Viral infection sickens more cats than usual at Moncton shelter

A highly contagious respiratory infection is making its way through the rescue cat population at the Greater Moncton SPCA,

Dave Rogers, the SPCA's executive director , said the outbreak began about three weeks ago and has sickened a greater number of cats than usual.

Thirty out of 80 cats have already been hit by a viral strain of upper respiratory infection. Rogers said the infection is sometimes fataI.

Sick cats are under quarantine, separate from the healthy cats that are still available for adoption.

Upper respiratory infection is as common in cats as thecold in humans and normally lasts about five or six days, Rogers said.

"With this one, it knocks them down for a much longer period at a time," he said.

"In some cases, we are seeing it being fatal."

The virus, which likely arrived at the shelter with a stray cat, produces symptoms that include coughing, sneezing and lethargy.

Lethan Duan, a veterinarian at the Vet Care Pet Hospital,is not convinced this is a new strain, although he agrees more cats than usual are getting sick.

Common affliction

"This time of year we always see upper respiratory infections in cats," said Duan.

Duan said the clinic has been working hard to reduce contact between individual animals.

Rogers said the shelter is following recommendations provided by local vets and has seen improvement in half the cats since last week. A separate group of people is looking after healthy cats at the shelter to avoid contamination.

Upper respiratory infection cannot be spread from cats to humans.