Large cats pass away due to a distemper outbreak

The family at In-Sync Exotics has recently lost seven large cats to distemper. The first symptoms showed up in late May but the virus still took its toll throughout the summer.

In-Sync Exotics is a sanctuary that rescues lions, tigers and other large cats from abusive backgrounds or people who can’t support them anymore. Over the years they have adopted a grand total of 86 cats from jaguars to ocelots to cougars.

“[The symptoms of distemper] at first were nothing more than a runny nose. When the runny nose turned into a cough, that’s when we drew blood and started testing to see what was wrong,” Media Director Lisa Williams said.

Canine distemper is an uncommon disease among domesticated dogs in this area because most pets are vaccinated. Distemper is even less common among large cats.

“There is no vaccine for big cats against canine distemper.  This year, the virus has been extremely common among wild raccoons, which is where we believe the big cats got it,” Williams said.

After the cats were diagnosed the sanctuary took immediate action to help the cats to get better and prevent the others from catching the virus. The primary veterinarian that helped was Parker Road Animal Hospital in Wylie.

“The symptomatic cats were put on antibiotics to ward off any secondary infections, and all big cats were put on vitamins and supplements to help boost their immune systems so that their bodies would have a better chance of fighting the disease if/when exposed,” Williams said. “Additionally, the asymptomatic cats were inoculated using a ferret version of the canine distemper virus.”

The animals lost were Apollo (male tiger), Layla (female lioness), Abrams (male tiger), Harley (male tiger), Lucca (female tiger), Kazuri (male tiger), and Tacoma (male tiger).

“We hold a private memorial service for him or her,” Williams said. “Volunteers, staff and select supporters bring flowers and gather together to escort the cat to the crematory to say goodbye and share memories.  After the cremation, the cat is brought back to ISE property.”

Although so much has been lost this summer two servals have been adopted. Servals are slender African wild cats that are not considered “big cats,” and are not susceptible to distemper.

“As for big cats (lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars), we will only rescue them if we, and our licensing agencies, are confident that we can protect them from the virus via quarantine and/or vaccination,” Williams said.

The whole crew working at In-Sync Exotics is very shaken up over what’s happened but hopes to stop the outbreak and help researchers produce a vaccine with the data they have taken.

Sophomore Stephen Austin has volunteered at In-Sync exotics for over seven years and does anything that needs to be done from taking out trash to feeding animals.

“It’s always hard losing an animal, but this was like a kick in the shin,” volunteer Stephen Austin said. “It was so unexpected and we had no idea what was going on until at least 10 cats were sick.”

The volunteers grow, love, feed and clean up after the animals. They save their lives from abuse or bad homes causing the bond between the two to grow even stronger.

“The words do not exist to help you understand just how devastating this has truly been.  When we take these animals in, we get very attached to them,” Williams said.  “To be faced with something so deadly, something we cannot protect them against, is a very helpless feeling.  Each cat we have lost will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I know that is true of the other volunteers as well.  Our hearts break all over again every time we lose one.”