Hi Thomas,

We had a somewhat similar situation. We brought home a stray we caught
at a restaurant. She turned out to be very pregnant and delivered in two
weeks.

The kittens had some tremors, one kitten in particular had trouble with
balance. One was stillborn, one has slight problems with his eyes. The
vet says the mom probably had distemper in the last stages of pregnancy.
She survived the distemper, but probably had the last of it while here.
Our cats have not been vaccinated in years because of your reasoning --
they are inside cats. Also, there are (controversial) complications with
over-vacinating and thoughts that vaccines lasting longer than drug
companies suggest.

Kittens and mom are still isolated. The kittens are getting
spayed/neutered next week then will be ready to find new homes. They
have been with us 3 months now.

We have been in/out of the kitten/mom room and back with our regular
cats. I always tried to wash my hands in the beginning when I thought
mom might have a trace left in her system. With all the back and forth
we've done, none of our regular cats were infected.

We will have to clean that room well when the kittens find new homes and
mom and any leftover kittens are integrated with the rest of the cats.
I'm not sure how to sterilize the carpeting. Did they tell you just to
shampoo or are you using any bleach in the solution?

Anyway, just wanted you to know that our other cats remain healthy after
all of this time. I was worried at first, too.

I will also be looking into updating our current cats' vaccinations. One
vet says about every 3 years, and I've read on some drug websites that
certain vaccines last as long as 7 years.

Sorry to hear about the kitten. That must have been tough on all of you.

Rhonda

Hi Tom.
 I am delurking to share my experiance with you......I dont have any real
answer for you, but only what happened in my case.
  The barn where my SIL's horse was kept had distemper in it, and the kittens
that would be dropped off would always catch it and die.  It was very sad.  
  I fell in love with one particular kitten and wanted to bring him home.  I
called the vet to see if anything could be done because kitty had already been
in the barn for a few days and was definatly exposed to distemper.  The vet
said get the kitten out of there as soon as possible and bring him in for
shots.  I did that.....that was 16 years ago and the old boy is still cranking
around .  Your cats had been innoculated once, so that probably will help too.
Good luck.
   Tracy

Thanks for the help.  I found this product that Im going to order.  It's the
third one down.  Thanks again.

Thomas

http://www.lambriarvet.com/catalog/Disinfectants.htm