UPDATE: Animal Services shelter dog adoptions remain closed until Oct. 7 due to illness

Santa Rosa County Animal Services dog adoption operations remain closed at the shelter facility until Mon., Oct. 7due to a bacterial illness called Mycoplasma cynos.

SRCAS shelter and medical staff are treating the affected dogs and hope to be clear for regular adoption operations next week. Cat adoptions are still open.

"Our shelter and medical staff is diligently isolating different dog groups within the shelter and maintaining the same footprint with each group," said Randy Lambert, Animal Services Chief. "Hopefully, this will limit the spread as much as possible and help us track wellness milestones."

According to SRCAS Veterinarian Dr. Ashley Virgilio, the background for the illness at the SRCAS shelter is as follows:

"On September 21, 2024, one of our resident shelter dogs was found to have a productive cough, coughing up clear to yellow liquid. X-rays taken showed prominent pneumonia and a PCR panel was sent to an outside laboratory to try to identify the organism causing the disease. This panel screens for the DNA of 11 commonly isolated respiratory pathogens including flu viruses, distemper, bordetella, and others. This panel came back negative for all organisms other than Mycoplasma cynos. Many Mycoplasma species are normal flora, meaning that they live in the respiratory tract normally, even in healthy dogs. However, the species Mycoplasma cynos is strongly associated with respiratory disease in dogs.

Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease (CIRD) is a broad term used to describe a contagious respiratory infection affecting the upper airways primarily. CIRD is the preferred term for "kennel

cough" although they both have the same meaning. CIRD is spread by respiratory droplets or aerosolized respiratory secretions (coughing, sneezing, etc). For most of the organisms that

cause the disease, the time from exposure to the start of symptoms is just 2-3 days but can be up to 10-14 days in some cases.

At the Santa Rosa County Animal Shelter, our patient zero received emergency care in Niceville due to his pneumonia and is on the mend but the remainder of the animals who have

been affected have done well with isolation, an antibiotic that is appropriate for the treatment of Mycoplasma cynos, and a cough suppressant. Adoptions and movement of dogs within the

shelter has been halted to prevent any further spread of disease until control of new cases is achieved."

The shelter will continue with scheduled offsite adoption eventsthis week, only bringing dogs currently in foster care, that have not been exposed to the illness.

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