{"id":1653,"date":"2024-01-02T11:21:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T19:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/?p=1653"},"modified":"2024-01-02T19:36:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T03:36:45","slug":"pet-care-proprietors-take-precautions-to-battled-a-contagious-mystery-illness-in-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/opinion\/pet-care-proprietors-take-precautions-to-battled-a-contagious-mystery-illness-in-dogs","title":{"rendered":"Column: Pet care proprietors take precautions to battle a contagious ‘mystery’ illness in dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want weekly pet news from columnist Kate Karp? Sign up for The Scratching Post newsletter here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Vivian Dominguez and Danielle Portillo, owners of bark! bark! Daycare<\/a> in Downtown Long Beach and Signal Hill, are concerned about the reported \u201cmystery\u201d canine respiratory disease that local health officials have been warning about<\/a>. Actually, they\u2019re actively concerned about any contagious pet disease and ensure that they won\u2019t spread in their facilities. But the anxiety over this new disease has taken an unhealthy chomp out of their business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get a lot of calls from worried owners,\u201d Dominguez said. \u201cAbout 53% of boarding, grooming and doggy-day-care business was canceled [when the disease was first reported].\u201d<\/p>\n

Long Beach Animal Care Services<\/a> recently alerted the public about the illness, whose symptoms include prolonged coughing and sneezing that sometimes develops into pneumonia. As yet, the disease hasn\u2019t been identified,<\/a> and no cases have been specified in the Long Beach area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t seen any cases of the illness, either, but we know that it exists,\u201d Dominguez said. \u201cWe also have clients who\u2019ve talked to their doctors, and they haven\u2019t seen any sign of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dominguez and Portillo asked several local veterinarians whether they\u2019ve seen signs of the illness. None of them reported any cases, but they all said that more clients have called about this illness than any other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sent out emails to clients when the panic hit at the end of October,\u201d Dominguez said. \u201cWe tried doing our part to ease worry, but we can only do so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dominguez and Portillo have owned bark! bark! for 24 years and strictly enforce protocols to prevent the spreading of disease. Dominguez said that any responsible pet-related business will do this.<\/p>\n

\"tall
Bark! bark! follows strict sanitation protocols for their boarders. Dancing lessons are optional. Photo courtesy of bark! bark!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cEven before this whole mystery respiratory illness existed, there have been other respiratory illnesses,\u201d Dominguez said. \u201cThere\u2019s been kennel cough<\/a>, canine influenza and others that we\u2019ve always had strict cleaning regimens for. Our protocols and safety measures include good HVAC systems, and we have an internal tracking system so that if a client has symptoms or a diagnosed disease, we keep a tracking table. That\u2019s solely to determine what time period something may have come in. Every dog has to have proof of vaccinations 30 days before boarding, and if any dogs later show sneezing, soft stool, anything, we call the emergency contact to get them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The staff regularly scrub walls and clean air-flow systems, and dishes are sanitized hourly. The employees do four daily body checks on all animals. The staff will not board or groom any pet showing signs of contagious disease. If any client later contacts bark! bark! about signs of contagious diseases in their own pets, the staff contacts other clients whose pets have been in their care and tells them to be watchful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re very good at calling us,\u201d Dominguez said of their clients.<\/p>\n

Responsible humans are the ultimate key to running a healthy pet-care business. Dominguez said that it\u2019s essential that anyone wanting to board their pet at any facility make themselves aware of their protocols and reputation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if their dog is feeling under the weather, keep them home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warnings about the respiratory disease in dogs have some people worried about boarding their pets. Here’s how one business is handling the situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[5],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[6],"class_list":["post-1653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-the-scratching-post","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1653"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1660,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions\/1660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1653"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1653"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}