SPCA hoping for good news on outbreak that forced closure

By MICHELE YOUNG

NEWS — A persistent ringworm outbreak at the Kamloops SPCA shelter seems to be almost over after four months — possibly the longest-ever closure of the agency in town.

The SPCA had a couple of false reopening starts, but animal-care attendant Angela Henshaw said Wednesday only two cats are left that are recovering from the fungal skin infection.

The cats have had one round of negative test results and two more sets are still being cultured. She expects to have those results — which will decide if the shelter can open — within a couple of weeks.

So far, the two cats haven’t shown any signs of the fungus returning.

“They’re looking better. There’s zero growth. It’s such a long process because of the way the testing is done,” she said.

“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”

All of the dogs at the shelter are fungus free at this point.

The outbreak began in early November. Henshaw said in her seven years with the society, she can’t recall another closure that has lasted as long.

In late December, all the cats were ringworm free, but a couple of dogs were still being monitored.
Henshaw said the problem is, ringworm spreads easily and is hard to contain in a shelter situation.

Treatment includes dipping all of the shelter animals in a lime-sulphur bath. Six or seven cats were so stressed out by the dipping process — fractious, she called them — that they were euthanized.

“It was becoming a danger to the staff to handle them,” Henshaw said.

While the shelter was closed, people who wanted to bring in animals were referred to the Kamloops and District Humane Society, a volunteer organization that has no shelter building and relies on foster homes that are often full. Dogs were referred to the City pound.

Henshaw said they were also referred to other SPCA shelters in the area or put on a wait list. In a few drastic situations, foster care was found for the surrendered animals.

“Most people have been really good. No animals have been dumped at our back door,” she said.

Some people may have advertised to give the animals away. Henshaw warned that it can be difficult to judge whether those responding to the ads will provide good homes.

“Proceed with caution,” she said.

“All of us are here to help animals, it’s hard to turn them away.”

Wednesday marked the opening of the Kamloops shelter’s in-building thrift shop. With some nice items recently donated to the SPCA, the idea of creating the thrift store space to raise money for medical bills got going.

It’s not a stand-alone thrift store like the one that recently opened in Kelowna, but it is still a way to generate some extra money for the society, she said.

“We have everything from bird cages to dog jackets, to an MP3 player donated. T-shirts and sweaters.”