Rescue Story: Contagious Diseases and Hospice Kitties, and Buy a Calendar!

January 30, 2018January 30, 2018 Bernadette

Pittsburgh C.A.T. rescues the cats and kittens that no one else wants and gives them a chance. Few shelters can keep animals with contagious diseases, they just don’t have the capacity and can’t put the rest of the population at risk. Calici and panleukopenia are highly contagious and deadly, and in fact vaccines against them are included in the core vaccine every cat should get. Sadly, few rescues have had any veterinary care at all, kittens or adults. Treatment is intensive and expensive, and not always successful. On the other hand, ringworm is really just an annoyance, but it too is highly contagious with weeks of quarantine and treatment. Often any animal who comes in with any of these conditions is euthanized, but Pittsburgh C.A.T. has saved dozens of them, at their own expense.

RINGWORM, CALICI AND PANLEUKOPENIA: TOO MANY KITTENS

Pittsburgh C.A.T. often fosters entire litters, and multiple litters at once, infected with these three diseases—in fact, a few foster homes kind of specialize in these, and because of their contagion it’s best to keep them all together and away from other kittens and cats.

Ringworm is often a death sentence in shelters because of its contagion and the difficulty and length of time of treatment even though the condition itself is more of a nuisance. Weeks of medications, medicated dips, skin cultures, scrubbing and bleaching and hazmat suits pass before kittens and cats are ready to meet the public.

Calici, known as cat flu, and panleukopenia, commonly called distemper, have death sentences of their own because cats don’t survive them without intensive care, and even then it’s not always successful. That’s why vaccines against these two deadly and highly contagious diseases are included in the core vaccines for cats—they are the “C” and “P” in the FVRCP vaccine essential for your cat’s health.

Unfortunately, the cycle of abandoned cats who don’t receive any health care at all produces litters of kittens with no immunity to either one. Pittsburgh C.A.T. fosters with veterinary and nursing skills will provide the intensive care they need to give them a chance at survival and a forever home, though not without the heartbreak of loss. Here are just a few of our many survivors.

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Sometimes the only thing we can offer a rescued cat is loving care until it’s their time to go. Sometimes they surprise us and turn around, like Fievel, and sometimes they recover enough to enjoy life for a while, but sometimes it’s as if they waited until they found a home and love one more time, sometimes just for one day, and then they let go.

TO BE IN A HOME AND LOVED, IF ONLY FOR A DAY: BLIZZARD

Blizzard had come into the clinic as a rescue. A big cat, he was obviously underweight, and yet he wouldn’t eat. An exam found an inoperable mass in his mouth, and that changed his status from a rescue to a hospice cat.

Lindsay decided he should be able to go home with a supply of pain medication to spend as much time as possible before he was ready to say goodbye.

Deana offered to take him home on a Friday intending to keep him at least the weekend. Blizzard enjoyed the ride home, a nap on the cat bed, cuddling with Deana’s son Anthony to watch TV, and just hanging out looking handsome.

Not a day too soon. The very next day he indicated he was ready. Deana took him back to the clinic where he was surrounded by people who loved him.

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Purchase your calendar here or read more about the calendar and Pittsburgh C.A.T.

Stevie and Noah’s stories are heartwarming but their care over weeks and months is not free—Pittsburgh C.A.T. still has to pay for all the exams, xrays, tests, surgeries, treatments and medications that helped them to survive and thrive. Pittsburgh C.A.T. will do whatever needs to be done for a kitten who shows a chance of survival, and also to find a loving forever home when the kitten is fully recovered and ready. Help Pittsburgh C.A.T. help more kittens and other cats and purchase the 2018 calendar, full of more stories and information. All proceeds go to help pay Pittsburgh C.A.T.’s medical bills for current and ongoing rescues.

Calendar is 8.5″ x 11″, 28 pages saddle-stitched and includes information on Pittsburgh C.A.T. and clinics and adoption.

[ss_product id=’e68e11ae-c0c2-11e6-ac56-002590787d08′ ]Pittsburgh C.A.T. 2018 Calendar[/ss_product]

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All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.