Carbon County Friends of Animals is shutting its doors to visitors for the next few weeks because of a skin infection that was found on some of the cats.

Susie Yaich of CCFOA said Thursday that the shelter, which currently cares for approximately 200 felines, will be closed through at least Sept. 2 because of cases of ringworm.

“Ringworm is a contagious fungal disease,” she posted on Facebook. “It is not deadly. Most shelters like we are that deal with cats (especially kittens) experience it in the hot humid months. It is not always immediately noticeable as it has an incubation period of 2-3 weeks.”

Yaich said shutting the doors to the public was a hard decision, but a necessary one so staff can sterilize the building, as well as treat all cats who are identified as having ringworm.

Ringworm is a dermatophyte or fungus and is zoonotic, meaning it can spread from animal to animal and animal to human and human to human. It causes a scaly, round dry patch on the cat’s coat. Typically, areas affected by ringworm will lose the hair in that area.

The good thing, Yaich said, is that ringworm isn’t as worrisome as some viruses and other diseases and is very treatable.

The staff has put a special cleaning protocol in place to eradicate the ringworm from the facility and the felines and will not resume adoptions until everything is under control.

According to an article on a previous ringworm outbreak at the shelter in 2023, staff will scan the cats using a black light because ringworm glows fluorescent and those affected will be treated with medicine as well as special topical ointment.

Staff will also wear protective coverings when in the building to prevent any ringworm spread within humans.

Yaich said Thursday that the shelter is hoping to reopen to the public on Sept. 2, but more information would be posted on the organization’s Facebook page.