Feline Upper Respiratory Infection: Shelter and Household Welfare Management

Cat flu (feline upper respiratory infection) causes significant welfare suffering especially in shelter cats — vaccination and housing management are the welfare foundations.

Key Facts

• Cat flu is caused primarily by feline herpesvirus (FHV-1) and feline calicivirus (FCV)
• Signs include sneezing, ocular and nasal discharge, fever, and oral ulceration
• FHV-1 establishes lifelong latency and reactivates during stress, causing recurrent episodes
• Shelter cats face high URI risk from close housing and stress of shelter admission
• Vaccination reduces severity and duration but does not prevent infection from wild-type strains

Welfare Considerations

Feline upper respiratory infection causes acute welfare suffering through fever, nasal congestion that prevents normal breathing, ocular discharge causing discomfort and potential corneal damage, painful oral ulceration from calicivirus, and the weakness of systemic illness. In shelter environments, URI spreads rapidly through aerosol droplets, causing outbreaks that create welfare emergencies for large numbers of cats simultaneously. Welfare management in shelters requires: good airflow design to prevent aerosol transmission, isolation of all URI-positive cats, vaccination within 24 hours of admission, supportive care including nebulization and nutritional support for severely affected cats, and stress reduction through enriched housing. FHV-1 shedding recurs throughout life during stress — management of chronic herpetic disease in owned cats requires lysine supplementation and stress reduction.

What You Can Do

• Vaccinate all cats against FHV-1 and FCV from 6 weeks of age and maintain boosters
• Isolate any cat with URI signs immediately to prevent household or shelter spread
• Provide supportive care including appetite stimulants, nebulization, and ocular treatment
• Reduce stress triggers for cats with chronic FHV-1 — stress is the primary reactivation driver
• Support shelter programs that implement vaccination-on-admission and effective isolation protocols