(Battlefords Humane Society/Facebook)

By Angela Brown

Precautionary measure

Humane Society temporarily not taking dogs due to concern of distemper

Sep 13, 2022 | 5:50 PM

The Battlefords Humane Society is temporarily not accepting or adopting out dogs due to a risk of a possible case of distemper.

Shelter coordinator, Michelle Spark, said one of the dogs at the facility is currently being checked for the virus.

“We are waiting for the results of the test to come back, which we won’t have until probably early next week,” she said. “So in the meantime, we are being extremely careful. We have quarantined our dog area just in case, and we’re taking whatever safety measures we can to protect our animals as well as the community.”

The quarantine will remain until the results are confirmed. If the results come back negative, then the shelter can open up again for dogs. But if they come back positive, then the dog section will continue to follow a quarantine period from about two to four weeks.

There is no impact on cat intakes and adoptions.

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Spark said distemper is highly contagious as an airborne virus amongst dogs. However, it is not transmittable between species, from a dog to a cat, or to a human.

Some of the signs of possible distemper in an animal include goopy and red eyes, coughing, vomiting and fever.

Spark took the opportunity to remind pet owners to always have their animals vaccinated to keep them healthy.

She added that both parvovirus and distemper are becoming increasingly present in the community, which is a concern.

“Parvovirus is running rampant right now. So it’s super important that the community knows that these two viruses, as highly contagious and fatal as they can be, can be completely prevented by vaccinating your animals,” Spark said. “It’s super important that we get across to the community that their animals need to be vaccinated. If animals were vaccinated, this wouldn’t happen.”

In the meantime, Spark said the humane society is in desperate need of donations since it has lost income by not being able to adopt out dogs at this time.

“The ramifications of this, and us being quarantined could cost us around the $10,000 mark for care, and lost revenue from adoptions,” she said. “So we need our community support now more than ever.”

Spark also encourages people who can apply to become foster parents to new intakes of dogs that the shelter is unable to accept currently.

“If people can open their homes and help us out short-term for fostering that would be amazing,” she said.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow