Parvo outbreak hits Sonoma County’s animal shelter

Five infected dogs have been put down while officials weigh possible limits on adoptions.|

Sonoma County’s animal shelter is scrambling to contain an outbreak of highly contagious canine parvovirus that so far has resulted in the shelter putting down five dogs, officials said Monday.

Shelter officials will decide Tuesday prior to the Century Court facility’s opening at noon whether to restrict animal adoptions or hold off on them entirely due to the outbreak, according to Animal Services Director John Skeel.

“The last thing we want to do is adopt out animals that need treatment,” Skeel said Monday.

Skeel said four stray dogs brought to the shelter in the past 10 days tested positive for parvovirus. The animals were put down.

Strays are kept in an area of the shelter separate from other animals until they are examined by a veterinarian and vaccinated, if necessary.

However, a dog discovered in distress in the main kennel on Monday later tested positive for parvo and also had to be euthanized. Skeel said the shelter is conducting an investigation into how the animal contracted the disease if, like all dogs allowed into the main area, it was supposed to be vaccinated.

“Obviously that didn’t happen, so we have to go back and figure out why that didn’t happen, or why it didn’t take,” Skeel said.

Parvovirus most commonly targets a dog’s gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms of infection typically include loss of appetite, inactivity, diarrhea, vomiting, low body temperature and abdominal pain. There is a cardiac form, too, that attacks the heart muscles of young puppies.

The virus can be spread from direct contact, but more often it’s by people petting multiple dogs. Unvaccinated dogs and young puppies are most at-risk from the virus.

The shelter is being cleaned and decontaminated in an effort to curb the outbreak. Strays will not be allowed into the main kennel while that effort is ongoing.

Two dogs that may have come into contact with the dog found in distress in the main kennel Monday have been moved into the area for the strays, Skeel said.

During the decontamination process, no volunteers or staff will be walking dogs out of the stray side.

Skeel said the shelter is still accepting stray animals. But he said he’s been in contact with other shelter managers in the region should space become an issue.

Only stray dogs identified by their owners will be allowed to leave the shelter. However, Skeel advises that all dogs removed from the shelter be seen by a veterinarian for possible exposure to parvo.

“We want to exercise greater caution than perhaps we need to,” Skeel said.

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