Summer 2020 - Pandemic Kittens
Once the pandemic hit, my company decided to go 100% to working from home. No biggie. I can do my job anywhere there's a computer and an internet connection. So, I contacted one of the local organizations that I had volunteered with in the past. A couple of months later, they had a group of three kittens (originally) who all arrived malnourished, cold, and suffering from an upper respiratory infection (URI). They were named Valentino (a black and white tuxedo), Valerie, and Vargas (both brown tabbies). They weren't interested in eating so I had to make a slurry of kitten formula and canned kitten food and dribble it into their mouths, initially.
After a few days, they started eating on their own. Valentino, though, had an eye infection and needed additional medication for a while. Another batch of kittens from the same location were being fostered by another person and all but one of hers died. So, it was decided that for socialization purposes, it would be best for her to come join the three I already had. She was named Violet and was probably related in some way to the three I already had, either her mother was a sister to the the other kitten's mother or they had the same dad (or both). Her resemblance to the original three was striking. Eventually, a fifth kitten, Victoria, was added to the mix. Although she was from the same location and resembled Valentino, she was a little older and had already been spayed. She had gone off her food following a deworming and vaccinations and the woman caring for her didn't have the time needed to get her to eat (she was looking after a number of other cats and kittens at the time). Plus, Victoria needed some companions her own age to play with. So, kitten number 5 joined the ranks.
Although everyone recovered from their URI, Valentino's left eye never seemed to get better. It didn't appear to be infected any longer, but the lids of the eye and the nictitating membrane underneath appeared to be growing together. I sent pictures to the rescue group and they arranged to have him see an eye doctor. The doctor agreed that the infection was gone and decided that he'd need surgery on the eye at a later date (likely when he went in for his neuter surgery).
The kittens were getting along nicely and their appetites were returning when Valentino had a bit of an accident. I'm not exactly sure what happened but shortly after I left the room, I heard him cry out. I went back in and found himself stuck behind the TV stand crying in pain. I quickly moved the stand and he got up and limped off. He was reluctant to put pressure on his foot and when I examined him found his "ankle" was quite swollen. I suspected he might have broken it so I immediately texted the volunteer coordinator and put him in a kennel by himself. When the coordinator saw my text, she arranged for me to take him to their vet right away. Sure enough, x-rays revealed he'd broken it so they put him into a gigantic splint that would prevent him from being able to stand on the leg. He was restricted to the kennel for the next 4 weeks.
Victoria didn't stay long with me. All I needed to do was get her over whatever was upsetting her tummy and back to eating well. She was adopted about a week or so after Valentino's accident. Shortly after that, I was approached about taking care of some orphaned kittens that were only a few days old and need round the clock bottle feeding. Little did I realize what a nightmare I was agreeing to.
Normally, I would have no problem with bottle feeding very young kittens. I've done it before. But in this case, there was another, underlying problem that I was unaware of and that would affect not only the orphaned kittens, but the four remaining kittens as well. The problem began with several breakdowns in what are considered standard protocols for shelters and rescues. The first was triggered by the pandemic. Veterinary hospitals were largely shut down except for emergency or life threatening illnesses. That meant spay and neuter surgeries were not being performed as they were considered "elective". Normally, this particular rescue would have their kittens receive their first set of vaccinations when they went in for their spay/neuter surgeries. Since the surgeries weren't happening, neither were the shots. This became the first protocol failure. Other groups I worked with, would schedule the shots based on age, regardless of whether they were big enough for their spay/neuter surgeries (which they usually weren't).
The second protocol failure was quarantining new arrivals. The mother of the orphans and her kittens were not quarantined per standard protocol for 2 weeks. She'd only been with the rescue a couple of days when her health declined rapidly and she started having seizures. She was rushed to the vet where they determined she was too sick to save and euthanized her. I'm fairly sure the vets did blood tests at the time and determined that she had a severe case of feline panleukopenia (FP) also known as feline distemper, a highly contagious and deadly virus (ironically, it too is a type of coronavirus). I believe this information was properly conveyed to the woman who runs the rescue but she mistook the diagnosis for a different one, that is far less contagious, feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). So she decided, contrary to proper protocol, to distribute the kittens who were also exposed to the panleukopenia to a couple of different foster homes.
As a result, over 20 unvaccinated kittens ended up being exposed to and contracting this deadly virus, both at the homes the orphaned kittens were sent to as well as to other homes as volunteers who were helping with the sick kittens became contaminated with the virus and took it back to the kittens at their homes. The orphaned kittens I had began to fail almost immediately and I noticed a diarrhea that concerned me. But when I expressed my concern to the rescue, I was assured that it was fine, that the kittens were just adapting to the switch from their mom's milk to the formula. I wasn't convinced. At first they seemed to take to the bottle right away. But each feeding it became more and more difficult to get them to eat. The other kittens were likewise affected. Emails and texts started flying back and forth as the foster volunteers began to scramble to find out what was happening. Three days after the distribution of the kittens, it was decided to take the 2 sickest in to the vet.
I was contacted by the head of the rescue some time later that the kittens were tested and they had FIP and that I should take my two, who were already nearing death, to the vet to be euthanized. I followed the instructions and dropped the kittens off with the same vet as before. It wasn't until I got home and another volunteer from the rescue called me to say, that no, it wasn't FIP but FP that they all had and that now all the other kittens had been exposed. Then came the wait to see if or when the other kittens would show symptoms. Within 5 days, the first of my kittens began showing signs, vomiting and diarrhea. My heart sank. I immediately isolated him and contacted the rescue for advice on how to treat him. There's no direct treatment for panleukopenia. It's all about managing symptoms. Cats typically don't die from the disease itself. Instead, the virus attacks their immune system and they end up dying from a secondary infection and/or dehydration.
Two days after he first started exhibiting symptoms, Vargas was dead. I was helpless to stop it. It hit him fast and hard. The other kittens were slower to show signs and their symptoms were never as severe as his. For all the kittens, we started a regimen of injecting subcutaneous fluids to prevent dehydration, injectable antibiotics to prevent secondary infections, and an injectable anti-nausea medication. They were also force fed a combination of kitten formula and canned food, to maintain their strength since they had no appetite. It was a lot of work. In addition to the medication and feeding, I had to remove and destroy all the items in the room (cat tree, large kitten toys, etc) that couldn't be disinfected. I started a protocol that involved cleaning every surface with either Rescue or SNiPER, two veterinary or hospital disinfectants that can kill panleukopenia. I had a set of scrubs and shoes that were removed immediately upon leaving the room and disinfected, either by spraying with SNiPER or by running through the washing machine using the sanitary setting (extra hot water) and adding some SNiPER to the load. Any dishes immediately went into the dishwasher and cleaned with the sanitary setting.
The amount of work needed to care for the kittens and maintain the cleaning protocol took its toll and I ended up taking some vacation days in order to care for the kittens. I also recruited a couple of friends who I'd worked with at a local shelter to help me with the medicating and feeding. The biggest problem was trying to give the subQ fluids. You need 2 people, 1 to hold the kitten and the needle in and another to monitor the bag which has to be held up high so that gravity can work to inject the fluids under the skin. Our goal was to get them through the first 5-7 days after symptoms show up. Most cats and kittens that can live that long, will survive. All in all, half the kittens infected with the virus passed away.
Once the kittens were starting to feel better and eat on their own, I had to figure out what to do for entertainment. The cat tree, which had been a favorite, had to be tossed out. So, I decided to make something myself, out of cardboard, for them to play on and in. They would continue to shed the virus for up to 3 weeks after recovery so getting a new cat tree was out of the question because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that would have to be thrown out later (trying to effectively disinfect a cat trees is nearly impossible because of the materials used in construction). The virus is very hardy and can live for up to a year in an environment. To make my cardboard substitute I went on line and got a bunch of ideas and watched videos on how to construct them. I then plied all my friends for donations of cardboard boxes. Once I had a sufficient supply, I set about making my "kitten castle". I planned out how to connect the boxes and make holes for the kittens to move from one level or box to another. Then I cut the holes and attached the boxes together using shipping tape and glue. Lots of shipping tape and glue.
The kittens loved it. And the best thing is that when the were finally free of the virus, I could trash it easily and make another. I also gave the kittens weekly baths after they recovered until we were sure they had no traces of the virus left and the room got one final and thorough disinfecting. By now, Valentino had not only gotten his splint off, but he'd had his mandatory 2 weeks of cage rest to allow him time to slowly get strength back in is now healed leg.
Next came the spay and neuter surgeries for my three remaining kittens, Valerie, Violet and Valentino. They decided to hold off on any surgery to Valentino's eye until after he recovered from the neuter surgery. So, a couple of weeks later we were back and it turned out that the damage to his eye was too extensive and they had to remove it (which is what I thought would end up happening all along).
Then came the task of finding new homes for the kittens. By this time, I'd grown quite fond of Valentino and had been considering adopting him myself. Seeing his reaction when people came to see the other two kittens sort of solidified my decision. He had several strikes against him. First he was mostly black and there's still a lot of superstition regarding black cats that often leaves them harder to adopt. Then there was his missing eye and finally, was the shyness. He was terrified of strangers and I knew he'd not "show" well for potential adopters. So, while we worked the girls their forever homes, Valentino had already found his. Since by now, the room was safe from the virus, I started letting Kieren in to visit the kittens. He'd been fascinated with them from the get go but for one reason or another, it wasn't safe to let him into the room. I wasn't worried that he or my other adult cats would get the panleukopenia since they were all fully vaccinated, but I didn't want him to spread the virus around the house in case I had any more unvaccinated fosters in the future.
Valentino was immediately attracted to Kieren. He would stick to him like glue whenever Kieren was in the room. It was so cute! Kieren, for his part seemed to enjoy having Valentino to play with. Once the paperwork had been completed, Valentino was rechristened to Liam and now I have TWO foster failures! And both of them are tuxedos. Go figure.
After a few days, they started eating on their own. Valentino, though, had an eye infection and needed additional medication for a while. Another batch of kittens from the same location were being fostered by another person and all but one of hers died. So, it was decided that for socialization purposes, it would be best for her to come join the three I already had. She was named Violet and was probably related in some way to the three I already had, either her mother was a sister to the the other kitten's mother or they had the same dad (or both). Her resemblance to the original three was striking. Eventually, a fifth kitten, Victoria, was added to the mix. Although she was from the same location and resembled Valentino, she was a little older and had already been spayed. She had gone off her food following a deworming and vaccinations and the woman caring for her didn't have the time needed to get her to eat (she was looking after a number of other cats and kittens at the time). Plus, Victoria needed some companions her own age to play with. So, kitten number 5 joined the ranks.
Although everyone recovered from their URI, Valentino's left eye never seemed to get better. It didn't appear to be infected any longer, but the lids of the eye and the nictitating membrane underneath appeared to be growing together. I sent pictures to the rescue group and they arranged to have him see an eye doctor. The doctor agreed that the infection was gone and decided that he'd need surgery on the eye at a later date (likely when he went in for his neuter surgery).
The kittens were getting along nicely and their appetites were returning when Valentino had a bit of an accident. I'm not exactly sure what happened but shortly after I left the room, I heard him cry out. I went back in and found himself stuck behind the TV stand crying in pain. I quickly moved the stand and he got up and limped off. He was reluctant to put pressure on his foot and when I examined him found his "ankle" was quite swollen. I suspected he might have broken it so I immediately texted the volunteer coordinator and put him in a kennel by himself. When the coordinator saw my text, she arranged for me to take him to their vet right away. Sure enough, x-rays revealed he'd broken it so they put him into a gigantic splint that would prevent him from being able to stand on the leg. He was restricted to the kennel for the next 4 weeks.
Victoria didn't stay long with me. All I needed to do was get her over whatever was upsetting her tummy and back to eating well. She was adopted about a week or so after Valentino's accident. Shortly after that, I was approached about taking care of some orphaned kittens that were only a few days old and need round the clock bottle feeding. Little did I realize what a nightmare I was agreeing to.
Normally, I would have no problem with bottle feeding very young kittens. I've done it before. But in this case, there was another, underlying problem that I was unaware of and that would affect not only the orphaned kittens, but the four remaining kittens as well. The problem began with several breakdowns in what are considered standard protocols for shelters and rescues. The first was triggered by the pandemic. Veterinary hospitals were largely shut down except for emergency or life threatening illnesses. That meant spay and neuter surgeries were not being performed as they were considered "elective". Normally, this particular rescue would have their kittens receive their first set of vaccinations when they went in for their spay/neuter surgeries. Since the surgeries weren't happening, neither were the shots. This became the first protocol failure. Other groups I worked with, would schedule the shots based on age, regardless of whether they were big enough for their spay/neuter surgeries (which they usually weren't).
The second protocol failure was quarantining new arrivals. The mother of the orphans and her kittens were not quarantined per standard protocol for 2 weeks. She'd only been with the rescue a couple of days when her health declined rapidly and she started having seizures. She was rushed to the vet where they determined she was too sick to save and euthanized her. I'm fairly sure the vets did blood tests at the time and determined that she had a severe case of feline panleukopenia (FP) also known as feline distemper, a highly contagious and deadly virus (ironically, it too is a type of coronavirus). I believe this information was properly conveyed to the woman who runs the rescue but she mistook the diagnosis for a different one, that is far less contagious, feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). So she decided, contrary to proper protocol, to distribute the kittens who were also exposed to the panleukopenia to a couple of different foster homes.
As a result, over 20 unvaccinated kittens ended up being exposed to and contracting this deadly virus, both at the homes the orphaned kittens were sent to as well as to other homes as volunteers who were helping with the sick kittens became contaminated with the virus and took it back to the kittens at their homes. The orphaned kittens I had began to fail almost immediately and I noticed a diarrhea that concerned me. But when I expressed my concern to the rescue, I was assured that it was fine, that the kittens were just adapting to the switch from their mom's milk to the formula. I wasn't convinced. At first they seemed to take to the bottle right away. But each feeding it became more and more difficult to get them to eat. The other kittens were likewise affected. Emails and texts started flying back and forth as the foster volunteers began to scramble to find out what was happening. Three days after the distribution of the kittens, it was decided to take the 2 sickest in to the vet.
I was contacted by the head of the rescue some time later that the kittens were tested and they had FIP and that I should take my two, who were already nearing death, to the vet to be euthanized. I followed the instructions and dropped the kittens off with the same vet as before. It wasn't until I got home and another volunteer from the rescue called me to say, that no, it wasn't FIP but FP that they all had and that now all the other kittens had been exposed. Then came the wait to see if or when the other kittens would show symptoms. Within 5 days, the first of my kittens began showing signs, vomiting and diarrhea. My heart sank. I immediately isolated him and contacted the rescue for advice on how to treat him. There's no direct treatment for panleukopenia. It's all about managing symptoms. Cats typically don't die from the disease itself. Instead, the virus attacks their immune system and they end up dying from a secondary infection and/or dehydration.
Two days after he first started exhibiting symptoms, Vargas was dead. I was helpless to stop it. It hit him fast and hard. The other kittens were slower to show signs and their symptoms were never as severe as his. For all the kittens, we started a regimen of injecting subcutaneous fluids to prevent dehydration, injectable antibiotics to prevent secondary infections, and an injectable anti-nausea medication. They were also force fed a combination of kitten formula and canned food, to maintain their strength since they had no appetite. It was a lot of work. In addition to the medication and feeding, I had to remove and destroy all the items in the room (cat tree, large kitten toys, etc) that couldn't be disinfected. I started a protocol that involved cleaning every surface with either Rescue or SNiPER, two veterinary or hospital disinfectants that can kill panleukopenia. I had a set of scrubs and shoes that were removed immediately upon leaving the room and disinfected, either by spraying with SNiPER or by running through the washing machine using the sanitary setting (extra hot water) and adding some SNiPER to the load. Any dishes immediately went into the dishwasher and cleaned with the sanitary setting.
The amount of work needed to care for the kittens and maintain the cleaning protocol took its toll and I ended up taking some vacation days in order to care for the kittens. I also recruited a couple of friends who I'd worked with at a local shelter to help me with the medicating and feeding. The biggest problem was trying to give the subQ fluids. You need 2 people, 1 to hold the kitten and the needle in and another to monitor the bag which has to be held up high so that gravity can work to inject the fluids under the skin. Our goal was to get them through the first 5-7 days after symptoms show up. Most cats and kittens that can live that long, will survive. All in all, half the kittens infected with the virus passed away.
Once the kittens were starting to feel better and eat on their own, I had to figure out what to do for entertainment. The cat tree, which had been a favorite, had to be tossed out. So, I decided to make something myself, out of cardboard, for them to play on and in. They would continue to shed the virus for up to 3 weeks after recovery so getting a new cat tree was out of the question because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that would have to be thrown out later (trying to effectively disinfect a cat trees is nearly impossible because of the materials used in construction). The virus is very hardy and can live for up to a year in an environment. To make my cardboard substitute I went on line and got a bunch of ideas and watched videos on how to construct them. I then plied all my friends for donations of cardboard boxes. Once I had a sufficient supply, I set about making my "kitten castle". I planned out how to connect the boxes and make holes for the kittens to move from one level or box to another. Then I cut the holes and attached the boxes together using shipping tape and glue. Lots of shipping tape and glue.
The kittens loved it. And the best thing is that when the were finally free of the virus, I could trash it easily and make another. I also gave the kittens weekly baths after they recovered until we were sure they had no traces of the virus left and the room got one final and thorough disinfecting. By now, Valentino had not only gotten his splint off, but he'd had his mandatory 2 weeks of cage rest to allow him time to slowly get strength back in is now healed leg.
Next came the spay and neuter surgeries for my three remaining kittens, Valerie, Violet and Valentino. They decided to hold off on any surgery to Valentino's eye until after he recovered from the neuter surgery. So, a couple of weeks later we were back and it turned out that the damage to his eye was too extensive and they had to remove it (which is what I thought would end up happening all along).
Then came the task of finding new homes for the kittens. By this time, I'd grown quite fond of Valentino and had been considering adopting him myself. Seeing his reaction when people came to see the other two kittens sort of solidified my decision. He had several strikes against him. First he was mostly black and there's still a lot of superstition regarding black cats that often leaves them harder to adopt. Then there was his missing eye and finally, was the shyness. He was terrified of strangers and I knew he'd not "show" well for potential adopters. So, while we worked the girls their forever homes, Valentino had already found his. Since by now, the room was safe from the virus, I started letting Kieren in to visit the kittens. He'd been fascinated with them from the get go but for one reason or another, it wasn't safe to let him into the room. I wasn't worried that he or my other adult cats would get the panleukopenia since they were all fully vaccinated, but I didn't want him to spread the virus around the house in case I had any more unvaccinated fosters in the future.
Valentino was immediately attracted to Kieren. He would stick to him like glue whenever Kieren was in the room. It was so cute! Kieren, for his part seemed to enjoy having Valentino to play with. Once the paperwork had been completed, Valentino was rechristened to Liam and now I have TWO foster failures! And both of them are tuxedos. Go figure.