What are the most common diseases of the leopard guard?

The following diseases are common in the leopard guardian:

1. Skin infection:
   • Causes: It is usually due to the padding being too wet, which allows bacteria and fungi to breed and then cause infection; it may also be due to the guardian’s skin abrasion not being treated in time, or incomplete moulting, where the old skin left behind breeds bacteria leading to infection.
   • Symptoms: If it is caused by dampness of the padding, brown or black spots may appear on the abdomen; if it is caused by skin abrasion or incomplete moult, there will be symptoms such as redness and swelling of the skin, putrefaction and pus.
2. Eye infection:
   • Causes: The eye is more special and fragile, it may be infected due to sand and dust entering the eye, or the eye rubbing against hard objects, etc., and eye infections are relatively difficult to treat.
   • Symptoms: The eyes may become swollen and watery, and in severe cases, the eyes may become cloudy or even impossible to open.
3. Chondromatosis:
   • Causes: Mainly because the guardian palace does not take in sufficient amounts of calcium and vitamins. In daily feeding, if the food fed is not nutritionally balanced or not supplemented with enough calcium powder and vitamins, chondropathy will be easily triggered.
   • Symptoms: Initially, the guardian will suffer from loss of appetite. As the disease progresses, the body will become weaker and weaker, the muscles will gradually become stiff and swollen, and the legs may be fractured due to lack of calcium.
4. Digestive Diseases:
   • Gastroenteritis:
     • Causes: It may be caused by food that is not fresh, contaminated by bacteria or parasites, or unhygienic breeding environment, leading to intestinal infections in the guardian house. In addition, changes in temperature, humidity and other environmental factors may also cause gastrointestinal dysfunction, which in turn leads to gastroenteritis.
     • Symptoms: Shougong will show symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea, enlarged abdomen, reduced mobility and poor mental state, and the disease will develop more quickly.
   • IBS:
     • Causes: Mostly caused by inappropriate temperature of the feeding environment, type of food or inappropriate amount of feeding. For example, too low or too high temperature will affect the digestive function of the Shougong; sudden change of food type or overfeeding may also lead to gastrointestinal discomfort.
     • Symptoms: The abdomen of the guardian palace is flattened, its movement and mental state are poor, and the disease comes and goes, unlike gastroenteritis where the symptoms are severe and deteriorate rapidly.
5. Tail breakage and post-tail breakage infections:
   • Causes: Leopard guardians will automatically break their tails to take advantage of the opportunity to escape when they are frightened or suddenly captured. After the tail is severed, if the keeping environment is not hygienic and there is an overgrowth of bacteria, it will easily lead to infection of the severed tail wound.
   • Symptoms: Redness, swelling, inflammation and pus may appear on the severed tail, which may seriously affect the health and normal activities of the guardian.
6. Respiratory disease (pneumonia, etc.):
   • Causes: Usually due to excessive changes in the temperature of the breeding environment, the Shougong gets cold and flu, or the breeding environment is too humid and poorly ventilated, resulting in bacterial or viral infection of the respiratory tract.
   • Symptoms: Shougong will show symptoms such as lack of spirit, loss of appetite, sneezing, visible discharge around the nostrils (snot), and breathing may become rapid or difficult.
7. Gout:
   • Causes: excessive protein content in the diet of the guardian or intake of unsuitable proteins, as well as insufficient water intake and abnormal kidney function may lead to gout.
   • Symptoms: It is divided into visceral type gout and joint type gout. Visceral-type gout has no obvious symptoms in the early stages of the disease, and may lead to impaired functioning of the internal organs of the Shogun in the later stages; joint-type gout causes white urate deposits in the joints of the Shogun, leading to swollen and painful joints, and difficulty in walking.
8. Abnormal moulting (no shedding of skin, etc.):
   • Causes : Insufficient humidity in the feeding environment is the most common cause. If the skin of the guardian is too dry, it is difficult to shed the old skin smoothly. In addition, malnutrition and lack of vitamins may also affect the moulting process of the Shamushi.
   • Symptoms: Old skin will remain on the surface of the guardian’s skin, especially in the eyes, toes, tail, etc. In severe cases, the guardian’s eyesight and mobility may be affected.
9. Cloacal prolapse:
   • Causes: It may be caused by the prolapse of reproductive organs or intestines due to the shock or disturbance of the guardian palace during egg-laying; it may also be caused by intestinal infections, constipation, etc., which cause the cloacal prolapse when the guardian palace strains to defecate.
   • Symptoms: Internal organs can be seen protruding from the cloacal area of the guardian palace, which may affect the excretory function of the guardian palace in severe cases.