Does my cat have the “Swine Flu”?

The situation for cats to develop swine flu appears to be somewhat worse than it is for dogs.  Unfortunately we had one of the few diagnosed cases of H1N1, “swine flu”, in a feline patient, which did cause death.  The patient arrived in the morning and worsened   rapidly throughout the day.  He was transferred to a critical care facility that night but passed away despite very aggressive treatment.  The owners were not showing clinical signs of influenza but one of the owners was a nurse in a human hospital and the suspected source of infection for our feline patient.  We still expect, and hope, that there will not be many cases of swine flu in our feline companions, but because of the possibility of human to feline transfer, I would recommend using the same precautions that are used to prevent human to human transfer, with our companion animals, if a family member is suffering with the H1N1 virus, to prevent the unlikely transfer to our feline family members.