Veterinary Public Health: Cows, Cats, and FSE: Death Penalty Justified?

Summary Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies affect a number of mammalian species. The most common spongiform encephalopathies are scrapie in sheep and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle. Feline Spongiform Encephalopathy (FSE) is a related disorder in domestic cats. Because of the link between BSE and FSE cats are put on a par with cattle, in terms of politics and regulations. In the Netherlands, when a case of BSE is found on a farm, not only the ruminants, but also the cats are taken away for post‐mortem examination. So far, the cats examined have always been negative for FSE. There are no scientific reasons for destroying the cats on farms where BSE has been found.