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My kitten died from distemper. How to prepare home for a new cat?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Mediumhair | Male | unneutered | 1 month and 22 days old | 0.5 lbs

I just had a 7 week old kitten die of feline distemper; how do I clean/prepare the house for another cat? We were waiting for a second cat to become available for adoption but now the shelter is quarantined for 2 weeks. What must be done to ensure the next cat doesn’t catch this virus?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on September 27th, 2017

First off, I'm so sorry you recently lost a kitten! An effective disinfectant to feline distemper is bleach. I would use bleach to clean the entire house. You need to get rid of all the kitten's belongs, as they will have the virus on them and it can be passed to any new cat. This includes bedding, toys, and litter boxes. Get all new stuff for the new cat. The most important to way to prevent the next cat from catching is vaccination. I would recommend getting an older cat, around four months of age, who will be fully vaccinated. I hope this helps!

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    Answered By Dr Stafford, BVetMed, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on July 24th, 2017

    Im very sorry to hear about your cat! Unfortunately 3 weeks is very young to vaccinate a kitten so your vet was probably concerned about this. In terms of disinfecting the house you can use bleach in a dilution of 1:10 water but you need to leave it for at leat 10 minutes befire rinsing and repeat for 5 days. Otherwise you can buy special cleaner with peroxygen in it. All in contact toys bedding bowls and litter trays should be thrown out.

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