Quarantine being lifted at Guide Dog Foundation
From Newsday.com
Quarantine being lifted at Guide Dog Foundation
BY STACEY ALTHERR | stacey.altherr@newsday.com
April 20, 2008
Both puppies and adult dogs at the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind in Smithtown have been under quarantine for two weeks following an influenza-type of outbreak that killed one dog.
The quarantine will be lifted tomorrow, according to officials at the organization, and the canines will be reunited with their families.
On March 30, several dogs came down with "kennel cough," or bordetella. Although all dogs receive vaccinations for the disease, they can sometimes come down with a mild strain of it anyway, said Grete Eide, director of canine care at the organization.
About four days later, one of the dogs, Granite, came down with a fever and seemed lethargic. He was taken to a local animal hospital and admitted.
"Once we realized we had a dog with a fever and respiratory symptoms, we spoke with the folks at Cornell [College of Veterinary Medicine] and they recommended the safest thing was to quarantine our kennel," Eide said.
Two days later, another dog, Gabriel, came down with the same symptoms and was also admitted to the hospital. Granite was euthanized when it was clear he wouldn't get well. Gabriel recovered but was taken out of the guide dog program in case of lingering health issues. He was adopted by his foster family.
"We notified our volunteers," Eide said. "We've got 240 puppy walkers, and many have brought their dogs in for visits." Approximately 30 dogs were living there at the time, she said.
Puppy walkers are volunteers who raise puppies for about a year until they are old enough to enter the guide dog training program. Families can leave the puppies at the site when they are away. The older dogs undergoing training live on-site and then go to live with their new owners.
Those dogs caught up in the quarantine will be reunited tomorrow with their families. "We are expecting a very busy day," Eide said.
In all, 12 dogs were affected, and all except Granite have since recovered.
Officials are still not clear what killed Granite and sickened the other dogs, and blood samples have proved inconclusive. It is possible that Granite and Gabriel were infected with a rare form of bordetella.
Training was suspended for two weeks and will resume tomorrow, according to Eide.
