CENTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The Beaver County Humane Society is asking for the public’s help while managing a minor outbreak of Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex (CIRDC), commonly known as kennel cough.
The shelter is taking precautions to limit the spread of the disease by quarantining exposed dogs, monitoring healthy dogs for symptoms and implementing quarantine-specific cleaning procedures. Most of the dogs are not “actively symptomatic,” shelter officials said.
“Once we discovered CIRDC in some of our dogs, we immediately began isolating sick dogs and initiating a deep clean of our shelter, with special attention on dog kennels and high dog traffic areas,” said shelter manager Cailin Smith Rankin.
Smith Rankin says kennel cough is common at shelters, so they were well-prepared to mitigate the spread and help symptomatic dogs. At this point, treatment for sick dogs hasn’t extended beyond support care.
Shelter officials say this outbreak has been complicated by a decrease in dog adoptions and a high volume of dog intakes at the shelter, a trend that seems to have “no end in sight.”
With valuable kennel space now being used for quarantining sick dogs, the shelter is temporarily closing dog owner surrenders. In the meantime, the shelter can provide owners with food until surrenders are possible again.
Smith Rankin says the shelter’s priority is getting healthy, unexposed dogs into foster homes.
“It would be extraordinarily helpful for our staff who will be hyper-focused on cleaning and monitoring the exposed dogs for symptoms while also freeing up non-isolated kennels for other animals who need us,” she said. “Even a short period of time in a foster home would be a tremendous benefit to both a dog and our staff who work tirelessly to care for our homeless shelter animals.”
Fostering a sick dog is only an option if the foster family can create a dedicated space away from their own dogs.
The shelter also needs volunteers who can walk exposed or sick dogs, clean kennels and engage dogs in enrichment activities.
Anyone interested in volunteering can visit the shelter’s website to learn more or call 724-775-5801 ext. 120. Those interested in fostering can call 724-775-5801 ext. 143.
The shelter remains open for adoptions during regular business hours.
Kennel cough is a highly contagious respiratory disease that affects dogs, characterized by symptoms such as a “honking” cough, runny nose, sneezing, lethargy and loss of appetite. In severe cases, it can develop into pneumonia.
The disease is most commonly caused by the bacterium Bordetella bronchiseptica and spreads through dog-to-dog contact, contaminated surfaces and airborne droplets.
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