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ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) — A central Indiana animal shelter that has closed its dog kennel was awaiting test results Friday after two dogs died and more than a dozen others became ill with respiratory troubles.
Madison County Humane Society manager Carla Condon said the Anderson shelter was hoping to know early next week whether the dogs have been infected with a canine influenza virus.
Veterinarians from Purdue University took blood samples from dogs at the shelter on Wednesday after a year-old husky and an 8-month-old terrier mix both died in the past week, Condon told The Herald Bulletin (http://bit.ly/1Hn0wKR ).
"It starts out as an upper respiratory and can turn into pneumonia," she said. "That is what happened to the ones that passed away. They won't eat, won't drink — they just don't want to get up."
Condon said the shelter has received numerous donations of money to help pay veterinarian bills and cleaning supplies for workers to use as they try to disinfect the kennel area. She said she didn't know long the kennel will remain closed.
A dangerous strain of canine influenza virus has sickened hundreds of dogs in several Midwest states in the past couple months, according to animal health experts.
In April, nine dogs in Tippecanoe County tested positive for the virus, but there has not been a large outbreak of the flu in the state, said Kevin Doerr, a spokesman for Purdue University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
Doerr said samples taken from the Anderson shelter will be evaluated by its Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and an examination was scheduled for one of the dogs that died.
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Information from: The Herald Bulletin, http://www.theheraldbulletin.com
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