Rescuing animals from high-kill shelters is already hard enough...

July 21, 5:35 PMProvidence Pet Training ExaminerAlexandra Morgan

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At Alexandra Morgan's Animal School, in Warren, RI, the staff not only train animals, they also help out with various aspects of rescue and rehoming for both dogs and cats. In late June, they took in 13 kittens who were shipped up to them from a very high-kill shelter in Georgia. The intention was to keep them for a week to ensure they were not coming down with any illness, and then find them all good homes locally. They had been told the kittens were all in good health, and had been checked by a vet and given first vaccines. The note that arrived with the kittens said only "Need to be wormed." If that had been all they needed, all would have been well.

Tragically, these kittens were all in terrible condition. Worms, yes, but also crawling with fleas, (and anemic from the fleas and worms), loaded with earmites, and a severe upper respiratory infection that was also sealing their eyes shut with pus. Worst of all, they were all starved and dehydrated, some of them so badly they were literally nothing but barely breathing bags of bones.

Five of them were so close to death that one cannot imagine how a vet ever signed off on their health certificates. Some of these little creatures were so starved and dehydrated that they had lost the desire to eat or drink, and had to be given subcutaneous fluids, force fed, and given electrolyte solution in an oral syringe. They could barely hold up their heads, their breathing was labored, they were coated in dried diarrhea and had lost all ability to clean themselves.

Numerous trips to the vet and intensive nursing (not to mention over $700 dollars), and the staff were was still unable to save all of them. In addition to everything else, it turned out the kittens had feline distemper, which is frequently fatal — even in healthy animals. By the end of a week, five had died, and the vet said grimly to expect further fatalities, but that perhaps half of those remaining would survive.

It is now July 21 — exactly one month since the kittens arrived, and all eight remaining kittens have not only survived, but six are ready for adoption! Two are still a bit sick with the remains of the upper respiratory infection, which the feline distemper made so difficult to shake off, but they are improving daily.

They are all adorable, bouncy, playful, purr-full, and eager to get out of their cages and into a real home! Their survival is a real tribute to their determination not only to live, but to enjoy life. After all they have been through, they are still friendly and affectionate towards everyone, and have been socialized to children by Alexandra's five-year-old daughter.

All of this leaves a burning question: why did the people at the shelter in Georgia even bother to arrange for rescue and transport for these kittens, if they were kept at the shelter in such terrible condition that they were starved and dehydrated? Illness can be coming on but not showing yet, and although the vet should have noticed the diarrhea and upper respiratory problems, the shelter workers may not have been educated enough to know the kittens were sick. Fleas, worms, and earmites cost a bit of money to treat, and their funds are tight, but these problems are rarely life-threatening and recovery after treatment is usually quick. But starvation and dehydration? Not giving adequate food and water is torture and abuse.

If you are thinking of adopting a kitten (or two?) please contact Alexandra Morgan's Animal School at (401) 434-3687 — As usual, we ask a (negotiable) adoption donation, which includes de-worming, frontline, all three distemper complex vaccines, rabies vaccine and spay/neuter when old enough. If you wish to have a kitten tested for Feline AIDS/Leukemia, there is an additional fee. However, the vet agrees that these kittens almost certainly do not have either of these, or they simply would not have survived.

If you live in or near Rhode Island, come and visit them and let at least one of them win your heart, and be the Happy Ending to their lengthy tale of suffering!