MADISON, Ind. (WHAS11) -- Forget about spring cleaning, there is no time at the Madison-Jefferson County Animal Shelter.
Workers are on their hands and knees this winter trying to disinfect it from any exposure to parvo.
"This was the only way I knew to do it," said Director Jenny Slover.
She says the shelter first became aware of the highly contagious illness when a dog was dropped off earlier this month. It quickly began showing symptoms and tested postive for parvo which then spread throughout the kennels.
Slover made the decision to euthanize six dogs. "In the long run, it was the right thing to do because we don't have more animals coming and picking up as they get sick," she told WHAS11.
Slover also decided to temporarily suspend the intake of dogs, including ones found by animal control.
"I will not reopen to bring dogs in until every surface of this building has been scrubbed and disinfected," Slover said.
The cats are separated from the dogs and Slover says they have not shown any signs of sickness. In her 10 years at the shelter, she considers this to be the worst outbreak and offers this advice for anyone looking to surrender a pet.
"If you bring it here right now, it's a death sentence because we have not cleaned. I don't feel safe that the parvo has been removed from here yet," she said.
Slover plans to continue to clean through the end of the week. Her goal is to reopen the shelter to dogs sometime next week. She is also asking for people to make sure their animals are up to date on their vaccines.