FurEver Home, Inc., the City of Fremont’s official animal shelter, reopened for dog intakes and dog adoptions on Wednesday, March 27, after several weeks of limited access and services due to a parvovirus outbreak.
Martha Bang, president and CEO of FurEver Home, said the shelter got the all-clear from health officials and veterinarians to reopen for both accepting stray dogs and those confiscated by city law enforcement officers as well as adopting out dogs to new owners.
“We will be reopened for taking stray dogs again,” Bang said. “We have continued to take stray cats because it doesn’t affect them. I have only had a few cats come in. The city has been holding dogs temporarily, but all of them have gone home. We’ve been clear (of parvovirus) and Tuesday marks two weeks ago when our last dogs tested.”
Bang said the parvovirus outbreak was a challenge, and said she personally housed several dogs and took care of them while her staff worked tirelessly to clean the facility, care for dogs and follow all protocols and procedures to eradicate the virus from the facility.
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The shelter’s temporary closure was announced via a press release on March 5, in which Fremont Police Capt. Kurt Bottorff warned residents that the shelter could not accept any animals for an unknown period of time while the outbreak of the disease is dealt with.
“Any dog found to be in need of shelter will be housed at a temporary site until the matter at FurEver Home can be resolved,” Bottorff said on March 5.
Bang said that she and other shelter officials worked quickly to begin cleaning the facility, caring for three infected puppies in collaboration with local veterinarians while also taking enhanced safety, sanitation and handling protocols at the shelter.
On Tuesday, she said no dogs died due to the parvovirus, and all pooches are healthy and happy and adoptions have restarted.
“I’m excited,” Bang said. “Everyone got through it beautifully. The incubation time is two weeks, and our veterinarian advised us to shut down for dogs for two weeks and as long as you don’t have any other positive tests, you’ll be good to go. We wanted to make sure it was safe for everybody. We’ll be busy for the next week back up in the swing.”
Bang said in a prior interview that parvovirus typically affects young, unvaccinated puppies. The outbreak at FurEver home was due to an owner surrender who brought an unvaccinated, very young puppy to the shelter.
“There was also a new litter of puppies, and two of those also have parvovirus. Three total have the disease,” she said on March 6.
According to the website petmd.com, the less common cardiac form of parvovirus attacks the heart muscles of very young puppies and often leads to death.
Canine parvovirus is typically found in dogs less than a year old, but cases have occurred in dogs almost 2 years old that haven’t been vaccinated or that didn’t have all the needed vaccinations as a puppy.
In 2012, the City of Fremont had a larger outbreak of parvovirus, with at least six cases being reported at assorted city veterinary clinics.
Bang said the disease has symptoms of diarrhea, weight loss, vomiting, loss of appetite and lethargy. Owners can self-administer the parvovirus vaccination themselves and the cost of it is relatively inexpensive, ranging from $15 to $20.