People from Iowa, Washington, California and Sweden (!) wanted to give this kitten a home but he had a cough so the shelter killed him.
People from Iowa, Washington, California and Sweden (!) wanted to give this kitten a home but he had a cough so the shelter killed him.
Well JAYSUS KAY-RIST OH MY GAWD – he had a cough. I mean SRSLY, do you really think we should waste minutes of time and effort to save such a horrifically damaged creature?
That is the first time I’ve ever heard of a kitten getting “kennel cough”. Kittens can certainly get upper respiratory infections, but that generally involves sneezing and snot, not coughing. Honestly, could these people get their heads out of their butts long enough to save a kitten that 1. looks like that kitten looks in that incredibly compelling picture, and 2. had been widely featured in the media? What the hell can they do? Oh, wait, I know–kill the kitten.
Fudge, I had a cough for like SIX MONTHS that I caught in Montana.
Mebbe it was kennel cough. I was, like, working in the kennels when I got it.
Some people definitely wanted me dead, but they didn’t get their wish yet, and the cough is gone.
I am suspicious of the “kitty kennel cough” story. On the other hand, I would THINK that if they were going to lie about why they killed him, they’d come up with something reasonable sounding like “he was medically hopeless and we relieved him of his suffering”.
I think it was off-wording.
Cats CAN catch Bordetella from dogs. Bordetella causes Kennel Cough in Canines (and left untreated, can progress to pneumonia). Bordetella causes URI in cats, which can be a little more serious for cats, especially in young animals, or if the animal stops eating or drinking (common, since cats with a cold can’t smell their food and therefore don’t eat).
Not saying any of that happened here, just wanted to help with some possible clarifications.
I think that regardless of whatever the kitten had or didn’t have, the fact is the shelter let the photographer take his picture for the article then they killed him by the time it hit the press. Couldn’t they AT LEAST have given him a course of antibiotics or something?
I WAS heartened that many of the comments not only questioned why THIS kitten was killed, but also why so many animals are killed. Of course some people defended shelters and shelter workers but many people called them on it. I think the No Kill Movement and understanding of the myth of public irresponsibility being what kills these animals is catching on. That kitten should be alive right now. (And millions of others like him or her).
I was telling my hubby about this case and he mentioned that when shelter workers take sick days it would probably be more humane to put them down. This is due to the obvious fact that coughs cannot be treated and will eventually lead to a horrible death.
Anne is correct–cats can get Bordatella, or Kennel Cough. However, if the kitten wasn’t immediately seriously ill (like near death, which can sometimes happen in very young kittens), kennel cough in cats is easily treated with common and inexpensive antibiotics, like clavamox (plain amoxicillin is generally not effective). She presents almost no risk to an adult cat, since adults generally clear the infection on their own and have almost no symptoms. With a little education, this shelter could have easily adopted out this kitten with a two week prescription of clavamox and she would have been fine. I guess that was too much trouble.