For those who do not know, I foster kittens for a local animal rescue group. Almost all of my kittens come from a rural shelter.
I pulled seven kittens in the second week of January. Three have died, the last just this morning, of panleukopenia. All seven kittens had at least initial vaccinations and were 3 months plus of age. One of the ones that died had been in the shelter for 3 months (since she was about 3 weeks) and had had FOUR vaccinations. Apparently they didn't take, but I'm concerned that she didn't break with panleuk until after coming to my house.
All seven were spayed/neutered by the shelter. Six were rabies vaccinated as well--one deemed slightly too young at time of surgery for rabies vaccine.
I am just grasping at straws here. I hate panleuk and I hate losing my babies.
Tabitha passed ten days ago, and the vet recommended quarantine for the remaining kittens for 14 days as that was the maximum known incubation period. I was at TEN DAYS of quarantine when Tristan came down sick. I saw him vomit twice in the litter box and he was hanging his head over the water bowl like Tabitha had done when she was sick. So I did a parvo SNAP and it was a positive, said prayers and pumped him full of fluids. That was last night. This morning he had died.
Is there ANYTHING I can do with the remaining four to help prevent panleuk that I'm not already doing? They are in a separate room from the free-roam kittens, and in cages, so they're not cross-transmitting any longer. (They were just starting to graduate to partial free-roam from initial shelter quarantine when the first got sick). I have the two girls in a cage together. They lost their buddy Tabitha. I have Timothy in a cage by himself. The first boy that died, Tribble, was his cagemate. And now Tip is in a cage by himself because Tristan is gone. I'm waiting to hear from the vet whether I can move Tip in with Timothy for company's sake (and so I can clean out the cage, but that will happen regardless). I still don't know--waiting to hear from vet--if this means all four have to restart the 14 day quarantine. They had a post-exposure FVRCP on the 21st and will have another today, likely. I wash hands between cages whether it was touching kittens, food, water, or litter box. Laundry from cages is done weekly with bleach and hot water, or after anyone has been sick. I don't hold these kittens against my chest to prevent my shirt from becoming a fomite. I do pet and scratch for socialization's sake although luckily these are all sweet and friendly kittens.
Is there anything I can add to diet to boost immune functioning? Vit C? Probiotics? Vit B combo? At this point I have to assume all were exposed, and some still may be incubating. I normally only vaccinate kittens every 3-4 weeks but due to exposure I am doing every 1-2 weeks until quarantine clears. It's not great as far as over-vaccinating is concerned but if the alternative is dying of panleukopenia, I'll take the over-vaccinating.
This is the first really self-aware panleuk breakout I have had and so I'm struggling with protocols. I have had kittens before die of what I suspected was panleuk but they all died quickly within a few days of each other, so there was no waiting and quarantining, it was just bleach the heck out of everything and hope for the best. That was last year, about this time.
I have been in communication with the shelter vet, letting her know who got sick and where they'd been in the shelter, but haven't heard back if they've had any other cases. It would be nice to know but they may not be allowed to say.
I am also faced with another, slightly related question, which is how soon after acquiring these kittens to get them fixed. I feel like I may have jumped the gun by getting these guys done so soon--the girls were spayed the day before I took them home and the boys neutered two days after I took them home. While this is great for limiting time of stay in waiting for a vet appointment to get fixed, I wonder if the stress of everything together was too much and helped them come down with the panleuk. I also don't know if they picked it up at the shelter or not. The first kitten that died had only come into the shelter the day before I pulled him, so I think he was incubating when he came in. Another problem. Do I pull new arrivals (who are highest risk of euth for space at the shelter)? knowing they could be incubating. I'm guessing that he was the carrier to Tabitha, and that Tabitha was the carrier to Tristan, because Tribble died more than 14 days prior to Tristan getting sick....unless fomites were a problem.
Clearly I'm going to have to redesign quarantines, if nothing else. But what do you folks think about the idea of waiting until kittens are out of quarantine to get them fixed? Assuming I can get them into the vet quickly, I think this may be a good idea. That way I am not spending money/resources on kittens that end up dying quickly. I also have a chance to see who is breaking with URI prior to spay/neuter--that's usually the issue in the past, and why I get them fixed ASAP is because let's say I pull 3 or 4 month old kittens and they get URI...it could be a good month before they're healthy enough to get spayed and neutered and that's heading into sexual maturity age. That's why I opted with these, 3-4 monthers, to go ahead and fix them ASAP before they hit puberty. And it seems to have backfired.
I know this is long and rambling, but I've got a lot on my mind. If anyone knows of any good shelter medicine-type sites that address panleuk management, that'd be great. UTD resources, though. I'm not about to euthanize all my kittens because they MIGHT have panleuk so I can "start afresh" which is what shelter medicine used to recommend.
And sorry about all the T names. I name my intake groups by letter so I know who came in, when. This group is Tip, Timothy, Trinket, and Tallulah, leaving behind the deceased Tribble, Tabitha, and Tristan. I have three quarantine cages, and have lost a kitten out of each (I know that suggests that I am not being clean between cages BUT the girls and Tip and Tristan had begun access to free-roam status before illness hit). Now I'm repeating myself.
I pulled seven kittens in the second week of January. Three have died, the last just this morning, of panleukopenia. All seven kittens had at least initial vaccinations and were 3 months plus of age. One of the ones that died had been in the shelter for 3 months (since she was about 3 weeks) and had had FOUR vaccinations. Apparently they didn't take, but I'm concerned that she didn't break with panleuk until after coming to my house.
All seven were spayed/neutered by the shelter. Six were rabies vaccinated as well--one deemed slightly too young at time of surgery for rabies vaccine.
I am just grasping at straws here. I hate panleuk and I hate losing my babies.
Tabitha passed ten days ago, and the vet recommended quarantine for the remaining kittens for 14 days as that was the maximum known incubation period. I was at TEN DAYS of quarantine when Tristan came down sick. I saw him vomit twice in the litter box and he was hanging his head over the water bowl like Tabitha had done when she was sick. So I did a parvo SNAP and it was a positive, said prayers and pumped him full of fluids. That was last night. This morning he had died.
Is there ANYTHING I can do with the remaining four to help prevent panleuk that I'm not already doing? They are in a separate room from the free-roam kittens, and in cages, so they're not cross-transmitting any longer. (They were just starting to graduate to partial free-roam from initial shelter quarantine when the first got sick). I have the two girls in a cage together. They lost their buddy Tabitha. I have Timothy in a cage by himself. The first boy that died, Tribble, was his cagemate. And now Tip is in a cage by himself because Tristan is gone. I'm waiting to hear from the vet whether I can move Tip in with Timothy for company's sake (and so I can clean out the cage, but that will happen regardless). I still don't know--waiting to hear from vet--if this means all four have to restart the 14 day quarantine. They had a post-exposure FVRCP on the 21st and will have another today, likely. I wash hands between cages whether it was touching kittens, food, water, or litter box. Laundry from cages is done weekly with bleach and hot water, or after anyone has been sick. I don't hold these kittens against my chest to prevent my shirt from becoming a fomite. I do pet and scratch for socialization's sake although luckily these are all sweet and friendly kittens.
Is there anything I can add to diet to boost immune functioning? Vit C? Probiotics? Vit B combo? At this point I have to assume all were exposed, and some still may be incubating. I normally only vaccinate kittens every 3-4 weeks but due to exposure I am doing every 1-2 weeks until quarantine clears. It's not great as far as over-vaccinating is concerned but if the alternative is dying of panleukopenia, I'll take the over-vaccinating.
This is the first really self-aware panleuk breakout I have had and so I'm struggling with protocols. I have had kittens before die of what I suspected was panleuk but they all died quickly within a few days of each other, so there was no waiting and quarantining, it was just bleach the heck out of everything and hope for the best. That was last year, about this time.
I have been in communication with the shelter vet, letting her know who got sick and where they'd been in the shelter, but haven't heard back if they've had any other cases. It would be nice to know but they may not be allowed to say.
I am also faced with another, slightly related question, which is how soon after acquiring these kittens to get them fixed. I feel like I may have jumped the gun by getting these guys done so soon--the girls were spayed the day before I took them home and the boys neutered two days after I took them home. While this is great for limiting time of stay in waiting for a vet appointment to get fixed, I wonder if the stress of everything together was too much and helped them come down with the panleuk. I also don't know if they picked it up at the shelter or not. The first kitten that died had only come into the shelter the day before I pulled him, so I think he was incubating when he came in. Another problem. Do I pull new arrivals (who are highest risk of euth for space at the shelter)? knowing they could be incubating. I'm guessing that he was the carrier to Tabitha, and that Tabitha was the carrier to Tristan, because Tribble died more than 14 days prior to Tristan getting sick....unless fomites were a problem.
Clearly I'm going to have to redesign quarantines, if nothing else. But what do you folks think about the idea of waiting until kittens are out of quarantine to get them fixed? Assuming I can get them into the vet quickly, I think this may be a good idea. That way I am not spending money/resources on kittens that end up dying quickly. I also have a chance to see who is breaking with URI prior to spay/neuter--that's usually the issue in the past, and why I get them fixed ASAP is because let's say I pull 3 or 4 month old kittens and they get URI...it could be a good month before they're healthy enough to get spayed and neutered and that's heading into sexual maturity age. That's why I opted with these, 3-4 monthers, to go ahead and fix them ASAP before they hit puberty. And it seems to have backfired.
I know this is long and rambling, but I've got a lot on my mind. If anyone knows of any good shelter medicine-type sites that address panleuk management, that'd be great. UTD resources, though. I'm not about to euthanize all my kittens because they MIGHT have panleuk so I can "start afresh" which is what shelter medicine used to recommend.
And sorry about all the T names. I name my intake groups by letter so I know who came in, when. This group is Tip, Timothy, Trinket, and Tallulah, leaving behind the deceased Tribble, Tabitha, and Tristan. I have three quarantine cages, and have lost a kitten out of each (I know that suggests that I am not being clean between cages BUT the girls and Tip and Tristan had begun access to free-roam status before illness hit). Now I'm repeating myself.
