GCAO cat room open again after outbreak
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 months, 2 weeks AGO
Employees at Grant County Animal Outreach treat a cat for medical problems. The cat room, which was closed due to a ringworm outbreak, is back open and the kitties available for adoption are healthy again.
FILE PHOTO
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | May 5, 2026 2:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — The cat room is reopened at Grant County Animal Outreach, and the shelter could use a little help.
“We had a cat come in with ringworm, and unfortunately, a few of our other cats developed ringworm, so we were closed for the safety of our cats and other people,” said Cat Room Lead Lupe Chavarría.
The cat facility had to close March 20, Chavarría said, so that all the cats in their care could be treated.
“We had to quarantine our cats, blacklight every single cat in our care and then begin treatment on them,” Chavarría said.
Blacklighting is a method of detecting ringworm in animals by putting the animal under an ultraviolet light, Chavarría explained. The affected areas show up in a bright neon green color.
Despite the name, ringworm isn’t actually a parasite, according to the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Rather, it’s a fungus that sometimes – but not always – appears on the animal’s skin in a circular pattern. It can cause fur to fall out and the bare patches of skin to become infected. In addition, ringworm is zoonotic, which means it can spread not only to other cats but to humans as well.
With healthy cats, the treatment takes about six weeks, according to Cornell. But the cats that come into an animal shelter are seldom completely healthy.
“We do sometimes get those kitties (whose) immune systems are not the best,” Chavarría said.
The cats have received treatment and most of them are good and healthy, Chavarría said, and ready to be adopted. There are 10 of those, she said, all spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped.
But GCAO isn’t out of the woods yet, Chavarría said.
“We’re out of the dark part of the woods,” she said. “We’ve still got a little way to go until we’re fully clear … So we are currently not taking in any cats because we don’t want to compromise our cats and the cats (that might) come in.”
The few that were still infected were in quarantine Friday. The treatment requires a bottle of medication every two weeks, and the medication costs more than $80 per bottle, which means the shelter needs to ask for some help from the public. The shelter also maintains an Amazon wish list for the other supplies it needs. Anyone who would like to help can visit www.grantcountyanimaloutreach.org/donate. Assistance can also be given directly via PayPal at https://bit.ly/GCAO-PayPal or via Venmo at account.venmo.com/u/GCAO1. Or they can always adopt a feline companion.
“Every single one of our kitties is looking for a home,” Chavarría said.
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
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BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
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