Rotaviruses are a well established cause of acute diarrhoea in many mammalian species, for example humans, cattle, sheep and pigs, but there are few reports of rotavirus infection in cats, and it is probably not a major cause of feline enteric disease.

• Subclinical infection is probably most common.
• Diarrhoea is most likely to be seen in young kittens, but is usually only mild and transient.
• More severe disease may occur in the presence of other pathogens disposing factors, or in large, intensively housed colonies where high virus may accumulate in the environment.
• Diagnosis is usually by electron microscopy (EM) of faeces, although poly-acrylamide gel electrophoresis has been described and is very useful for diagnosing rotavirus infections in other species.
• The commercially available ELISA kits for detecting rotavirus in human and bovine faeces may not detect feline strains of rotavirus.

Treatment, if necessary, is symptomatic.

Although rotaviruses can cross species, cats are an unlikely source rotavirus infection.



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