I am a “last resort” kitten foster. I get the call when there is no other foster available, or if the kittens have special needs. We rely on a team of amazing kitten fosters who take litter upon litter into their homes to interact with other cats, dogs and children. The shelter works to assure all kittens get their vaccines and deworming while they are in foster care, but the number of kittens during the summer months is often too great, and shelter staff and volunteers get overwhelmed.
It was a beautiful, cool May Day when Andrea [of ACAC & AC] called to ask if I would take 3 ringworm kittens. My heart sank and I asked her if there was no one else. She said there was not, and I knew these babies would be euthanized if I didn’t step up.
Ringworm is not deadly but it is highly contagious and a shelter simply should not keep ringworm kittens in their care. It could quickly spread to other shelter animals, then staff, then volunteers and their families and pets.
Ringworm is a fungal infection. It usually shows up on the weakest, smallest kittens. My new babies were three pitiful-looking creatures with the telltale circular sores on their heads and backs. They were bald in patches where their fur had been shaved to reveal more sores. I immediately began giving them lime sulfur baths twice a week, plus an oral anti fungal medication. They were thin and lethargic initially, but as time wore on they began to battle me. As they improved, I was not sure who had more wounds, me or these three little soaking-wet black kittens. They were like tiny moving sticker bushes,
but they quickly forgave me as I wiped off the excess stinky sulfur mixture.
My great joy was watching them gain weight and change into shiny-coated, playful kittens. Yes, it was
so
worth it because the pay was purrs and nudges to my face whenever they wanted attention.
Next, I wrote profiles for the new, adoptive families that I could only hope would love them as much as I did. I decided to name them after incredible black singers, so they became “Otis”, “Ella” and “Whitney”. I will miss these little ones terribly, but know there will always be more in need of immediate care.