LAWRENCEVILLE - Gwinnett County Animal Shelter officials say they are in the final stages of battling an illness outbreaks that has affected around 150 dogs.
The shelter closed at 2:00 p.m. Friday as a growing number of dogs were getting sick with a respiratory illness.
Corporal Michele Pihera of the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office said it only seems to affect dogs.
"At this time we don't think it's affecting any of the cats or any of the humans, but we wanted to take measures to issue this voluntary quarantine to make sure that we're not spreading it any further."
According to Gwinnett officials, the dogs that were in good health one day would be sneezing, coughing and have mucus discharge from their noses the next day. The condition is described as a serious upper respiratory illness.
"Our staff had noticed that some of the dogs were becoming ill, and unfortunately one of the dogs passed away as a result of this illness," Pihera said.
The shelter director has contacted the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia to determine what exactly has been making the dogs sick. Testing should take about four days.
The shelter director has contacted the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia to determine what exactly has been making the dogs sick. Testing should take about four days.
In the meantime, Doctor Solveig Evans, Medical Director for the Gwinnett County Animal Welfare and Enforcement Center, guided shelter workers to treat the dogs with prophylactic doses of the antibiotic Doxycycline. As of Saturday evening, the number of dogs that were still displaying symptoms had dwindled to below 20.
As far as the quarantine, no animals are allowed in or out of the shelter, and a temporary shelter has been set up in an alternate location.
Anyone who has adopted a dog or other animal from the shelter is urged to take their pet to a veterinarian should any symptom occur, as well as keep their dogs away from other pets for the time being. The shelter is in the process of contacting new pet owners, owner reclaims and every rescue that has been in recent contact with the shelter.
150 dogs were in the shelter at the time of the closure. 52 dogs have been adopted, 41 were picked up from rescue groups and 41 dogs were reclaimed by their owners in the past since the outbreak began two weeks ago.
The shelter was last closed almost 7 years ago by a state mandate after a Parvo outbreak.
