A CAT charity has suffered a “devastating” outbreak of a deadly virus which has claimed the lives of five kittens and forced it into a quarantine lockdown.

Oldham Cats is facing a bill of more than £20,000 and will have to demolish its kitten room and incinerate its cages after the young cats died of panleukopenia - feline infectious enteritis – which attacks white blood cells.

Meanwhile, about six cat owners who had booked their animals into the charity’s boarding cattery have had to be told they will not be accommodated as organisers bid to prevent the virus spreading.

Animal lovers visiting the Oldham Cats Facebook page have already pledged £5,000 as the charity launched 20 years ago at Saxon Street, Middleton, battles to raise cash to battle the outbreak.

Assistant manager of Oldham Cats Devina Hanes said the facility was shut down on Saturday for a minimum of two weeks after five kittens were taken ill and eventually died.

“It looks like the heatwave has been a factor in helping to transmit the virus," she said. "Young cats have very low immunity and are highly vulnerable to this kind of virus.

"Our kitten room will have to be demolished and we will need to incinerate the cages to prevent the spread of the virus. The whole place will need fumigating.”

But she went on to say the support from animal lovers on Facebook following news of the virus was “phenomenal”.

“We put out an appeal on Saturday to ask if anyone could help and we’ve already raised £5,000.

“The total cost, including vets bills is likely to exceed £20,000. We don’t euthenise our cats, we like to give them all a fighting chance.”

Oldham Cats accommodates 10 adult cats at a time and its kitten room can house 20 young animals at a time. The charity has about 15 volunteers looking after the cats.

Anyone who wants to donate should visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/samantha-fahmy12

FACTFILE:

The name panleukopenia comes from the low white blood cell count.

It is also known as feline infectious enteritis, feline parvoviral enteritis, feline distemper, feline ataxia, or cat plague.

It is caused by feline parvovirus, a close relative of both type two canine parvovirus and mink enteritis.

Once contracted it is highly contagious and is primarily spread through contact with the infected animal’s body fluids, feces, and fleas.

It may be spread to and by cats, minks and ferrets and can be spread long distances through contact with bedding, food dishes, or even by clothing and shoes of handlers of infected animals.