GEORGETOWN, Del.- The Brandywine Valley SPCA is speaking out after several puppies adopted during the non-profit's Mega Adoption Event held earlier this month in Harrington, Delaware died from canine parvovirus, a highly contagious viral illness that affects dogs and is particularly deadly in unvaccinated young puppies.
The BVSPCA said a total of six dogs have been infected with the virus so far. Five of them have died.
The Dec. 8-9 event, held at the Delaware State Fairgrounds, placed 1,181 animals in homes. Many of them came from overcrowded shelters where they had little chance of survival, according to the BVSPCA.
But over the weekend, Cyndi Hill Truitt of Whaleyville, Maryland, posted to Facebook a warning to people about the parvo outbreak.
"We went to the Mega Adoption Event in Harrington and adopted two beautiful puppies," Truitt wrote. "After one day the smallest pup's health began to decline. We took him to the vet right away. He was diagnosed with Parvo. For those who do not know the Parvo virus is highly contagious and even with treatment can be deadly to puppies.
"To make this long story a bit shorter, after several days at the vet and several nights at the PetER our pup, "Little Man" passed away after putting up one heck of a fight. Yesterday our other pup "Daisy" became symptomatic. Even though we had bleached and thrown away new toys, and taken every precaution we could. She is spending the night at the ER and I am praying she is strong enough to recover. I am so incredibly sad. I can't concentrate on anything and feel so helpless. This is NOT what was supposed to happen."
On Monday, the BVSPCA issued a statement about the outbreak.
"Our hearts break for the six puppies impacted by parvo and their families. Each family has had the opportunity for free care at our clinic or a VCA hospital, and all adoption fees have been or are in the process of being refunded. We’ve also proactively reached out to families that might have a risk of disease spread, such as littermates of the affected puppies. These are unfortunate cases that are a small minority representing 0.5% of the population in an event that has saved thousands of lives in its three year history."
According to Dr. Sheri Wood, BVSPCA's medical director, all puppies available for adoption through the BVSPCA have received age-appropriate vaccines.
“Vaccinations for puppies involve a process staged in time phases over a period of months, and a puppy isn’t fully vaccinated until four months of age," Woods said. "Properly vaccinated puppies can be susceptible to various diseases even when all the proper protocols are followed.”
Wood continued, “Parvo testing is known to be unpredictable. Usually a dog doesn’t test positive until it’s symptomatic. We see very few parvo cases, and the ones we do have a high treatment response and survival rate. All of the puppies at the event were examined several times by veterinary staff, and none were symptomatic prior to or during the event.”
The BVSPCA went on to say, "Parvo is an unfortunate reality in sheltering, and every shelter faces it from time to time. The shelter veterinary medicine community is divided on quarantines, as doing so can increase the risk of stress and disease outbreak while also delaying the lifesaving process. That said, all puppies at the event had been held at least five days and in many cases two weeks or more by either the BVSPCA or the sending rescue prior to being available for adoption. In addition, any puppies transferred from another shelter or rescue had health certificates issued by a veterinarian as part of an exam prior to transport."
In a followup post on Facebook, Truitt, wrote, "I have been contacted by the CEO of Brandywine SPCA who has guaranteed me all expenses incurred by adoptive families for medical treatment will be addressed."