Health officials in the state of Wisconsin ordered a ban on the sale, importation and display of prairie dogs after a dozen people were taken ill from exposure to the animals.
Health officials said all 12 people in Wisconsin had recovered or were getting better, although three remained hospitalised on Saturday.
Two other people were taken ill in Illinois.
Although it was unclear what disease the prairie dogs carried, officials connected all 14 sicknesses to a single shipment of 30 of the burrowing rodents, sold by a Wisconsin man to pet stores and at a swap meet in the town of Wausau.
Prairie dogs have become popular as pets in some parts of the US.
People reported fever, coughs, rashes and swollen lymph nodes within one to two weeks of contact with the prairie dogs.
Wisconsin public health veterinarian Jim Kazmierczak said the illnesses could have resulted from an orthopoxvirus, which causes rashes on the skin.
