Shelter: 19 Dogs Have Symptoms of Mystery Illness

Nineteen dogs have displayed symptoms of a mystery illness that has temporarily closed the Gwinnett County Animal Shelter. None oar believed to be in critical or life-threatening condition. The shelter announced Friday that one dog had died from the illness.

Doctors at the University of Georgia Veterinary Medicine College are expected to provide test results on the illness by late Monday afternoon. A temporary shelter has been set up for animals brought in while the permanent shelter is closed.

The shelter is consulting with four area veterinarians and administering doxycycline in hopes of clearing up the symptoms of the illness. A call went out in the community Friday night for additional doses of the medicine and the outpouring has provided enough to threat the animals throughout the quarantine.

Donations came from groups that include:

• Angels Among Us Pet Rescue (Atlanta)
• Atlanta Lab Rescue (Buckhead)
• Banfield Animal Hospitals (Lawrenceville)
• Baranik Animal Care (Suwanee)
• Fur Kids (Alpharetta)
• Georgia SPCA (Suwanee)
• Gwinnett Animal Hospital (Snellville)
• K-9 Rescue League
• Russell Ridge Animal Hospital (Lawrenceville)
• Society of Humane Friends (Lawrenceville)
• Sugar Hill Animal Hospital
• The Veterinary Clinic West (Marietta)
• Tiger Tails Animal Hospital (Duluth)

Also read: Gwinnett Animal Shelter Closed Immediately Due to Illness

More thanks, as provided by the Gwinnett Animal Shelter:

The Facebook page “Helping Animals at the Gwinnett County Animal Shelter” put out a plea last night on their site for donations of canned dog food, blue Dawn liquid dish detergent and towels. This was very late in the evening when the need was discovered, and the response has been overwhelming. Many thanks as well to two of the administrators of that page, Jan Grissom and Cathy Elliot. Ms. Grissom and Ms. Elliot have been driving all over metro Atlanta from Buford, to Duluth, to Marietta, to Buckhead picking up donations for the shelter, saving staff time.

A large thank you also goes out to the Petsmart at the Mall of Georgia in Buford and Alcovy Pet Rescue for holding a donation drive today at the store for supplies needed at the shelter.

A very large thank you is also due to the private citizens that have come to the shelter making these donations.

The shelter has received approximately 700 cans of dog food, along with other supplies already.

Even though this sickness is only apparent in dogs, a large thank you goes out to the cat rescue community. With the assistance of an individual local rescuer named Caroline Gatto, all cats have been removed from the shelter. This was not because the director was afraid the cats would become sick, but it was done to ease the staff’s workload of having to not only care for dogs, but cats as well.

The rescues that Ms. Gatto worked with to pull these animals are: Angels Among Us (Atlanta), Columbus Purrs and Paws (Columbus), Fur Kids (Alpharetta), and Planned Pethood (Duluth).

Director Moore would like to extend a large thank you to the staff members that have worked tirelessly to care for the animals at the shelter. He would also like to extend a large thank you to the numerous Gwinnett County Volunteers that have come in and worked just as hard side by side with shelter staff.

The Gwinnett County Police Department and Animal Control Director Chip Moore would like to thank our citizens for their patience during this difficult time.