Beast infected human creates spontaneous combustion "hot spots", town needs cats

[Devast8or2600]

"PLOT":

A Man gets infected by a beast monster in the first 10 min of the movie (beast is never seen again).
He inadvertently creates "hot spots", that when touched by other people, causes them to burst into flames. The town decides to use cats to find and mark all existing hot spots, but later on the cats are in short supply and the town has a war over control of the cat management.

Good Luck!!

[Andrew]

The Carrier (1988)

[Terf]

  Well, THAT was easy! (Apparently.) "War over control of cat management"...oh man...actually, I shouldn't be surprised, given the fact it's on this site.

[Devast8or2600]

Quick!!!
And Dead on, Thanks.

[Andrew]

I have never seen it, but the film has been on my list of films that I want to see since I read about it in a book or online some years ago.  The plot is fairly unique, so it kinda sticks with you.