Another day, another poorly cat

Joel Scott, Deputy manager at the National Cat Adoption Centre tells us about the isolation unit.

Isolation is a different world to anywhere else in the centre, I am by myself, locked away, wearing my space suit – oversuit – looking a little bit silly! But as I look around there are still the same faces looking at me wanting feeding and a fuss.

Isolation is where we put cats that possibly have an infectious disease. We then clean them separately to avoid spreading any bugs.

The cleaning takes a long time because we have to change our gloves, aprons and oversleeves in between each cat.

We have 12 cats in here at the moment, who all need my special attention because they are poorly. I give medication to all of them and also clean a couple of wounds – it takes a long time but it is rewarding and the cats seem to appreciate it.

It can sometimes take months before they can leave isolation so I have to keep them as occupied as possible with treat balls, toys and things to climb on and hide under.

Unfortunately because of the risk of passing any bugs on I cannot fuss them, which breaks my heart but means hopefully they will be out and rehomed faster.

It is such a relief when we can let them out and give them a good cuddle but I know we are doing the best for them keeping them in isolation.

In my next blog I will talk about getting out and about to do a home visit.

Joel Scott
Deputy Manager, National Cat Adoption Centre