Why We Quarantine

Guapo started showing signs of
ringworm a week after arriving

It is recommended that anytime you take a kitten or litter of kittens into your home that you quarantine them away from any other animals and humans, caregivers excepted. This will keep any potential diseases or parasites from spreading to your home and the environment. 

When you get a new kitten in, especially one that is really young and in need of round-the-clock care, it's tempting to put them in with other kittens or mama cats. The care of a mama cat is always better and more complete than any care a foster parent can provide. 

Earlier this year a two or three day old kitten came into our rescue. The little guy was found crying in the back of a delivery truck at a Lowe's, At the time we had a mama cat and her five kittens that were born just a few days prior. Because there was a nursing mama we moved the new kitten, over to mama so she could nurse. 

Mama Mary Jane accepted the new addition without complaint and everything looked to be going great. It wasn't until nearly a week later that we noticed anything was amiss. Guapo, what we named the little addition, started to show signs of ringworm. Ringworm is so amazingly infectious that there was no way that the rest of the litter didn't also have ringworm. Kittens like to sleep in close proximity, sharing warmth and cuddling. This close touching and contact was sure to have transferred ringworm to all the rest of the kittens and to mama.

Everyone was taken to the vet. Mary Jane was given an oral medication (a six week course of anti-fungal medications that is very harsh on the stomach and liver). The kittens were too young for the oral medication, and instead they were subjected to sulphur lime dip baths once a week, along with Duoxi chlorhexedine wipes, spray, and shampoo. Additionally, I got ringworm in several places, my three cats all got ringworm and had to be treated with the oral medication.

All that headache and kitten baths could have been avoided if I had isolated Guapo to start with, and made sure he was isolated for the first two weeks. That would have meant bottle feeding him during those two weeks, but it would have been a lot easier than kitten baths for 6 weeks. 

The moral of the story is don't skip the quarantine. 

Guapo on his way to recovery