Dahlia

Dahlia is a year-old German Shepherd Dog/Chow dog I am fostering from the shelter. She recently had a litter of seven pups, of which three were trapped and surrendered to the shelter over a week ago. The owner didn't want to deal with the pups and that's why Dahlia landed at the shelter.

One of the pups had bitten its owner so all three of the pups were placed on a ten-day quarantine. There were not allowed to be touched or socialized until their quarantine was over this Thursday.

The pups were fearful at first and would cower in the kennel corner, however none growled or snarled at us. Eventually they learned to relax around us and would approach the gate of their kennel to try to lick us. But on Tuesday one showed signs of parvo and was euthanized Wedneday afternoon, after falling ill with the symptoms like labored breathing, lack of appetite and lethargy.

Upon hearing about the parvo case, I drove straight to the shelter to pick up Dahlia, who had been in a separate kennel once she was brought in separately from her pups on Monday, and had her taken to my vet to check for parvo. The ACO was waiting for me and had to close the shelter as I left because of a service call he had to tend to. Other people visiting the animals also had to leave. By 1:35 I drove home, told the other gals of the story, and left for my Bisbee vet at 2:15pm for my 3:15pm appointment. I was seen at 2:45pm and left the clinic at 3:15pm.

Tests came back negative for both parvo and parasites. She was also placed on an eight-day regimen of 500mg metronidazole twice daily to fight off any bacteria she may have in her system; she had had bloody stool on Tuesday at the shelter. I paid for the tests out of my own pocket, but told the ACO that I would keep Dahlia for eight days or until we had the shelter sterilized. He is happy with that as that keeps Dahlia safe from any more exposure.

Dahlia was an outside-only dog who is grossly underweight. My vet, Dr Snyder, said she needs to put on five pounds. She weighs 44.4 pounds. She is afraid of my dogs and cowers near them. Minnie and Sara are the most curious of Dahlia, but when they approach, Dahlia snarls at them. She chased Pache out of the yard and he quickly ran over our fence and into our neighbor's yard across the alley. He came back this morning, luckily.

I had Dahlia sleep in the guest bathroom last night so that she can feel safe from the dogs. She seemed to prefer that. An old crate pad provided her with some warmth, something that poor dog probably hasn't had all her life. It's obvious that Dahlia hasn't been given much affection in her short life. I want to fatten her up and teach her to trust others before she goes back out into the real world.

I am worried about the repeated outbreaks of parvo at the shelter. I've now seen two pups die from that horrific virus in the last month, and two other pups also were diagnosed with parvo that had been rescued from that shelter. We have no doubt that people had been surrendering their animals with the disease and that it took a while for the virus to manifest itself. People who are surrendering their animals are giving us animals who are not only not vaccinated, but are also not neutered or spayed.