Dozens of dogs in Kent County had to be put down after an outbreak of a deadly virus in the county's animal shelter.

The animal shelter is out from under its quarantine Wednesday, but not before roughly 40 dogs had to be destroyed.

For Florine Paul, losing her dog was bad enough. "That dog is part of our family, and he's just like a kid, he runs behind you all the time," said Paul. The thought that it could have ended up at the Kent County Animal Shelter, and been among the dogs exposed to parvovirus was even scarier.

"That mine would be in that area, if something happened, that could happen to my dog too," said Paul.

The Health Department started noticing sick animals early last Monday. By mid-week, multiple dogs were already showing signs of the fatal disease, which attacks dog's intestinal tracts.

"Any time you get animals with unknown health and vaccination histories, in close quarters together, if one of them is sick it's bound to spread like wildfire," said Amy Morris from the Kent County Health Department.

The shelter was closed to adoptions starting last Thursday in an effort to limit the spread. The entire facility was disinfected. All the bedding was thrown away.

It is a story that touched area pet lovers, who were stepping up to help out. "I just have a ton of old blankets and towels," said Sue Hooley of Rockford. "I feel bad, I know I've had dogs before, you have to get them vaccinated and it's very contagious. I feel bad, it spreads like it could."

But with the cost of treating infected dogs, estimated at $1,000 apiece, the shelter says it had little choice trying to control its first outbreak since 2005.

"Forty is a high number and we hate to have to do that, but we really didn't have a choice in the matter. It had to be contained, and we had to take measures," said Morris.

Parvo isn't a problem that's going away. Just Tuesday two more sick strays showed up with the virus.

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