08/28/2022
New dog or cat? Maybe you are a foster? These are my tips for a quarantine period for the new pet or pet who is a temporary visitor.
Anytime our family acquires a new pet especially from a shelter environment we quarantine for a 14-day period away from the rest of the pack. Our pets are vaccinated annually with rabies vaccination, dhlpp for the larger dogs and dhpp for the littles, oral Bordetella, and in some cases the flu vaccine because my dogs do come with me to work which is at a Veterinary practice. All of the vaccines I use are made by Zoetis. I do not practice using a 3-year rabies vaccine because I do live in the county and in 2018 every skunk that was tested in our area which I believe was 52 in total, tested positive for rabies. I also vaccinate annually because I pull from area shelters often and of course we have no idea the history of the new dogs healthcare.
Quarantine for a new dog in our home means living in our sunroom which has a completely different air conditioning and heating system and does not share the same return/ventilation system that our home's central air and heat has. This prevents mycoplasma, bordetella, heaven forbid distemper, and many other illnesses from spreading through our home. In 2016 I decided to cut one of my shelter rescues quarantine periods short by a few days and our entire household paid for my mistake. Bordetella and mycoplasma spread through our house so heavily that we thought we would have to euthanize a few of our permanent residents that were extremely healthy prior to the illness. We were lucky and pulled everybody through but it definitely wasn't without long-term effects. Each of our dogs that became ill had a different incubation period so everybody was sick for about 2 months before finally ridding our home of honking, coughing, snotty nose, lethargy, inappetance, and overall just feeling like crap. Of course I felt like crap because that was all due to my interest in introducing the dogs quickly. In most homes a second ventilation system isn't always attainable so using a garage during cooler weather, a bathroom, or a laundry room is better than immediate introduction. Fast forward to today I have definitely learned my lesson in using the full 14-day quarantine period for any new animal especially ones from a shelter environment. Now please understand this is not a dig at shelters. We usually have no knowledge of vaccine history or if any previous care was given at all. It does not matter to me if all of my pets have been vaccinated every year for the last 10 years - I am not and will not expose a healthy animal to the unknown exposure of a new animal. Being married to a shelter manager for years (who gives brilliant advice) will teach you the hard way because when you don't heed the warning your pets will pay the price and so will your pocketbook. Remember, this is what has worked for me. You may choose to modify your introductions differently but this is recommended strongly by a shelter manager and many veterinarians. Especially if the veterinarians have worked with shelter pets or intake.
All of the new animals bedding is washed separately and not only with Tide detergent but with a tablet of Bru-clean. BRU-CLEAN is expensive but works beautifully by disinfecting linens, kennels, bowls, and floors. It kills Parvo, Clostridium Perfringens, Distemper, Bordetella (rhinitis) BUT RESCUE DISENFECTANT kills all of these and the dreaded mycoplasma!
If my story does anything I hope it helps the understanding that this is not just a tiny cold and cough especially if you have other dogs in the household. Ozzy who is the dog I pulled off of the euthanasia list cost a whopping $1,500 to rid him of the illness mycoplasma. Confirmatory PCR testing, lab work, x-rays of his chest, three rounds of antibiotics, combined with a nice case of giardia made for quite the touch and go situation of his health.
In certain cases I am so cautious that I even change out Footwear before I come in contact with my permanent pack residents at my home. For Ozzy's particular case, I would take off my clothes in the garage and shower before I ever let my dogs out of their kennels to go potty when I got home.
If you're reading this story and you don't Foster or have a large grouping of animals at your home, this is just a drop in the Hat of what Veterinary clinics, shelters, Animal Welfare groups, rescues, and foster parents do for these pets. I applaud each and everyone of my peers who makes this part of their life. All of us have our own way of ensuring the health and well-being of animals but I always want anyone to know that I am available for you to pick my brain at any time! Together we are fighting the large numbers of intakes at shelters and hopefully together we can make each other's lives a little bit easier with tips of the trade!
PS- this is not only for people who adopt or are pulling animals through rescue from a shelter. If you purchase a dog or buy it online from an individual, if they don't have documentation from a veterinarian, don't believe any medical history they give you.
