Dog pound suspends some services after parvo scare
NEW PHILADELPHIA (November 21, 2023) – The Tuscarawas County Dog Pound is doing everything it can to prevent a parvo outbreak after a puppy there tested positive for the highly contagious canine virus.
Facility and adoption specialist Beth Lewis says the puppy was there Saturday night to Monday morning when it started to show clear symptoms.
“She would have already had it and brought it into the facility. Unfortunately, that meant that we have to treat everybody in the facility as if they’d been exposed.”
That dog has since been reunited with its owner and taken home, but several others are being quarantined.
“The dogs that have been exposed are back in our little isolation area. We’re playing it safe, doing lots of disinfecting, and cleaning every surface in the building.”
Lewis says dog meet-and-greets and adoptions are on hold, and they’re not taking any owner surrenders for the next several days. If someone is in an emergency situation and needs to surrender a dog they can call the dog pound to make other arrangements.
The pound still has a responsibility to take in strays, but they’ll be kept separate.
Lewis says parvo is preventable.
“Please vaccinate your dogs and puppies. Follow the advice of your veterinarian. Had this puppy been vaccinated, who knows, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”
She hopes the pound is back to normal operations sometime next week.