🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

A feline version of the Glasgow composite measure pain scale was developed to assess acute pain in cats through observation of behaviors and responses, including facial expressions, providing another…

The Rivalta test, a simple inexpensive bedside test that observes whether a drop of effusion fluid retains its shape in a dilute acetic acid solution, has been studied as an aid to distinguishing FIP…

The UNESP-Botucatu multidimensional composite pain scale was developed and validated to assess acute postoperative pain in cats, combining behavioral observations, responses to palpation, and physiolo…

Research increasingly frames feline kidney disease as a continuum in which episodes of acute kidney injury, from toxins, ischemia, infection, or obstruction, can leave residual damage that predisposes…

Cats have an exceptionally strict requirement for dietary arginine because their continuous high rate of protein metabolism generates ammonia that must be detoxified through the urea cycle, for which…

Unlike many mammals that can convert plant-derived beta-carotene into vitamin A, cats lack sufficient enzymatic capacity for this conversion and therefore require preformed vitamin A from animal sourc…

FIP has long been notoriously difficult to diagnose definitively before death because no single non-invasive test is both highly sensitive and specific, and because antibody to feline coronavirus is c…

Feline hyperthyroidism was first recognized as a clinical entity around 1979-1980 and rapidly became one of the most common endocrine diseases of older cats, a striking apparent emergence that has pro…

Research into the feline gut microbiome explores how the community of intestinal microbes influences digestion, immune function, and health in cats, and how diet, particularly the high-protein, low-ca…

Cats require preformed arachidonic acid, an essential fatty acid, in their diet because they have limited ability to synthesize it from plant-derived linoleic acid, a conversion that omnivores perform…

Cats have notably higher dietary protein requirements than many other domestic species because their metabolism is geared toward continuous use of protein for energy and gluconeogenesis, with limited…

Feline infectious peritonitis was first described as a distinct clinical and pathologic entity in the 1960s, before its coronavirus etiology was understood, with early reports characterizing the fibri…

Dental radiography revolutionized feline oral care by revealing disease hidden below the gumline, including the early and subgingival stages of tooth resorption, retained roots, periodontal bone loss,…

Cats are obligate carnivores with a metabolism evolved for a strictly meat-based diet, giving them distinctive nutritional requirements including high protein needs, dependence on preformed nutrients…

Before legal antiviral products existed, owners desperate to save cats with FIP obtained unregulated GS-441524 through informal networks and online communities, often coordinating dosing with sympathe…

Maintaining safe body temperature is a critical concern during felid immobilization, as captured cats can become dangerously hyperthermic from exertion and heat in warm climates or hypothermic during…

Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency causes serious neurologic disease in cats, including ataxia, seizures, and a characteristic ventroflexion of the neck, and has occurred from diets high in thiaminase-c…

The overwhelming majority of feline hyperthyroidism results from benign adenomatous hyperplasia or adenoma of the thyroid gland, frequently involving both lobes, with only a small minority caused by m…

Capturing wild tigers for collaring, translocation, or treatment of injuries and conflict situations requires carefully planned chemical immobilization given the species' endangered status, solitary b…

The combination of the dissociative anesthetic tiletamine with the benzodiazepine zolazepam, marketed as Telazol or Zoletil, is widely used for chemical restraint and anesthesia of felids ranging from…

For cats with chronic gingivostomatitis refractory to medical management, full-mouth or partial-mouth tooth extraction has emerged as the most effective treatment, with many cats showing substantial o…

Curative antiviral treatment of FIP typically requires an extended course, commonly around twelve weeks, followed by an observation period to confirm sustained remission. Cats that stop too early or r…

The most common histopathologic finding in feline CKD is chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis with fibrosis, a pattern of scarring and inflammation that progressively replaces functional kidney tissue…

Captive big cats are vaccinated against diseases that threaten felids, including panleukopenia, the respiratory viruses, and rabies, with protocols adapted from domestic-cat guidelines but informed by…

Feline herpesvirus-1 and feline calicivirus are major causes of upper respiratory disease in cats, and core vaccines against them reduce the severity of illness, though they do not fully prevent infec…

Descended from desert-adapted ancestors, cats have a relatively low thirst drive and historically obtained much of their water from prey, leading to research interest in how diet form, dry versus wet…

Feeding captive big cats appropriately requires meeting their obligate-carnivore nutritional needs, with debate and research around whole-prey versus formulated diets, calcium-phosphorus balance, taur…

This landmark study demonstrated that cats fed diets deficient in taurine developed progressive retinal degeneration leading to blindness, establishing taurine as a dietary essential for cats and reve…

Hayes KC, Carey RE, Schmidt SY · Science · 1975

This study tested a broad-spectrum coronavirus 3C-like protease inhibitor in cats with experimentally induced and naturally occurring FIP, showing that the drug could reverse progression of an otherwi…

Kim Y, Liu H, Galasiti Kankanamalage AC, Weerasekara S, Hua DH, Groutas WC, Chang KO, Pedersen NC · PLoS Pathogens · 2016

This influential study revealed that cheetahs possess strikingly low genetic variation, demonstrated by extreme similarity at protein-coding loci and, in later related work, acceptance of reciprocal s…

O'Brien SJ, Wildt DE, Goldman D, Merril CR, Bush M · Science · 1983