For Pete's Sake

This is Middle, one of three kittens transferred to us by another rescuer from a feral colony they manage. Middle's mother was too young to have kittens and didn't know how to care for them properly. While it's unusual for a rescue to remove a kitten from their mother Middle and his brothers were malnourished and living in mud, covered with bugs. They arrived with us around three weeks of age, severely underweight and being treated for giardia. Usually giardia begins to improve in a couple days but the kittens continued to get worse and nothing we did seemed to help. One kitten, the smallest, passed away last night and an emergency trip was made to the vet early this morning. They were diagnosed with pan-leukemia, basically a death sentence. Panleuk has a 90% kill ratio and with fragile kittens it rises to 100%. They were too weak to survive so the decision was made to euthanize them so they didn't suffer. Since then we've been in a whirl of cleaning and disinfecting and had we not put strong biosecurity measures in place many, if not all of our animals would now be at high risk.

This disease is endemic these days, especially within feral colonies, and presents as lethargy, depression, lack of appetite, vomiting, neurological issues, anemia and severe diarrhea. It attacks the organs, usually the intestines, and decimates all types of blood cells. The infected animal bleeds out or suffocates due to lack of oxygen carrying blood cells. There is no cure, only supportive care while the cat attempts to survive the disease. It is not killed by standard disinfectants only special types of peroxide and 2% bleach kills it and it lives on surfaces nearly forever. Nasty stuff.

Keeping your cats safe is important and so vaccination for this disease is essential for all cats, even those who never go outside. Since panleuk is so long lived you can easily step in secretions from an outdoor cat, not even realizing it, and carry it home to your pets on your shoes. Kind of scary. Also important to remember is to isolate any new cat or kitten that you bring into your home if they have not been already completely vaccinated and tested for FIV and FEVL. Keep them isolated a minimum of two weeks and be sure to keep things used for their care for only their use. No sharing litter boxes, food bowls or toys. And each and every time you handle them be sure to wash your hands well and dry them on a fresh paper towel before touching anything else.

And please remember, spaying and neutering your pets, whether inside or out, will greatly prevent diseases like this spreading from feral colonies and strays to your pets.

Looking for volunteers to socialize kittens. Adults and children both welcome (children should have an adult with them). Openings available Thursday through Saturday, 10am to 3pm. PM with questions or for more information.

Keebler's kittens are off to their new adventure of finding furever homes.