Would you...?

Would you adopt a dog from a shelter that has had to euthanize dogs due to parvo outbreaks in the past? What about as recent as the last few months/weeks? I have been looking at some high kill shelters to adopt from, but the chance that I may adopt a dog with parvo scares the sh!t out of me.

We fostered dogs from shelters with parvo outbreaks.

I would, IF I didn't have any puppies on the premises. And I'd set my home up with a special quarantine area/potty area that could be disinfected etc. before bringing it home. As much as I wouldn't want my dog living in the garage, if it was a clean area with a cement floor, I'd house the dog in there in an x-pen or chain link kennel for the quarantine.

It would only have to be for about 2 weeks, and you could bleach the crap out of the whole room and potty yard afterward.

They've had to purge our shelters in the past because of parvo outbreaks. It's just impossible to remain sterile enough sometimes if it gets away on you.

I haven't had a parvo dog for 15 years but even then it cost 900 to save the dog. He's now 15, he had been vaccinated but still contracted parvo from a puppy in puppy class.

I would be hesitant for the cost of heart ache and money. It would really depend on the level of outbreak too though.

I agree. Any pet that came from a shelter, no matter how healthy it looks at the time, really needs to be quarantined for a couple of weeks before you allow it with your other pets.

A few years ago, my local shelter took in a bunch of dogs and cats that were homeless due to Hurricane Katrina. I adopted a kitten. He was active, friendly, and apparently healthy when I adopted him. I had him quarantined in a large dog crate in my bedroom so my other cats could not interact with him. Within a week, the kitten showed signs of illness. Despite the best efforts of my veterinarian, he died. Diagnosis was "kitty distemper". My other cats were vaccinated but vaccinations are not 100%. If I had allowed interaction from the beginning then my other cats may have been infected. Quarantine. It's not worth the risk not to do so.

Parvo is certainly a concern for puppies...you just don't see it nearly as much in adult dogs. There is a test for Parvo, if you bring the pup straight to the vet...it's relatively expensive though, like $100 for the test. I worry much more about distemper in adult dogs. I think it's a bit more 'catchy' for dogs that have been vaccinated for it, and it has cropped up in shelters recently.

Don't forget URIs too..not nearly as life threatening, and I've had kennel cough clear up on it's own. But Soldier got one from us being at a shelter event, and he was totally miserable, had to bring him in for antibiotic shots and fluids as it was kicking his butt. They can get pneumonia from it.

I wouldn't. Even if they said it was totally fine and everything looked legit I wouldn't be able to get that fear out of the back of my mind.

With something that bad I would have a SUPER hard time trusting a shelter telling me that they 'cleaned' everything up to 'kill parvo and make it safe' standards.