Animal shelter dogs must be euthanized So the owner called last night after I left work. Long story short, he usually doesn't run off but he did this time. The owner is in the process of moving from Casper to Cheyenne. He is picking "Butkus" up this morning.
I can't believe this...no more walks for my Abbie for a while.
Area on alert for dog flu
CHEYENNE - In a heartbreaking turn of events, officials announced Monday that all of the 75 to 80 dogs at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter will be euthanized to curb the spread of highly contagious canine influenza.
That is not all. These cases marked the first detected cases of the potentially lethal infection in the state of Wyoming, and officials say this is only the beginning.
"It's going through the community," said Gary Norwood, a veterinarian at Frontier Animal Clinic, "and all of our dogs are totally na‹ve."
Officials also are warning the Cheyenne area to take action to protect their dogs from the disease by isolating them for the next few weeks.
Many local Cheyenne veterinary clinics saw their first cases last week, Norwood said. The virus cannot infect humans or cats, but it infects all dogs that come into contact with it. It isn't necessary for dogs to touch each other - the virus can spread through the air and can hitch a ride on clothing or hands.
Though the vast majority of dogs will recover from the infection or never develop symptoms at all, some 3 to 10 percent will die, he said. In some cases already, dogs that were happy and frisky in the morning were dying by nightfall and dead within 24 hours.
At Frontier Animal Clinic, there have been three cases as of Monday, and one of them died rapidly. But Norwood urged calm and caution.
"For 95 percent of cases, the dog's going to recover just fine," he said. "People need to not panic. Respect that this virus has entered our community. Use logic. Use hygiene. This virus is susceptible to normal hygiene procedures."
Cheyenne Animal Shelter staff and city officials made the announcement about the euthanization at an emotionally charged meeting at the Cheyenne City Council chambers Monday night.
Many questioned the shelter's decision. But Dr. Walt Cook, the assistant state veterinarian, asked for a show of hands of veterinarians at the meeting who thought it was the right thing to do. All four supported the decision.
"As regrettable as this is, I think this is the most reasonable decision, and I commend it," he said.
The outbreak began, according to shelter records, a little over three weeks ago, when staff began to notice symptoms in the dogs that made them think they had kennel cough, a mild, but common infection in dogs caused by a bacterium unrelated to influenza.
Three days after the first symptoms were noted, said Michelle Hazzard, shelter spokeswoman, Adoption Kennel 1 was closed on April 11. On April 17, the rest of the adoption kennels were closed and all adoptions halted.
After doing some research, the staff became concerned it might be canine influenza and sent five samples - one of which was a control - to an expert in Florida for testing. Four of the samples came back positive on Friday.
In the meantime, the disease had been spreading rapidly and easily between dogs who'd had even minimal contact with other dogs. Four dogs died. Age didn't matter. One dog looked fine on Friday morning, fell ill, was given treatment and still died in less than 24 hours.
On Sunday, the shelter's board of directors met with Norwood and David Barber, a veterinarian who works as an environmental epidemiologist for the Wyoming Department of Health.
Given the contagiousness of the disease, they considered two options, said Jim Hathaway, the shelter's veterinarian.
One was to try to isolate every dog in the shelter in different housing facilities in alternate locations. The second was to euthanize all the animals.
The clincher, he said, was the fact that some 20 percent of dogs that are infected and shedding the virus do not display symptoms. After seven to 10 days, if they have not died they are no longer shedding the disease. In addition, dogs that have recovered from infection retain very little immunity and can be re-infected.
But because there's no rapid test to see which dogs are infected and which aren't, they said, it is impossible to tell which dogs are infected without symptoms.
"That is something none of us wants to do, but at this point it seems the best thing we have come up with," Hathaway said.
One meeting attendee thought this course of action was "a very rash and heartless decision."
But the new director of the animal shelter, Alan Cohen, said he could not in good conscience do otherwise.
"If we do not euthanize these animals, we cannot guarantee these animals will not re-infect themselves and other animals," he said. "If I do not euthanize these animals, how can I let them loose knowing they might spread it to the community? If we don't stop these 70, they may serve as vectors to spread it to the entire community."
Board President Tim LaHiff said that because he felt it wasn't right to ask shelter staff to euthanize the dogs because of their emotional attachments, he has asked local veterinarians to volunteer. He said no decision has yet been made about when the dogs will be put down.
In the meantime, incoming strays are being taken to a separate location, and the staff has plans to scrub and sterilize the shelter, consult with other shelters and see what structural changes can be made to help prevent an outbreak from spreading again within the shelter. It will be more than a week after the last dogs are gone before the shelter could be opened to dogs once more.
Cats, which are not affected by the virus, are being kept within the shelter, but no adoptions are being allowed.
Misty Courtney, a kennel technician at the shelter for a little over four months, strongly disagreed with the shelter's decision and said she will not return to work there because of it. She thought the symptoms had been going on for much longer than a few weeks and questioned why tests weren't done sooner.
She said she understood the idea of killing animals to prevent disease. But she said no one would consider such a solution for human patients at a hospital, and she said she felt dogs should be treated with the same respect.
Courtney said that at a meeting called at the shelter on Sunday announcing the decision, some staff began crying when they heard the news. Some had to walk out.
It was particularly hard, she said, because many of the dogs are only showing mild symptoms.
After the meeting, she stopped by the adoption kennels where the dogs were. They wagged their tails when they recognized her.
"I almost lost it," she said. "I wanted to take them and escape." | 
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So I'm taking that this bacteria I got doesn't like it when I eat spicy food!
I could't be so easy that when I moved out here, my friends would too. Not sure what we are gonna get into, but we'll have fun. Then my brother is talking about coming out here in October. Yay! It will be his 2nd trip here too. Mom was talking bout also coming. She must really miss me b/c this will be her 3rd trip here. I feel loved 
Yuck.
