robin brown

The News Journal

More than 50 cats in and around a woman's house in Bear are being killed after one of her kittens tested positive for rabies, Delaware public health officials said late Thursday.

All of the cats were in very poor condition, said Kevin Usilton, executive director of First State Animal Center & SPCA, handling the situation under state contract. None had positive proof of rabies inoculation, and widespread rabies infection among them was extremely likely, he said.

An unknown number of other kittens already died, presumably of rabies, Usilton said.

Charges are pending against the unidentified cat owner, who lives on Calburn Court in the Buckley neighborhood off U.S. 40 near Del. 1, he said.

Collection and humane killing of the remaining cats began Wednesday. By Thursday night, 43 – including the kittens' mother – were euthanized, Usilton said. The others are expected to be caught and killed this week.

"Almost all of them were indoor cats," he said, but a few did go outside.

Public health regulations have two options for cats exposed to rabies – or even the possibility of rabies, such as a bite from an unknown mammal: a six-month quarantine in an isolation cage built to state specifications or euthanasia, which Usilton said was the only feasible and humane option.

Because all the cats were connected to one house in a contained, non-roaming colony, he said, there is little risk of other cats in the neighborhood having gotten rabies from them.

But all owners in the area should make sure their animals are inoculated and should consult their veterinarians about the possibility of rabies booster shots, he said.

When the 4-week-old kitten got sick, the woman took it to a veterinarian, where it bit a vet tech, Usilton said. Because of the bite, state law required the kitten to be tested for rabies by the Division of Public Health, he said.

When agents picked up the kitten Nov. 7 for it to be euthanized and tested, he said, all but one of the other kittens in the litter already had died.

One member of First State Animal Center's staff also was bitten by one of the cats, he said. That staffer – and the vet tech – are expected to get post-exposure rabies inoculations.

Authorities are not testing all the euthanized cats or trying to determine how the kitten got rabies, which may be transmitted by the mother or caught in contact with other infected animals.

The woman did have rabies vaccination certificates for 15 cats, he said.

But because the inoculated ones could not be identified, all are being euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease that is fatal once symptoms surface, Usilton said.

For example, he said, one rabies vaccination certificate identified the animal only as "a black cat."

"There were 30 black cats," Usilton said, so even those that were safe met or are meeting the same fate.

The owner – given time to clean her home by inspectors who could have condemned it – agreed to surrender ownership of all of her cats, Usilton said.

"We see this a lot when population sizes get too large. It's very hard for an owner or caretaker to keep track of which ones are vaccinated," said Hettie Brown, executive director of the state Office of Animal Welfare. "It's a horrible tragedy, but something we can learn from."

She urged pet owners and those who feed or tend outdoor or feral cats to take advantage of low-cost vaccination clinics available in all counties.

Getting them vaccinated and spayed or neutered can protect them from rabies and help prevent the spread of the disease, Brown said.

State law also requires all cats, dogs and ferrets that are over the age of 6 months to be vaccinated against rabies.

Jill Fredel, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Social Services, said the kitten was the eighth animal to test positive for rabies among 126 tested in the state this year.

Health officials urge residents to avoid contact with stray and wild animals, including those that are sick, injured or dead.

Anyone suspected of having contact with a rabid animal or who wakes up in a room with a bat should call health officials at (888) 295-5156.

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.