Detection of respiratory viruses in shelter dogs maintained under varying environmental conditions

Monteiro, Francielle Liz; Cargnelutti, Juliana Felipetto; Martins, Mathias; Anziliero, Deniz; Erhardt, Magnólia Martins; Weiblen, Rudi; Flores, Eduardo Furtado

Shelter #3 hosts stray dogs and cats of both genders, varying ages and primarily crossbred animals. At the visit, 180 dogs and 20 cats were present in the shelter. The dogs were allocated according to gender and age in collective fenced barns that had at least one dog house per animal. The animals had constant direct contact with other animals from the same cage/barn. The individual area was approximately Nasal swabs of 74, 35 and 77 dogs in shelters #1, #2 and #3, respectively, were randomly collected; approximately 50% of the dogs in each shelter were sampled. After sample collection, the swabs were maintained in RNAlater solution (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA), and the samples remained in dry ice during transport to the laboratory where they were stored at −80 • C. All proceedings involving animal manipulation were performed under the supervision of a veterinarian and according to the recommendations of the Brazilian Committee of Animal Experimentation (Comitê Brasileiro de Experimentação Animal -COBEA, law #6.638, May 8, 1979) . This research was approved by the institutional Ethics and Animal Welfare Committee (UFSM, Comitê de Ética e Experimentação Animal: approval number 080/2014).