Ebola-infected nurse's dog, Bentley, is 'safe,' 'wagging his tail'

The dog owned by Nina Pham, the Texas nurse who was the first person known to be infected with Ebola in the U.S., is quarantined and doing well, animal officials say.

Bentley, Pham's year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel, was removed from the 26-year-old nurse's Dallas apartment on Monday afternoon.

"Time to get Bentley," Sana Syed, public information officer for the city of Dallas, tweeted.

Pham, who became infected while caring for Liberian Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan, was in stable condition Monday after receiving a blood transfusion from Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly. She was hospitalized late Friday, and her pooch had been stranded inside her apartment until workers in protective gear could remove him.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are no known cases of dogs or cats spreading the Ebola virus, but authorities said they were taking "every precaution."

“Bentley is in his new temp home,” Syed tweeted. “He’s wagging his tail and eating dinner!”

Syed said the dog is being cared for at an undisclosed location by the Dallas Animal Services and Adoption Center, where he will be tested for Ebola and checked frequently.

“We’re not going to put him in a cage for 21 days and say, ‘Good luck,’” she told the New York Post. “We’re going to do our best so that the dog is in the best mental state when he is returned to his owner.”

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told WFAA-TV that Bentley would not be euthanized like Excalibur, the dog belonging to a Spanish nurse with Ebola. Officials put him down despite a viral social media campaign to save his life.

"When I met with her parents, they said, 'This dog is important to her, judge. Don't let anything happen to the dog,'" Jenkins said. "If that dog has to be 'The Boy in the Plastic Bubble,' we're going to take good care of that dog."