SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Front Street Animal Shelter in Sacramento will not be accepting any healthy, stray dogs for at least two weeks as of Thursday after a dog at the shelter tested positive for a highly contagious and dangerous bacterial infection.
According to the Front Street Animal Shelter, the infected dog tested positive for Streptococcus zooepidemicus, more commonly known as strep zoo, which can cause infected dogs to start bleeding into their lungs and airways.
Oftentimes, dogs in shelter environments are found deceased in their kennels before symptoms of the disease appear.
According to the Front Street Shelter, the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service (SCRAPS) experienced a similar outbreak.
The Front Street Shelter said it would follow the same protocol as SCRAPS by closing to the public for two weeks to treat dogs in its care and following veterinary infectious disease experts' shelter medicine protocols.
The shelter is seeking emergency foster homes to temporarily house the dogs currently in the shelter in order to prevent the spread of the infection.
"Limiting the number of animals in the shelter is the most important step we can take to reduce a widespread outbreak of this disease," said Phillip Zimmerman the manager of Front Street Animal Shelter in a statement.
The Front Street Shelter is asking anyone who finds a healthy, stray dog to first attempt to locate the dog's owner by posting to Facebook lost and found pet pages, Craigslist, Nextdoor, talking to neighbors and posting found-dog signs throughout the area.
Resources:
- To create a found pet report, please visit the City Of Sacramento's website.
- If you would like to sign up to be an emergency foster home to one of these dogs, please visit HelpFrontStreet.org.
