TAMPA, Fla. — The Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center is moving its dogs to a remote location and shutting down dog operations to stop the spread of canine flu.
Scott Trebatoski, the director, said they tried to contain the spread but it wasn't working because it's highly contagious and spread through contact and it's airborne. Now, they are sending the 300 dogs to a different location until they can all be cleared to go back to the shelter.
"The whole goal with this type of virus because it is highly infectious is to essential synchronize the infection. Get everybody infected at one time then they all clear at one time and we got the clean break we need and we can go back to normal operations," he said.
Staff from the shelter is sending blood samples and nasal swabs from the dogs to Cornell University to track which dogs are infected and when they can be cleared. Trebatoski said it takes about two weeks for a dog not to be contagious, and the dogs will come back to the shelter when they test negative. During that time, the shelter will be cleaned.
Once the dogs get the flu, they have immunity and won't get it again. Just like chicken pox for humans, he said.
Jerika Brooks, the lead veterinarian, said the symptoms in dogs are coughing, fever and tiredness. She said only a handful of dogs, about four or five, have died from the sickness.
"For the most part, this tends to be dogs that are seniors and more susceptible to illness as well as some of the obese dogs," she said. It's just like humans when they have compromised immune systems and are at higher risk when they get a virus.
This isn't the first time the shelter has had a canine flu outbreak. It happened in 2015 and 2018, but Trebatoski said it's never been this severe because they are currently at a very high capacity.
Trebatoski said the dogs will come back in waves and is expecting the first round of them to come back early next week. Dog operations will be paused until mid-July to make sure all the dogs are not infected.