Troup County Animal Shelter recently imposed a two-week moratorium on cats and kittens because of the outbreak of a highly contagious respiratory disease. Currently, 42 out of 140 cats in the shelter are affected by the disease.
“I will tell you that a few weeks ago we had several cats suffering from the same situation and we were able to isolate and care for them. And we really thought we had it under control, ”said Captain Mike Pheil of the LaGrange Police Department.
“But last month we just got inundated with cats coming to the shelter facing an overpopulation problem. We were able to check it a few weeks ago, but then on Monday I got the message from the staff out there that this thing was just spreading and that we had to do something differently. “
The shelter is currently using its mobile unit to house the infected cats and reduce the risk of the disease spreading.
“We are fortunate that we have a mobile unit in which we normally took animals with us for mobile adoption,” said Pheil. “We parked it on the site and there is just enough space to isolate all sick animals in it.”
The shelter is currently supported by the Puppy Pipeline, a nonprofit that helps shelters in the south relocate their animals to the north where there is greater demand.
“Many of the healthy cats that we have been able to isolate here are being sent on a puppy pipeline to get them out of this area. They are still in good health, so we will take them off, ”said Pheil.
Pheil said the greatest thing Troup County citizens can do to help the shelter is to make sure their cats are spayed and neutered.
“Let them be neutered or neutered and take proper care of them instead of just letting this uncontrolled reproduction run amok,” said Pheil.