Pocatello animal shelter suffers FCV outbreak

The Pocatello Animal Shelter will be closed Tuesday for cleaning after a virus outbreak in the cat adoption area.

The virus is called feline calicivirus, or FCV, and it only affects cats.

Kittens and older cats are the most susceptible. Cleanup started last Thursday to try to prevent it from spreading further.

Twenty cats are in isolation. The rest of the cats are gone, leaving the adoption kennels empty. The healthy cats were sent to rescue groups. Six were euthanized.

Feline calicivirus is one of several highly contagious diseases that can be spread at shelters. Shelters are more susceptible because of the high number of animals in such close proximity. It’s hard to control disease because of the animals that come in.

“We see the worst of the worst when it comes to diseases that come through our door,” said Richard Stewart, animal services director. “A lot of the animals we see have never been vaccinated for anything before.”

Three days after getting a new animal, a health check is done. If that health check is clean, the shelter has no way of knowing the cat may still be carrying FCV because it takes awhile for symptoms to appear.

“It can take five to 14 days before they even start to show signs that they’re contagious,” said Stewart.

Those signs of FCV that start to develop are sneezing, ulcers in the mouth or nose and bloody mucus.

FCV can be transmitted through feces, saliva or fur. It can also be airborne, which causes it to spread quickly.

“There’s no magic pill we can give them,” said Stewart. “It’s got to run its course.”

Even though there’s no cure, the shelter is taking precautions to prevent it from spreading to other cats. They are cleaning all kennels and areas several times with bleach.

All staff members near the isolated cats wear gloves and gowns to prevent spreading toxins to other areas. Humidifiers and bleach towels under the doors will contain toxins in the air. The shelter also plans to put plastic flaps on the kennels to hopefully prevent the future spread of airborne disease.

“Our job is to try to concentrate on what we can do to try to prevent cross-contamination as much as possible,” said Stewart.

The FCV outbreak comes a year after a feline herpes outbreak at the same shelter, in which all of the cats had to be put down.

Stewart said diseases like herpes or FCV are hard to fight because they’re airborne and spread like wildfire.

He says they’re doing everything they can to get the rest of their cats healthy again.

The cats in isolation are on antibiotics to fight off other sicknesses, so that they cats’ immune systems are better equipped to fight the FCV.

Because of the ulcers in their mouths, the cats are also now on a wet food diet, rather than dry food, to make it easier to eat.

Stewart said some of their cats are already starting to come through the worst of it, and they hope to see the rest improve soon.

It normally takes about 14 to 24 days for the virus to clear a cat’s system, but they are still able to spread the virus through shedding their fur for another 30 days.

Stewart said his staff will be monitoring the cats very closely and hopes to have them all healthy and ready to adopt again soon.