PAWS & More closed for the week

WASHINGTON — PAWS & More Animal Shelter is temporarily closed this week, after taking in animals staff later learned were infected with parvo, a sometimes deadly infectious disease.

In a Facebook post, the shelter said the dogs were picked up from a property at the request of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday. The infected animals have since been moved to a veterinary clinic and are recovering, but Shelter Director Amber Talbot said the building had to quarantine the rest of its four-legged occupants for the remainder of the week.

“We’re in the waiting time of the incubation period, to make sure that nobody gets sick from the exposure,” she said. “Once we’re out of that incubation period (on) Saturday, we’ll do another deep cleaning, and hopefully we can move on with our lives and carry on as normal.”

Talbot said the current shelter building wasn’t set up to properly isolate animals it takes in. A new facility, planned in the Washington business park, will hopefully make isolation periods like this one unnecessary, but its construction remains a ways off.

While most pets are vaccinated for parvo, Talbot said some animals at the shelter had unknown medical histories, or got the shot too recently to assure complete immunity to the virus.

“Because the animals in our care have an unknown history … they are very vulnerable, and we don’t want to have contact,” she said. “This virus can also live in an environment for a while, so before we bring any animals in, we want to make sure we have the virus contained and everything disinfected so we don’t give any exposure to a new animal coming in the door.”

Until Oct. 13, all animals in the shelter when the infected dogs arrived will remain on-site. Talbot said the building was not open for adoptions or foster animal pickups during the closure. Intakes are happening only in emergencies, as PAWS urges people to hold onto animals they would otherwise drop off until the coast is clear.

The shelter expects to discard many of the towels, blankets and toys it can’t thoroughly wash. Talbot said PAWS would also face high costs during the closure for veterinary care, staff PPE, test kits for the virus, and medications.

Staff have asked for donations to restock the supplies and make up for closure expenses.

“A lot of things get thrown away, because it’s just not worth the risk of trying to wash a lot of it,” Talbot said. “We will need to be replacing a lot of toys, blankets, towels … so we’ll need a lot of those donations going forward as well.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com