• Conjunctival epithelium is the main target tissue for feline C. psittaci. However, the organism may also generalise, and has been found in gastric mucosa and in rectal and vaginal swabs.
• The incubation period ranges from 3 to 5 days experimentally to up to 14 days under natural conditions.
• The predominant clinical sign is a persistent conjunctivitis.
• Co-infection with the respiratory viruses, or secondary infection with bacteria or mycoplasmas, may lead to more severe disease, but generally, apart from marked conjunctival signs, the disease is mild.
• In the acute stages there is a marked serous ocular discharge (which later becomes mucopurulent) and blepharospasm, and the conjunctivae are hyperaemic and swollen.
• Initially only one eye may be affected, but usually both eyes eventually become involved.
• Mild nasal discharge, sneezing, and coughing may also occur, and there may be mild pyrexia in the initial stages of the disease. Affected cats generally stay well and continue to eat.
• Mild pulmonary lesions may be detected occasionally at necropsy, but pneumonitis is not usually apparent clinically.
• Follicular hyperplasia of the conjunctival lymphoid tissue has been reported, and corneal ulceration and keratitis have been described; however, it is probable that other agents, such as the respiratory viruses, were involved in such cases.
• Severe conjunctivitis generally persists for 3-4 weeks or so, but milder clinical signs may persist for some months: although most animals eventually recover, recurrent episodes may occur.
• Experimentally, there is some evidence that chlamydiae may infect the genital tract of cats, but the relevance of this to the field situation is not known. Although abortion has been noted in some cats infected with C. psittaci, in general it appears that C. psittaci is not involved in feline reproductive disease.

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