Rescue cats: Naming them is the easy part, says The Yorkshire Vet Julian Norton

The tiny kitten, no more than a few weeks old, had been found in a skip. Finding kittens is, apparently, an occupational hazard for the local skip hire company. As well as extra refuse from neighbours with bursting wheelie bins, they frequently find abandoned kittens in their skips, which is awful. This tabby and white tom seemed very pleased to have been rescued from his metallic prison.

“This is Skippy,” said Lucy, as she introduced him to me, excited to have saved the day. “We’ve called him Skippy because he was found in a skip. It’s a good name, don’t you think?”

I did think the name was apt and I also agreed the kitten was cute. I went to say hello, and Skippy meowed in the high-pitched and wide-mouthed way that only happy kittens can. Later that day, during a gap in my afternoon consults, I went back to make better acquaintance. Skippy, after a big meal, was now fast asleep in a warm and comfortable bed. I didn’t feel like disturbing him.

Back in the 1990s, every similar kitten would routinely have been blood sampled for the troublesome viral twosome of FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency virus) and FeLV (Feline Leukaemia Virus). These viruses were prevalent in many feral kittens and had spilled over into the domestic cat population. Nowadays, largely thanks to a highly efficacious vaccine, FeLV is very rarely diagnosed. I can’t remember the last time I saw such a case over recent years. A sole case of FIV the other week (a feral cat found in a barn) made everyone’s head turn. Once upon a time, positive cats would be a daily occurrence.

It reminded me of my early days in practice and as a student, when soon-to-be retired senior vets would puff on their pipes and rub their chins at an unusual canine patient. “Could it be a case of Distemper?” Any dog with peculiar illness could have distemper ascribed as the diagnosis, its variable signs ranging from a cough, diarrhoea, crusty nose, hard pads or neurological disease. Old vets could apparently hear distemper dogs coming down the corridor, their solid and hyperkeratinised pads making a distinctive clicking noise. Of course, and again thanks to the development of a robust vaccine, distemper has pretty much been eradicated. Certainly, I have never seen a case in my thirty years connected with veterinary practice. This is a good thing.

Another disease, thankfully consigned to the history books and the memory of older vets and farmers, is Brucellosis. Once endemic, this disease caused abortion and swollen udders in cattle and intermittent (undulant) fever, sweating, back pain and crippling depression in humans. Naturally, people exposed to cattle were at increased risk and Brucella infection was blamed for the melancholy of many farmers and vets of the last generation. It was testing and culling (and the arrival of Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001) which finally sent this nasty disease packing, rather than vaccination.

The battle against infectious disease is a long one with many twists and turns.