Today was extremely difficult to get through. Even in the midst of the rushes at work, my mind would travel back to last night and Sinbad’s final hours. I talked to a vet friend of mine and she said that distemper is very difficult to kill off. it could be anywhere in the house and because we don’t know when the kittens were exposed to it, the shots might not be effective- in other words, the vaccine came to late to save them.

I feel like I am sitting on a powder keg and waiting for it to go off. Sharky is now acting off- she has been laying in one spot for hours and when I go to pet her, she barely lifts her head. There is no fever, no evidence of diarrhea and no ringworm. The first sign of distemper in the kittens has been ringworm invading their body AFTER they have been cured of it- evidence of their immune system shutting down and the cells splitting. I am keeping a worried eye on the whole crew and I begged God to not take any more from me. They say things happen for a reason, but I have no idea what reason could be given for putting these beautiful babies into such crisis and through such pain.

I don’t know how many we are going to have to say goodbye to before this is over- but what I do know is there will be no more cats or kittens brought into this home for at least four years. I have read that the distemper can survive up to two years sometimes even three. Even knowing the vaccines might not be effective just strengthens my resolve to keep new strays out of my home. My vet friend said if they are vaccinated before arriving here, they will be safe, but color me spooked. To many babies have died in my arm for me to put them through this painful journey.