When people meet Sophie for the first time, the first question they usually ask is something like, “What’s the matter with her legs?”, “Why does she walk funny?”, or “What’s wrong with her?” After I explain that she has cerebellar hypoplasia (CH) and what that means, the next common question asked is, “What causes cerebellar hypoplasia?” While CH can be caused by a few different things, the most common cause is panleukopenia.
What is Panleukopenia?
Feline Panleukopenia, also known feline distemper or feline parvo, is a viral infection contracted by the feline parvovirus (FPV). This virus infects and kills cells that are rapidly growing and dividing, such as those in the bone marrow, intestines, lymph nodes, and a developing fetus. FPV also attacks a cat’s white blood cells, compromising the immune system. Symptoms include bloody diarrhea, severe dehydration, malnutrition, anemia, lethargy, loss of appetite, fever, vomiting, and often death.
Panleukopenia is a highly contagious disease. It is spread through contact with an infected cat’s bodily fluids and feces, as well as by fleas. While an infected cat may only shed the virus for 1-2 days, the virus is extremely resilient and can survive for longer than one year in a suitable environment. Holy cow! This means that a cat may become infected without actually coming into direct contact with an infected cat – like through bedding, cages, food dishes, and the hands or clothing of people who handle the infected cat.
How does Panleukopenia Cause Cerebellar Hypoplasia?
As mentioned above, FPV infects and kills cells that are rapidly growing and dividing, such as those in a developing kitten in utero. If a pregnant mother cat contracts the virus or is vaccinated against FPV while pregnant, the virus may attack the kittens’ cerebellum. This attack on the cerebellum may prevent it from fully developing before birth, resulting in cerebellar hypoplasia.
The cerebellum is the part of the brain that is responsible for motor control and coordination. Having an underdeveloped cerebellum results in jerky movements, uncoordinated motion, and tremors. (This is why cats with CH are affectionately known as “Wobbly Cats.”)
The outcome of a litter of kittens by an infected mother can vary. If the mother contracts FPV early on in her pregnancy, the kittens will most likely be aborted. If she contracts the virus later on in pregnancy, some of the kittens may be born with CH, and some may be “normal.” Multiple CH kittens within one litter can even be born with varying degrees of severity.
What are Other Causes of Cerebellar Hypoplasia?
The cerebellum is a delicate part of the brain that continues to develop right up until birth. This means that any sort of trauma to the unborn kittens in utero can affect their brain development. While panleukopenia is the most common cause of cerebellar hypoplasia, malnutrition, poisoning, or physical trauma to the mother and/or kittens may result in the kittens being born with CH.
I will stress that all of these causes are things that occur while the kittens are in the womb. A cat cannot contract or develop CH later in life.
How Can Cerebellar Hypoplasia Be Prevented?
1. Vaccinate against panleukopenia. The FPV vaccine is a core vaccine given to kittens. Once a cat has reached adulthood, he/she can get the booster shot every 1-3 years.
2. Since CH can be caused by a mother cat being vaccinated for FPV during pregnancy, make sure that you do not vaccinate if you suspect your cat may be pregnant. Mention your concerns to your veterinarian, who can then determine for sure whether or not your cat is pregnant.
3. If you have a mother cat in your care, keep her in a safe place away from possible toxins and poisons to reduce any potential harm to her and the unborn kittens. If she’s an outdoor cat, try to temporarily bring her inside or build a makeshift shelter for her outside. Keep watch over her.
And last, but certainly not least…
Spay and neuter your cats!
My human didn’t know about the panleukopenia connection to CH! What an interesting post… and a great reason to promote spay and neuter.
Now that is new info for our petcretary too! OMC.
well done….and the reason we are so careful about vaccinating. Amaryllis last year couldn’t be done since she was pregnant.
And adopt CH cats! As Mom Emily and Dad Bobby have shown, Sophie leads a great life and does not let her CH stop her from having wonderful adventures. A bazillion smooches to Sampy from Astrid along with all her love! XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo and Cooper Murphy
A great post, and a beautiful photo of Sophie!
That was a great post and will be an excellent resource for those who are searching for answers. Hello beautiful Sophie!
wavez two ewe sophie; yur lookin gorgeouz az all wayz N thanx for sharin thiz post !!! we lurned sum stuff two day ~~~ 🙂 ♥♥♥
I knew the others but #2 was new to me (although it makes perfect, logical sense, in a commonsense kind of way).
Well written!
WOW! I had no idea that Cerebellar Hypoplasia was caused by feline parvo!! Ugh. Such a preventable disease. We used to see it a lot in the rescue that I fostered for (but in dogs). Puppies dying because their parents weren’t vaccinated or because someone let them go to dog parks and pet stores before they were vaccinated. Thanks for helping to spread the word about one of the many affects of this terrible disease.
I remember the first time I saw a CH kitty was at a Cat cafe in NYC. Yep. I was just like the people you mentioned asking all the questions. I didn’t know that CH could be caused by something like not getting that distemper vaccine or just trauma to a pregnant mama cat in general. Great enlightening post! Will share. Sophie is the cutest!
Yep … dogs get it too. We have the vaccine done and do titer tests to make sure enough is in the system every yeaer.
We learned something today! Thanks for explaining this so well.
What a pawsome post! I did not know any of this. Thank you!
I learned so much from this post! I didn’t know what caused CH and certainly didn’t realize that there are multiple causes.
Very interesting, I didn’t know anything about this.
I knew parvo was contagious but I didn’t realize it can survive for so long! No wonder shelters are so afraid of Parvo & make every effort to prevent it. The fact that it’s also carried by fleas is even more frightening! I guess it’s a consolation that cats can’t develop CH after being born. It seems so easy to prevent just by vaccinating w/ a core vaccine appropriately! Thanks for this great detailed information.
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
I never knew about Pan Leuk being tied to CH! Thank you for such an informative and educational article. 🙂
I had no idea about the panleukopenia connection. All I know is that I love Sophie! She doesn’t appear to notice she has any problem. Thank you for the information!
Dr. Plotnick just wrote an article about Panleukopenia and mentioned how it can cause cerebellar hypoplasia. I immediately thought of Sophie and wondered if that was how she developed it. Panleuk is awful and on rare occasion you hear about shelters who euthanize their entire cat population because it’s reared its ugly head. Sophie is lucky to have you guys taking care of her and making sure she lives her life to the fullest.
Excellent and very informative post. I was not aware of this, being a dog mom, but my daughter adopted a feral and we have many friends who have cats. I will be sharing this with them. It’s so important to vaccinate. I am Pinning this on my Mews News board as a resource for others.
Thank you for your terrific article on Panleuk. It was so informative. I volunteer in the Maternity Room at our local animal shelter, and unfortunately, we have had kittens in our nursery with Panleuk. The sad thing is that it’s very difficult to prevent a kitten from getting the disease. Some kittens were separated from their mother too early before her immunity could be passed on to them through her milk. Other kittens were exposed to the Panleuk virus before they were old enough to get their kitty vaccinations. Panleuk outbreaks are every shelter’s worst nightmare, as many kittens just don’t survive. But as you are aware, CH kitties are absolutely delightful and make wonderful pets. Sophie is so lucky to have you caring for her!
Thank you for the excellent explanation of CH. In my new Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery Cat Cafe, due out next year, our hero, shelter volunteer Lynley Cannon, will be adopting a CH kitty. I hope through fiction, I can bring more understanding of CH to my readers.
We didn’t know about the link between CH and Panleukopenia : very informative post ! Purrs
I have a CH cat and she is the sweetest thing ever. She was pulled from a feral colony. So happy to have her. Her weird walk and head shake makes her so unique and special. I’m betting her momma had distemper.
So do all kittens/cats born with Cerebellar hypoplasia a a result of exposure to FPV in utero also have FPV or are they carriers,etc?
Great question! If a cat has CH as a result of exposure to FPV in utero, it does not necessarily mean they will have FPV. If the kitten is sick with FPV at birth, then he will be a contagious for about 6 weeks. However, CH cats are not contagious and do not carry the FPV vaccine. It’s like a human who gets chicken pox as a kid. They are contagious when they’re sick, but as soon as the virus has passed, the kid is no longer contagious.