sadness

There is a very sad post on Pinecam regarding the cats at IMHS

January 7, 2011
To the friends of Intermountain Humane Society:

On December 28, 2010, a case of ringworm appeared on a cat that had been taken in to the IMHS Shelter earlier in the
month. The cat was immediately isolated and after testing positive, according to shelter policy for highly contagious
diseases, she was humanely euthanized.

Ringworm is a fungal infection affecting the skin, hair and, occasionally, the nails of cats; the disease can be passed to
dogs and humans as well, with children being especially susceptible. While not fatal in and of itself, because of the
fungus’s long dormancy, durability and highly contagious nature, ringworm is pernicious in the harm it can cause to
close-population environments like an animal shelter.

From the instant ringworm was detected in the IMHS shelter, industry-standard precautionary measures were
implemented. The staff did not handle our cats unless absolutely necessary and did not allow any volunteers or visitors
to touch them. The main cattery area was bleached repeatedly. Cleaning and care for the shelter’s resident dogs and
their kennels was conducted separately from the cattery.

Even with these preventative measures, ringworm was diagnosed positive on several more cats in the last week. In light
of the rapid spread of the disease and its paralyzing impact on IMHS operations the Board of Directors, in consultation
with staff, made the difficult decision to euthanize the residents of the shelter’s cattery.

IMHS’s decision to put down our cats was made after careful consideration of the alternatives. Treatment time for
ringworm is prolonged, up to several months, during which time the animal must remain in isolation and be subjected to
an intense course of topical dips and daily medication as well as repeated physical exams and fungal cultures. Our cats
were already showing signs of stress after one week of no interaction with staff and visitors; it was hard to imagine how
much they would suffer if we chose to continue down that road.

The highly contagious nature of ringworm and its potential impact on public health also played a major role in the
decision we made. We could not, in good faith, send any of these cats out in to the community if we had the slightest
suspicion they might be infected.
Finally, we knew that until we had removed the threat of ringworm from the shelter, IMHS would have to halt
operations. No cats could be adopted out and no animals could be taken in for several months.
The procedures were conducted after hours, in the IMHS shelter, on the evening of January 6th.

Each cat was humanely euthanized under veterinary supervision with IMHS staff in attendance. In a secure and peaceful setting, our cats weregiven the individual attention and comfort this infection had denied them for so many days.

The IMHS shelter is currently undergoing an intensive cleaning using a heavy bleach solution and super-heated steam,
the best-known way to kill the ringworm fungus. All items that cannot be cleaned are being removed from the
premises. Stainless steel kennels and litter pans that are easier to disinfect will be installed in the cattery area. No cats
will be taken into the shelter until this deep-clean has been completed.

While our resident dogs have not been directly exposed to the ringworm fungus, we have taken the precautionary
measure of giving them all a topical treatment of lime sulfur.

Going forward, Intermountain Humane Society will, as always, continue our efforts to provide a safe and healthy
environment for our animals. It is well recognized, however, that even the best practices by the most experienced staff
in state-of-the-art facilities cannot completely prevent such unfortunate situations as we have just come through.

Thank you for your support, patience and understanding during this difficult time.
Dianna Whitlock
Shelter Director
(For the reader’s reference, attached the following information is extracted from research presented by the Koret Shelter
Medicine Program at UC-Davis. The complete information sheet is available at [url=http://www.sheltermedicine.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]www.sheltermedicine.org[/url].)

http://www.imhs.org/documents/IMHS07JAN11.pdf

My heart just aches after reading.

Some clue regarding where to find this post would be helpful.

Per the Pinecam Home Page, the link is http://www.pinecam.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... 80#1203780

I am no expert but I hope they looked at all the alternatives. Very sad story.

I know this is probably not a nice thing to say but why in the hell would you post something like that after the fact. I am thinking they should have asked for help. From what I know from people that know about it, this was something that could have been fixed. Pain in the neck, yes. But curable, of course.

Sorry, maybe I am wrong. My daughter's barn had an outbreak of ringworm. They did not kill all the horses to get rid of it. They fixed it with shampoo and a few other things. Maybe there is more to this?

Very difficult to control in felines, not as easy as handling it in humans or the equine situation you mentioned. I had a horse with it and it was not a huge project to take care of it. I also had a dog with it once and that was much more difficult to take care of. Because of that experience I can tell you the circumstances IMHS found themselves in could have turned into a full blown epidemic of ringworm in many households in the area and the shelter would have been under quarantine. They chose to nip it in the bud and hopefully all the fungi will be killed in the clean up. They did the right thing for all concerned. None of those animals could have been adopted for a long period of time which means the doors would have been closed to incoming healthy animals that would in all likely hood be euthanized for lack of a shelter to take them until homes could be found. IMHS was honest and up front about the decision, they did not try to hide it or sweep it under the rug. I'm behind them 110% for their difficult decision.

With all due respect, all I am saying is I have never heard of killing cats to 'nip it in the bud' or to get rid of ring worm. Seems to be a strange way to deal with it.

It is pretty awful.

I agree it is very disturbing. Maybe we could get some insights from our veterinarian partners?

If you're dealing with one cat or maybe 2 in a private home that's a different story. When you're dealing with multiple animals of different species and numerous people coming and going that is a setup for something getting way out of control and causing many doctor and vet bills they probably cannot afford along with other circumstances mentioned previously. It is highly doubtful the action taken was not done lightly and without the recommendation of a vet.

Perhaps this is an opportunity for those that would have at least tried a different course of action to volunteer at IMHS so they will have some influence in the operations and decisions made in the future.