Chlamydia psittaci has not been reported to cause disease in domestic cats, to our knowledge. In contrast, C. felis infection is common in domestic cats and typically results in conjunctivitis, upper respiratory tract infection, and less frequently pneumonia. Herein, we report the pathologic findings and diagnostic features of a fatal case of psittacosis in a 7-wk-old domestic kitten. The animal was 1 of a litter of 5 that, together with the queen, were yielded to a pet rescue center in Wyoming. Over a period of ~3 wk, the kittens and queen became sick, thin, and icteric prior to death, despite antimicrobial treatments. Postmortem evaluation of a kitten revealed necrosuppurative hepatitis with Gimenez stain–positive intracellular bacteria, nonsuppurative pneumonia, and mild leptomeningitis. The diagnosis of psittacosis was made by 16S rRNA PCR using multiple primer sets and sequencing from liver. Psittacosis should be considered a differential diagnosis in domestic cats with intracellular bacterial hepatitis and interstitial pneumonia.

据我们所知，尚无鹦鹉热衣原体引起家猫疾病的报道。相比之下，C. felis感染在家猫中很常见，通常会导致结膜炎、上呼吸道感染和较少见的肺炎。在此，我们报告了 7 周龄家猫致命鹦鹉热病例的病理结果和诊断特征。这只动物是一窝 5 只中的 1 只，它与女王一起被送到怀俄明州的一个宠物救援中心。在大约 3 周的时间里，尽管进行了抗生素治疗，小猫和女王在死前还是生病、消瘦和黄疸。一只小猫的尸检结果显示坏死性化脓性肝炎伴 Gimenez 染色阳性细胞内细菌、非化脓性肺炎和轻度脑膜炎。鹦鹉热的诊断是通过使用多个引物组的 16S rRNA PCR 和肝脏测序进行的。