Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 24, 1993 TAG: 9305240076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The puppy - sold at Happy's Flea Market last month with two others - was found Sunday at the home of a Southwest Roanoke family.
William Shires of the Roanoke Health Department said a television station that had aired reports on the puppy search received a call with information about the person who had purchased the animal. The station phoned Shires on Sunday with the information.
"I went over to the house this morning and the puppy appears to be healthy," Shires said. "Our concern was for the worst-case scenario: That someone had bought the puppy and it too was infected with rabies, as was its brother."
Shires has instructed the family to quarantine the animal until he can consult the state epidemiologist in Richmond. The family has another dog - a poodle, Shires said.
"It should not have access to other animals right now," he said. "We'd prefer not to have it around humans, too, though we know it's impossible to stay away from a little puppy."
Donald Hall, who bought the puppy last month for $10, said he will have a tough time staying away from the pup.
"I've become attached to Missy," Hall said. "I hadn't heard anything about this until my brother told me. It kind of surprised me."
Health officials launched a search for the puppies - sold by a Bassett-area man, Roger King - after one tested rabid. The three puppies - including Missy - were part of the same litter of Australian shepherds. A fourth puppy - which returned home with King - was a mixed breed that had shared a cage with the other three, Shires said.
The puppy that later tested positive for rabies was bought by a Blacksburg woman who took it to a veterinarian a week after she purchased it. The vet put the dog to death after it exhibited "neurological abnormalities," health officials in the New River district said.
A second puppy in the litter was sold to a Clifton Forge family. That dog was killed by a truck, officials said, and no tests were performed on it.
The mixed-breed puppy that went home with King became sick and died a short time afterward. Because there was no suspicion of rabies at the time, it was buried without testing, Shires said.
King said last week that he believed that dog died of "parvo," another viral infection.
Hall recalled that Missy became sick two days after he bought her. She had blood in her stool, a poor appetite and "just wanted to lay around," Hall said. He took her to a veterinarian who prescribed medication that quickly cleared up the problem.
It is possible that Hall's puppy had a touch of of the parvo infection, Shires said.
"If it had been sick with rabies, it would have killed it within 10 days," he said. "It couldn't have recovered from it."
Rabies cases have been on the rise in the Roanoke Valley since last spring, Shires said.
"We had a confirmed case of rabies last spring in Roanoke in a cat and a raccoon," he said. "Since then, there have been quite a few confirmed cases in Roanoke County, Montgomery County, Franklin County and Henry County. [Rabies] is recognized as here."
Shires said the rabies was traced to raccoons, brought up to Northern Virginia and Maryland from Georgia for sporting purposes. The animals, he said, were infected.
Hall says he'll follow Shires' instructions for as long as he has to. If he's told to bring Missy in, "I guess I'll have no choice,' Hall said.
"Somebody may have to reimburse me 10 dollars," he half-joked. "I don't really mean that. This dog is worth more than 10 dollars to me."
by CNB