Boulder County family warns others after their cat tests positive for tularemia

Kim Posey
·2 min read
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BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) – Alice Shi Kembel is relieved that her cat named Sushi is back home and feeling better after testing positive for tularemia earlier this month.

Tularemia is a bacterial infection that can be spread by insects or wild animals and is sometimes called “rabbit fever.”

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Sushi is an indoor and outdoor cat that lives in rural Boulder County. In early July he killed a rabbit, then he became very ill three days later.

“He wasn’t eating or drinking anything. He was really lethargic,” Alice said. “There were definitely times I thought he wasn’t going to make it.”

Sushi spent two nights at the Veterinary Emergency Group in Boulder. At first, he was hard to diagnose, but Alice had just seen an alert from the county and a news article on KDVR.com and asked about a tularemia test.

Lindsey Geiger at the Veterinary Emergency Group said the clinic does not usually test for tularemia but decided to test Sushi because he had just eaten a rabbit. She was surprised when he tested positive.

Geiger said tularemia is rare, but there are a few cases in animals and humans every year. It can be transmitted through infected insects, animals, contaminated food or water or airborne bacteria.

“The way that it typically gets to humans is our domestic animals either ingest one of those animals or come into contact with them and then it’s transmitted to humans from there. Humans can even get it if you pull a rabbit out of your dog’s mouth,” Geiger said.

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The people who had contact with Sushi were alerted by the health department, and Alice said they are OK. She just wants others to be aware.

“I just want people to know it’s a possibility if they have outdoor animals,” she said.

There was a human case of tularemia diagnosed in Wheat Ridge this summer. Health officials say it is important to take basic precautions and not to touch wild animals, dead or alive.

Alice said her bill from the veterinary clinic was about $7,000. She’s glad she had pet insurance that paid 80% of the bill. She set up a GoFundMe to help cover the cost.

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