Pharmaceutical Problems for the Cat Rescue World

I woke up this morning to email from a feral rescue yahoo chat group confirming earlier reports that one of our essential tools to save tiny kittens, KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement), has been tainted and sold anyway, and killed a lot of kittens and other animals last year. The company has now admitted it.

I have 8 kittens buried in my backyard from the 80-90 little kittens Key West Cat Society took in in 2009, and it makes me wonder whether the KMR I was using (still have a bit of it in the freezer) was bad. Appalling! And here we are on the verge of 2010's kitten season, which will start in about March with a million phone calls asking us to help with newborns that have been found, and what do to about bottle feeding them???

I just ordered a $59 5-lb. sack of bulk KMR, and should I cancel it or what?

Now, this comes on top of:
--a Ketamine recall, which is one of the main drugs used in clinics to anesthetize cats, especially our ferals.
--A manufacturing shortage of Terramycin, a main eye gel used to treat weepy eye, green goopy eye, etc. infections. We nor our vets can get any of this stuff ($12 a tube at cost; $20 or more from your vet) and don't know why or when it will be available again.
--Clavamox is apparently not being made any more and online orders for it are being turned down with a note that it's not available. It has become my own favorite antibiotic for URI, which is severe and nasty in our area this year.

Just wondering, what the heck is going on with the drugs for cats? There seems to be a pattern, but maybe this is all just coincidence.

In any case, I am going to seek some advice from the experts at U-F Gainesville and Cornell U.'s shelter medicine vet education and research programs.

If anyone else has advice or knowledge, please post.

Theresa