Over 200 Dogs Put Down

[Steve]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04...mp;section=news

The RSPCA says hundreds of dogs at the Townsville shelter in north Queensland have been put down after an outbreak of parvovirus.

RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty says 200 dogs have been destroyed and many more animals have been surrendered.

He says pet owners need to make sure their animals have been immunised to avoid the spread of disease in the region.

"Since the beginning of the year, there's been over 200 that have had to be put to sleep," he said.

"That includes up to 50 puppies that have come in contact with the parvovirus.

"So that's another message to people to please, please make sure that your animals are inoculated."

He says Townsville is one of the busiest shelters in the state and there is no signs of the pressure easing.

"There's no doubt about that and sadly I guess for all the wrong reasons," he said.

"But having said that there have been well over 340 animals re-homed out at Townsville which is terrific but it's been very, very busy and sadly for all the wrong reasons."

[Alyosha]

How sad to surrender a dog because it is sick.

I know some people can't afford to try and treat for parvo but they should take responsibility for their own pet if the outcome is going to be unpleasant. Not everything in dog ownership is happy and smiley.

[Guest Willow]

When I used to work in a shelter, parvo used to haunt us....it was something all the staff dreaded.

I remember one morning going in to the block where the pound dogs were quarantined, and as i opened the door I could smell it straight away.....I walked up the central corridor hardly daring to look in the kennels, and sure enough.....there was a dog that had come in the day before, surrounded by pools of blood, looking very sorry for itself.

The dog in question was PTS, and the whole of the rest of the block put into lockdown (22 dogs)......it's very hard on the surviving dogs too, for them to be in lockdown for 2 weeks.

Such a horrible illness :D

[Cosmolo]

Gosh that post brought back memories Willow. Do you remember the litter of puppies who were raised at the shelter with Mum and 2 weeks away from being made available they all contracted parvo and had to be put to sleep.. The smell is something that you can never miss- awful stuff.

[Guest Willow]

Gosh that post brought back memories Willow. Do you remember the litter of puppies who were raised at the shelter with Mum and 2 weeks away from being made available they all contracted parvo and had to be put to sleep.. The smell is something that you can never miss- awful stuff.

Yeah, I do remember

I also remember parking up in the car park one morning & seeing the quarantine tape that had been put around one of the kennel blocks & just feeling sick....I didn't want to go through the gates that morning :D

That smell is something you recognise in an instant......and then that fear..."dammit....i touched that dog 3 days ago....did I disinfect my hands & shoes properly afterwards??? Where else did I go that day??? who else do I need to check on???".....

[Gilypoo]

Gosh that post brought back memories Willow. Do you remember the litter of puppies who were raised at the shelter with Mum and 2 weeks away from being made available they all contracted parvo and had to be put to sleep.. The smell is something that you can never miss- awful stuff.

Yeah, I do remember

I also remember parking up in the car park one morning & seeing the quarantine tape that had been put around one of the kennel blocks & just feeling sick....I didn't want to go through the gates that morning

That smell is something you recognise in an instant......and then that fear..."dammit....i touched that dog 3 days ago....did I disinfect my hands & shoes properly afterwards??? Where else did I go that day??? who else do I need to check on???".....

I wasnt aware it had a smell.. What does it smell like? or is it just the infected dog that smells?

[Crisovar]

Gosh that post brought back memories Willow. Do you remember the litter of puppies who were raised at the shelter with Mum and 2 weeks away from being made available they all contracted parvo and had to be put to sleep.. The smell is something that you can never miss- awful stuff.

Yeah, I do remember

I also remember parking up in the car park one morning & seeing the quarantine tape that had been put around one of the kennel blocks & just feeling sick....I didn't want to go through the gates that morning

That smell is something you recognise in an instant......and then that fear..."dammit....i touched that dog 3 days ago....did I disinfect my hands & shoes properly afterwards??? Where else did I go that day??? who else do I need to check on???".....

I wasnt aware it had a smell.. What does it smell like? or is it just the infected dog that smells?

The faeces passed by parvo dogs has a smell you will never forget, it is an overpowering metallic bloody stench.

[Gilypoo]

Gosh that post brought back memories Willow. Do you remember the litter of puppies who were raised at the shelter with Mum and 2 weeks away from being made available they all contracted parvo and had to be put to sleep.. The smell is something that you can never miss- awful stuff.

Yeah, I do remember

I also remember parking up in the car park one morning & seeing the quarantine tape that had been put around one of the kennel blocks & just feeling sick....I didn't want to go through the gates that morning

That smell is something you recognise in an instant......and then that fear..."dammit....i touched that dog 3 days ago....did I disinfect my hands & shoes properly afterwards??? Where else did I go that day??? who else do I need to check on???".....

I wasnt aware it had a smell.. What does it smell like? or is it just the infected dog that smells?

The faeces passed by parvo dogs has a smell you will never forget, it is an overpowering metallic bloody stench.

Always good to know... Thanks for that

[KKDD]

parvo poo smells a particular way due to the high blood content in it. Blood contains a lot of iron and i think thats why some people think iparvo poo smells metallic. The blood content is why its distinctively dark too.

Edited April 20, 2010 by KKDD

[MRNOS]

Parvo is such a horrid thing for a dog to have, I recently resigned from a animal shelter, we had several cases of parvo this year, all were dogs from various pounds, one pound sent us dogs, twice over 2 months, that came down with parvo, one dog was sent from another pound that had already tested POSITIVE to parvo before they sent it to us! This was a just one of the reasons I left, it didnt feel like the shelter had the animals best interests in mind, we took in so many dogs, and cats, we were overloaded. We had dogs that were sick for months due to the fact that we just keep taking them in, more dogs, more illness... We didnt have the space for so many dogs, but we just kept taking them in, we would have room for maybe 5 dogs in a day, but the manager would take in 10, i'd say we were maybe 50% over capacity, now imagine one outbreak of parvo in that environment...it doesnt end well