , 29 % of FIV + patients required humane euthanasia on welfare grounds , while 23 % of the patients required treatment for cat-bite abscesses . This is not to say that the remaining 48 % of FIV + patients had not been subject to cat bites previously , but this was not assessed at the time of their admission or during their treatment .
Euthanasia , welfare grounds ( 29 %)
Cat-bite abscess ( 23 %)
Wounds ( 8 %)
Rehoming ( no treatment required ) ( 7 %)
Other ( 33 %)
Figure 5 . Reasons that the FIV + patients in the study were admitted to the hospital .
36 Veterinary Nursing Journal