Southern Oklahoma Kennels Closed After Parvovirus Outbreak

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ An outbreak of a sometimes-deadly gastrointestinal virus caused the temporary closure of two southern Oklahoma dog kennels. <br/><br/>Workers at kennels in Davis and Sulphur, in Murray

Saturday, September 30th 2006, 3:33 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ An outbreak of a sometimes-deadly gastrointestinal virus caused the temporary closure of two southern Oklahoma dog kennels.

Workers at kennels in Davis and Sulphur, in Murray County, had to clean the kennels with bleach to disinfect the stalls after out parvovirus outbreak.

Animals with the virus, which causes dehydration, were euthanized, and workers at the Davis kennel also threw away contaminated food, said Tina Jeter, the animal control officer in Davis.

The Sulphur kennel was expected to reopen Friday, while the one in Davis isn't scheduled to reopen until Oct. 9.

``It gives me time to bleach everything real good from top to bottom,'' Jeter said. ``Otherwise we'd just be spreading it right back to the animals.''

She said the outbreak in Davis began after someone dropped off some puppies. One of the puppies was sick and passed the highly contagious virus to the other dogs.

Humans cannot get parvovirus from dogs but can pass the disease to dogs.

The virus is passed between animals through fecal matter or vomit and can kill puppies and young dogs that haven't been vaccinated.

``This is the time of year when you see parvo,'' said state veterinarian Becky Brewer. ``It's mostly due to the fact that dogs get out and around and share what they've got.

``If they haven't been vaccinated, they're like a sitting duck.''

She said dogs should be vaccinated for the virus every year.