Sonoma County animal shelter suspends adoptions due to parvo outbreak

Sonoma County’s animal shelter suspended adoptions Tuesday while continuing with efforts to contain a canine parvovirus outbreak, officials said.

John Skeel, the county’s animal services director, characterized the decision to suspend adoptions as erring on the side of caution.

He said staff have been scrubbing the Century Court facility daily with bleach and water and a special cleaning agent, even in areas animals don’t frequent.

“We just want to make absolutely certain that when we open to the public the dogs they are viewing are disease-free and completely safe to go home,” Skeel said.

The shelter announced the outbreak Monday after four pit bull puppies brought to the facility tested positive for parvo and had to be put down. A fifth pit bull also was euthanized after staff discovered it in a state of distress.

Normal protocol calls for dogs to be vaccinated upon entering the shelter. But Skeel said that did not happen in the case of the fifth dog because of the animal’s aggressive behavior, which prevented staff from getting close enough to administer the shot.

On Tuesday, a sixth pit bull puppy that was being kept in quarantine tested positive for parvo. Shelter staff weighed whether to treat the animal, but in the end, made the decision to put the dog down. Treating parvo can be expensive and time-consuming. Skeel said it’s likely the shelter will resume adoptions Wednesday.

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, which remains open to the public, is still accepting stray animals. Only strays identified by their owners will be allowed to leave the shelter.

Shelter officials advise that all dogs removed from the shelter be seen by a veterinarian for possible exposure to parvo. You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 707-521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.