What is your attitude about moving cats from one kennel to another?
a. No biggie! It’s easy to do, and the cats might enjoy a change of ‘scenery’ and some different buddies, as long as they all get along!
b. When cleaning kennels it can be a big help to move each cat into a new kennel after it’s cleaned, if there is an extra one to start out with.
c. It can be inconvenient unless you have enough extra bedding to ‘start fresh’ in the new kennel.
d. Moving from one kennel to another is SO HARD to do right! It starts with taking everything movable from one kennel and putting it in a clean ‘holding’ location, like on a large sheet of newspaper, while you work on cleaning the kennel itself. (This assumes that the litter box, bowls and bedding are recently cleaned, or that you will do it as part of the move.) Of course, the cat has to have a safe, clean place to wait…..like a washed and sanitized carrier. The kennel needs to have the ‘loose stuff’—spilled litter and dry food—removed with a cleaned and sanitized brush or a paper towel. Then you clean the kennel with an appropriate cleaner and finally sanitize it with a freshly-mixed bleach solution. Once it has air-dried, you can put the other cat’s litter box, washed & refilled food and water bowls and bedding & toys (or clean ones) in the kennel, and lastly….add the cat or kittens. *WHEW* But wait, you still have to do the same process with the OTHER KENNEL! Taking any short cuts with the process exposes both cats or groups of kittens to everything from the run-of-the-mill upper respiratory infections to the dreaded variant form of calici (ka-lee’-see)..
Choose your answer, then click 'Read More'................................
Read about the toll that infectious hemorragic calici took on a vet clinic in Massachusetts:
http://veterinarybusiness.dvm360.com/vetec/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=520550&pageID=1&sk=&date=
The great folks at the University of California at Davis Vet School's Shelter Medicine Project have researched and written about cleaning protocols in shelters for cats and dogs. Here is a link to that very useful document.
http://www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_cleaning.shtml#sample
There are lots of Shelter Medicine fact sheets in this series, if you'd like to learn more about common diseases of animals in shelters and preventing them.