S.P.C.A. of Texas adoptions to begin, but not intakes.
The S.P.C.A. of Texas Jan Rees-Jones Animal Care Center in Dallas will reopen for adoptions on July 14, 2022 after tests show the facility is free of canine distemper.
The center will return to being open for dog and cat adoptions seven days per week from noon to 6:00 p.m. after having been closed for a month and a half as a proactive response that was implemented after a dog that had been taken in had tested positive for canine distemper virus early in June.
Although the center is opening for adoptions, intakes are still suspended.
After weeks of testing all dogs for C.D.V. regardless of whether not they showed symptoms, the SPCA of Texas found no additional cases and determined that the outbreak had ended. As part of the organization’s protocol, a facility where a dog has tested positive is closed for a minimum of two weeks and can only open if no additional positive test occurs during the closing. The organization implements the closing and quarantine measures to minimize the spread of the disease.
Distemper infections affect a dog’s respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system. Symptoms range from no visible signs of illness to mild respiratory issues such as a runny nose and eyes to severe respiratory symptoms, thickened foot pads or nose skin, seizures, neurological deficits and decline. Animals can be contagious for months. Animals given medical care can survive the course of infection, though some die.
The infection is easily prevented by a vaccine that has a 99% effectiveness rate.
Dogs at the Jan Rees-Jones Animal Care Center are available for adoption, foster or transfer.
But because dogs at two other S.P.C.A. of Texas shelters have tested positive for C.D.V more recently, the Russell E. Dealey Animal Rescue Center and the Ellis County Animal Care Center will remain closed.
Dogs with C.D.V. have been isolated for treatment and dogs at the two facilities and will be tested again in two weeks. Any new C.D.V. positive test result at either location will cause an additional two-week countdown for the facility and another round of tests at the end of the cycle. Only when a facility shows no positive tests for two weeks will it be able to reopen.
For months now, C.D.V. has affected private and municipal shelters throughout North Texas, prompting closings and other responses.
