WMBFNews.com | Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC | News, Weather, SportsTest results show humane society can reopen

Test results show humane society can reopen

FLORENCE, SC (WMBF) - The Florence Area Humane Society shelter will reopen on Thursday following a scare that one dog there might have a relatively new strain of the canine flu.

The humane society announced Friday it was temporarily stopping adoptions and closing the shelter while test were done to determine what caused the dog's symptoms.

Shelter manager Katy Hollingsworth said the shelter staff and the humane society board feared the female Basset Hound may have the H3N8 strain of canine flu. That strain of flu is not common, and therefore dogs at the shelter are not vaccinated for it when they are admitted to the shelter, Hollingsworth said.

The shelter staff feared the sickness would spread to other dogs at the shelter because the shelter does not have a quarantine area. Although the hound was separated from the other dogs, there was no assurance that the sickness could not spread to other dogs Hollingsworth said. As a precaution the staff decided to close the shelter and end adoptions so dogs that may have been exposed to the sickness did not spread it outside the shelter.

Test results showed the sickness was not as bad as the shelter staff feared. The results show the sick dog has a lung infection, which is less contagious and easier to treat than the H3N8 flu.

Because the sickness is less severe, the veterinarian for the shelter said it would be safe to reopen the shelter on Thursday. In the meantime, the shelter staff will keep the Basset Hound separated and thoroughly clean the shelter.

"We know it's not the flu, but this is a good opportunity to go ahead and do a really good cleaning up and make sure we're completely safe and there's no other diseases we need to be worried about," Hollingsworth said. "We're going to clean not only all of the cages but the walls and the ceilings and we have a bunch of carriers that we're going to clean out just to be on the safe side."

Hollingsworth said the staff will use an ammonia cleanser as an extra step on Tuesday. The cleaning is usually done with dishwashing detergent and bleach.

No other dogs at the shelter have shown symptoms similar to the hound's. No animals that were adopted while the hound was at the shelter have shown symptoms either Hollingsworth said.

The shelter is always closed on Wednesday, so it will reopen as usual at noon on Thursday.

Hollingsworth said a new shelter that is being built for the Florence Area Humane Society will have a quarantine area. That means the entire shelter will not have to close if one animal shows concerning health problems.

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