Quarantine And Hygenic Practices In General - Thoughts?

[Trisven13]

It's very very hard to have a standard protocol when you have to get several transport legs happening. Crates, are great but don't always follow the dogs for the whole trip. A pinned post for transport volunteers detailing disinfection and handling would be helpful.

Years ago pups were sent all over the place, flying. But as the parvo cases popped up, the offers of help disappeared. Really the only way is temp care quarantine before moving anyone. And that just hasn't ever been possible in all situations.

I have refused interstate poundies much to the confusion of people asking me to help.

And I had to bite my tongue and not take a gorgeous silky x pup from a rural (I personally consider high risk esp with pups) because the only way to get her was straight onto a plane.

So she got rescue anyway, went into the baggage hold with other people's pets, flew to QLD and went straight to the vet with parvo the next day. There has to be some common sense exercised to avoid some of these situations.

Yep! As someone who had parvo come through when I was rescuing from a surrendered, supposedly vaccinated young dog I learnt in the hardest way possible. I now look at these posts and look at so many amazing dogs and think how incredibly rehomable so many of them would be BUT I also will NOT EVER AGAIN risk bring parvo into my home by bringing a dog straight from a pound. Others choose to take that risk but I suspect that many of them haven't experienced parvo at their home or had to live with the concern that it had spread to other animals. Its a truly horrendous disease and it leaves the humans involved (if they have any sense) also feeling diseased.

[tdierikx]

Its a truly horrendous disease and it leaves the humans involved (if they have any sense) also feeling diseased.

This...

For anyone who has never seen a pup with parvo, they may not truly understand the horrific nature of this disease. Add that to the fact that it's a bloody hard bugger to remove completely from the environment...

Is the getting of dogs to rescues far and wide so paramount that the possibility of "collateral damage" happening is worth it? Especially when it's not usually the people doing the transporting that end up with the sick dogs.

T.

[_PL_]

Alrighty, would it help if i sat down at some stage and wrote up basics for a pinned thread? I've asked Troy if it's do-able.

Disease overview and early warnings

Disinfection and handling - recommended basic 'kit' for transporters

Paperwork and how not to lose it :laugh:

Emergencies and contact numbers of a co-ordinator who knows what's happening!

Holding pound animals overnight

---

Home visit checklist for volunteers (I can't find the old one on here)

---

Input ladies? :) I won't bother if there's no point.

[tdierikx]

Loving your work Powerlegs... what do you need me to do to help?

T.

[Jumabaar]

I am really not sure about how available this is in Aus (or the price of it) but would something like the VacciCheck http://vaccicheck.com assist some of these problems?

You would be able to identify dogs that do have antibodies and know that the risk is lower than a dog with no current antibodies? It wouldn't stop the need for quarantine- but it would identify the high and low risk animals which would then feedback into peoples decision making process to make better choices in selecting the right animals for individuals to foster and how to move them. It also feeds back into awareness of people doing the transport etc since they would be told that these animals had no protection.

[tdierikx]

Titre testing would be great Jumabaar - but it's not cheap - and rescues or transporters don't necessarily have enough funds to test every animal they are thinking of springing from a pound.

You can pretty much be assured that pups coming into care from a surrender situation have no antibodies - and these are the ones that will be the "collateral damage" if transported with or after other dogs who may only be carrying/shedding the disease. Parvo in adult dogs CAN be non-symptomatic, has an incubation period of between 2-14 days, etc...

Rock and a hard place really, but there must be some way to get ALL of us onto the same page here... the potential for more harm than good is actually that high.

T.

[RuralPug]

Alrighty, would it help if i sat down at some stage and wrote up basics for a pinned thread? I've asked Troy if it's do-able.

...

Input ladies? :) I won't bother if there's no point.

There is ALWAYS a point to making important information easily accessible, Powerlegs!

Yes, yes please do write up a 'best practices' post for pinning regarding quarantine/holding periods/disinfection processes. We can't force anyone to use best practice but it will be great to have another place to point so that we can inform and try to educate!

Some of the other things you have mentioned may need their own pinned threads. :)

[_PL_]

Loving your work Powerlegs... what do you need me to do to help?

T.

Well, Troy is happy to pin a thread.

I have a question about parvicides.

What ones will not ruin the interior of the family car? :laugh: F10 hasn't bleached or eaten it's way through anything of ours yet but what other brands would you suggest for the transport kit? Must be available in reasonable sizes.

F10 or.....

and

Rubber gloves

Garbage bags

Newspapers or throwaway towels

Liners for car. A sheet or tarp or dog seat cover.

[RuralPug]

If using a crate - use one with hard surfaces that are easy to disinfect, so no soft crates.

I'm pretty sure that towels and sheets can be soaked in F10 for an hour or so, allowed to drip dry and then be washed in the ordinary way. Using sheets and towels over a hard surface like a poly tarp or rubber-backed picnic rug should protect your car surfaces from infection.

And basically DO NOT handle a dog straight from kennels or pound and then go and cuddle someone's new puppies.