Sunshine Update

Having a mom with healthy kittens is a pretty easy foster. Sunshine is a good mom. She is feeding them well and keeping them clean. We just have to clean their cage and litter box daily, see that Sunshine has plenty of good food and water. We monitor the kitten’s health each day by weighing them and looking them over to ensure they are fit. We have trimmed their toe nails twice already as a favor to Sunshine. Those nails are like sharp needles and they use their feet when they nurse to help Sunshine let the milk down for them.

Sunshine prefers to spend most of her time with her kittens, but she does come out of the crate to stretch and explore the office a few times a day. Care gets trickier next week when we start offering them gruel (a soup made of cat/kitten food). They will still nurse, but they will also start lapping up and wearing the food (just like puppies). We are counting on Sunshine to clean the food off them after each feeding! By the time they return to the shelter at about 8 weeks, they will be able to eat dry kitten food.

The kittens haven’t shown a lot of personality yet, but they do accept handling. They will be a lot of fun when they are ready to play! That may be sometime next week.

Good Morning, Sunshine!

The Shelter staff had a surprise waiting for them this morning. Sometime last night Sunshine, a one-year old calico cat, gave birth to four kittens. Sunshine is a first for us. We’ve had kittens in foster care before, but never day-old kittens with their mother.

Eclipse (f)		Storm (m)
Rain (m)		Sunny (m)

Kittens

A couple of days ago we picked up five 6-week old kittens. Rarely do we have kittens in foster care, but kittens are coming into the Shelter fast and there are no other foster homes available. To be put up for adoption kittens must be at least 8 weeks old and weigh at least two pounds. These guys (they’re all boys) weigh about 1.75 pounds so they’ll be here for three weeks or so to gain some weight. They’re healthy and very friendly.

Shades
Midnight
Storm
Boo
Shadow

Crosby Gets Some Friends

Those of you who know me well will be surprised to hear that I asked Michelle, the Shelter Manager at the Champaign County Humane Society, to find us a couple more kittens. Because of Crosby’s parasite problem, he has to be completely isolated in the puppy room. We had planned on bringing him upstairs for socialization, but the risk of spreading the mites to the Base Pack is too great. I was concerned that he was going to spend an important period in his life for socialization by himself and he could never get this time back.

The Cheyletiella mites will be gone after another treatment or two or Revolution. It’s just that in the mean time, unless Crosby can be isolated, the mites may spread to his human caretakers and their pets. We’re one of the only foster sites that has a room dedicated to housing our foster animals. This semi-isolated environment is why we could take Crosby when none of the other foster homes could take a chance of bringing him in. But isolation is bad for socialization, and for foster animals, socialization is just as important as health issues.

In consultation with the medical staff at CCHS it was decided that the risk to other kittens was extremely low as long as they were treated to give them protection from the mites before being brought into contact with Crosby. In cooperation with fellow foster parent Sarah, a plan was worked out to give Crosby some friends to grow up with. Thanks to Sarah we were able to introduce Crosby to Kitten I and StrayKitty about an hour ago.

I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Sarah to agree to let these two move in with Crosby. She’s been taking care of them for some time and has been working through medical issues with each kitten. It’s hard to let go of foster animals when you’ve been treating illnesses, bottle feeding, and worrying about how they’re progressing. Thanks to Sarah, though, we all hope Crosby will grow up to be a well-socialized companion.

Kitten I and StrayKitty are two months old, but they are only slightly bigger than Crosby. Kitten I, a female, is a very pretty calico with a beautifully marked face. StrayKitty, a male, is a brown tabby with an eye problem. Both of them have been treated with Revolution to protect them from the Cheyletiella mites. These two kittens will be with us until the end of Crosby’s treatment for mites. At that point he will no longer be contagious and will probably move to Sarah’s house with Kitten I and StrayKitty. If all goes well this will be in just a few weeks.

Sidney, the Social Director of the Base Pack, introduces herself to Kitten I.
Crosby tries to catch StrayKitty’s tail.
Kitten I meets Crosby with a raised paw.

More on Crosby

In yesterday’s post I said Crosby had lice. It turns out that is not correct. He actually has Cheyletiellosis, Michelle sent me some information on this disease:

Cheyletiellosis is an itchy, scaling skin disease of cats caused by infestation with Cheyletiella mites. It is often called "walking dandruff" because when you examine an infested cat, you may see that the "dandruff" is moving. The movement is actually caused by the mites moving around under the scales. Although the mites inhabit the entire body, the scaling and itching often seem worse over the back.

Cheyletiellosis is a contagious and a zoonotic disease which means it can be spread to and from other cats, dogs or humans. Cats can acquire the infection from other pets or humans. The mite is transmitted by close contact with infested animals. Since the mite can live for a few days off the host, it is also possible to become infected through environmental contamination. Eggs are also shed into the environment, which is believed to also be an important cause of reinfestation.

This disease is very contagious making it more prevalent in shelters, humane societies, boarding facilities and grooming establishments where there are lots of pets. Poor sanitation, poor nutrition and overcrowding can lead to infestation.

Kittens seem to be more susceptible than older animals, but infestation of adults is also seen. Long-haired cats appear to be predisposed.

We have to be very careful how we handle Crosby to prevent infesting ourselves, the Base Pack, and our foster dogs. We’ll keep him isolated in the puppy room. Luckily this condition is pretty easy to treat and Crosby has already had Revolution applied to his skin to kill the mites. He’ll get another treatment in two weeks.

Crosby

What’s this?! A kitten?

We don’t often do anything other than dogs and puppies, but today we welcome Crosby, a 4-week old kitten. Crosby came to the Champaign County Humane Society by way of Champaign County Animal Control, but it’s not clear why he came alone. Unfortunately for Crosby, he has lice, and that makes him persona non grata. He’s been treated with Revolution, a drug to kill the lice, and his intake form says he was given subcutaneous fluids, which means he was dehydrated when he came to the Shelter. We’ll see if we can find out his story.

Kittens have to weigh 2 pounds before they can go back to the Shelter for adoption. Crosby weighs 0.6 pounds. He’ll be around for a while.