Morbilidad en gatos de la ciudad de Santiago, Chile

In order to know the health status of a cat population about the frequency of diseases, vaccinations and surgical operations a questionnaire survey was done in 9414 households random sampled. Infectious diseases were the principal cause of morbidity showing a rate of 5.57x 1000 cats of the population, followed by diseases due to disorder of metabolism with a rate of 0.59x1000 cats, in third place diseases due to intoxications, or parasites or due to trauma, each one with a rate of 0.29x1000. The respiratory system was the most frequently affected with a rate of 3.52x1000, followed by the integumentary system with a rate of 2,05x1000 and the digestive system with a rate of 1,76x 1000. Diseases are most frequent in animals older than 5 years of age. Infectious diseases are the most observed in males and females. Males are mainly affected in their respiratory system and females in their integumentary system. The most frequent surgical operation is the sterilization with retes of 29x1000 in males and 125x1000 in females. Immunizations different from rabies are very infrequent, less than 10% of cats were vaccinated against other illnesses.