Well, the good news is that what hasn't killed us has perhaps made us stronger...the bad news is that Parvo has once again darkened our doorstep. 8 kittens that we agreed to accept from animal control ended up bringing a new case of Parvo with them from the center. 4 of the kittens went directly to Sharon's place and 4 went to my English classroom, which is far enough removed from the shelter to still be a safe place. At that point anyway. The plan was for me to keep the 4 overnight and then take them to a new foster home in Osaka after that. All 8 were starving when we picked them up, and we actually had to pull one kitten out from one of the groups when we put food in the baskets, since they were tearing at each other to get to the food. However when I got my group back I noticed that one seemed weak and wasn't eating as much, so decided to wait an additional day to make sure we were taking healthy kittens to the new foster home. The following morning wasn't bad, as the one kitten seemed to perk up a little with regular food and love--the other three settled in to play, eat, and rest in their new comfortable digs. However by the second morning, 3 of the kittens were showing a complete lack of appetite and seemed less active. We didn't even think about Parvo, believing the problem to be a bacterial infection. 1 of each group had died during their two week stay at the center, and we had asked the staff to take the groups to be checked by a vet before we picked them up. The vet had given a course of antibiotics for one of the weaker kittens in Sharon's group, so we just imagined we would need to get the same thing for this group. When we brought the kittens back, the vet was quick to suggest a parvo test, and the worst was confirmed. We started them on Tamiflu, but it ended up being too late for 2 of our group. I just can't say how hard it was to have to watch more kittens suffer from this. Luckily, Sharon's kittens had just started showing symptoms around the time we understood what was happening, were treated with Tamiflu, and all are now recovering.

We don't know how to proceed with accepting kittens from animal control...this situation would have been much worse if we had put these groups directly into new foster homes. Other shelters have reported new incidents of Feline Parvo recently, so we fear that this will be a problem we'll have to cope with on a continuing basis. Before all of this, our standard practice was to vet check and then separate new intakes for several days to a week, in order to watch for health concerns. This won't work for kittens or cats that have previously gotten the virus elsewhere, and are recovering but still shedding. It's frightening to think that even if we can get our clean quarantine environment up and running, we'll have to worry about virus that comes from areas outside the shelter as well as particles remaining inside. Still, I look at Dayan and Dixie, the 2 little survivors, and am so very glad they didn't die in agony at the center, as they certainly would have if we hadn't intervened. Even Dolly and Daniel, who sadly didn't make it, were at least given loving care for a short time. Does it really matter, in the midst of so much death, that these 6 little hearts go on beating? It does to us. Every life that we are able to save means something, and we have got to find a way to at least improve conditions for those we aren't able to reach. I haven't been able to sleep this week for thinking about the problem and wondering what to do. I'm grateful that we have a few more good supporters to share this burden now, and to help plan future efforts.

5 newbies came in from a TNR project recently and went directly to a new foster home in Osaka. It was quite a change accepting kittens in good health (they all even had little collars with bows on!), and it was clear that they had all been cared for lovingly by the TNR project manager. They've settled in well, and we're so thankful for one more foster home. Hopefully we'll start getting more adoption applications soon, and can start moving them into their forever homes.

Tokyo trip this past Sunday, with Monique going instead of David. She took 2 groups of kittens to new foster homes there, so that they'll be on hand for adoptions and that we'll have more space out here in case of emergency intakes. Dawn helped on the Tokyo end, getting Kyu delivered to her new home. The "A" group went to stay with Cassie, who previously fostered kittens for us when she lived in Nagoya. The "C" group went to a new foster home. Monique put in a hard day carting kittens around as well as hauling traps and kitten food back from Tokyo, and we were looking forward to working on a new living situation for Dayan and Dixie. Still living in my classroom, both seem to have recovered from the Parvo, but Dayan has occasional bouts of diarrhea, and both will likely continue to shed the virus for weeks to come. The shelter might be a reasonable option, but we hate to bring active virus back to the environment after we probably have no cats there currently shedding virus. Anyway, the move had to be postponed after we received a rescue request from someone who called about a group of three young kittens that she saw being attacked by crows. We went out to find the kittens not yet injured by the crows (the woman threw rocks to drive them away), but 2 were covered in mouse trap glue. This is really awful stuff, and I now suspect that people might actually be using the traps to catch kittens or to slow them down enough to be caught for removal. I can't imagine how horrific it must be for kittens to end up dumped somewhere in this condition, and the level of cruelty involved shocks me once again. The kittens were not able to move their back legs, which were glued to their bellies or sides, along with their tails. The glue had picked up assorted debris, and the kittens seemed to have learned not to lay down, but to stay as still as possible. I watched as the kittens started to doze off in the cardboard box on the way to the clinic, and they would suddenly jerk themselves upright--they'd learned that falling over would cause them to stick in that position. They wouldn't have even been able to run away from the crows. David and I had never rescued kittens like this before, but Sharon had, and we received a note several days later from another woman who found a kitten coated in the mouse trap glue and hiding under a vending machine. We rushed the group to the vet, concerned about dehydration or other serious effects, and the vet recognized the substance immediately. Actually, one of the nurses told us what it was in the waiting room. Sharon and the vet both told us to bathe the kittens, using vegetable oil and dish soap repeatedly. So, back we went to do just that. The kittens looked miserable throughout the process, but I could see how friendly they were, and how much they were counting on us to fix things. We were so relieved when, after the first round of baths, all were eating. The smallest one had very luckily not been coated in the glue. Sharon picked them up the following day to take them to their new foster home in Gifu, and after that she helped bathe them for the third time.  They now seem to be flea, glue, and oil free. We've heard back that all are eating very well and enjoying running around their new foster home!

***This entry's title is a quote from Albert Einstein. Another favorite..."Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."