Many excellent vaccines are available to protect cats against panleukopenia.
In unvaccinated populations, however, panleukopenia remains the most severe and destructive disease of cats. Feline panleukopenia virus is a very small and very stable virus classified in the parvovirus group. Although it can affect cats of all ages, feline panleukopenia is primarily a disease of kittens. The characteristics of the disease may vary considerably from population to population and from outbreak to outbreak. Panleukopenia rarely occurs in populations in which vaccination is routinely practiced.