When Ralph returned home, a proud and mighty hunter, little did he know that the tiny bird he had caught, a Pine Sisken, was carrying a bacteria that would almost do him in. The hunting seemed easy that day and Ralph wanted to share his feast with his human companions. Fortunately for them, they knew enough to not handle the deceased bird and disposed of it.
Ralph was not so lucky, it was just a matter of days before Ralph would join a raft of other cats at the hospital suffering from a bacteria known as Salmonella. It starts with a generalized fever that eventually lead to vomiting and severe diarrhea. Ralph was quickly becoming dehydrated and it was obvious that he needed veterinary attention. Ralph was started on a course of antibiotics and intravenous fluids and as you looked across the intensive care unit of the hospital, several other mighty hunting cats were there in neighbouring kennels all lined up on intravenous fluids.
While Ralph was in the hospital his caregivers were instructed to thoroughly clean the bird feeders with a ten parts water to one part bleach solution. The bird feeders were to be removed for at least one month to prevent the concentration of possibly infected birds onto seed that healthy birds might eat. All it would take is one bird infected with Salmonella to defecate in the bird feeder to transmit the disease to other birds.
Cats are natural born predators and the sick birds make an easy target - it is just unfortunate that before they succumb to the illness that they can infect other birds, cats and even the human caregiver with the Salmonella organism.
