Srinagar, Dec. 25 -- Amid the surge in the trend of keeping cats as pets in Kashmir, the health experts have sounded alert over increasing cat-bite cases in the past four years owing to the vaccination gaps in the animals and their tendency to transmit zoonotic diseases among children.

Health experts say that Kashmir valley saw a surge in adoption of cats during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. They said that since 2020 there has been an exponential increase in cat bite cases among people particularly women and children.

Kashmir's Anti Rabies Clinic (ARC) at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital reported the highest number of cat bite cases this year, with the total reaching 6,500 incidents so far, up from 4,200 cases in the same per...