It has been two days now with no deaths and no visible signs of distemper in any of the kittens. The last kitten to succumb was Sophie, bless her heart. She was actively playing under my feet when I left for work on Friday. When I came home at midnight, I found her barely able to move, refusing food, vomiting and diarrhea soon followed. She died, early Saturday morning.

I was misinformed by my vet. The feline distemper vaccine is not immediately effective. It depends on the length of the exposure the kitten has had to the virus, wheter the vaccine works or not. It also takes a good week for the vaccine to get into the kitten’s system and then the follow-up booster shots are essential. I did all I could do and now it is just a crap shoot. I am waiting for the dice to fall where it may and hopefully, the worst is behind us. It seems the virus gives me a three day break before it claims another victim though, so I am not relaxed yet.

Such beautiful creatures to have their lives ended so quickly. It is not a lingering death though, the distemper strikes quickly and shows no mercy. My vet bill is climbing again but there is nothing I can do about that. My concern lies with not allowing these kittens to suffer and trying to eradicate this disease from my house which seems to be virtually impossible at this point.