Fort Worth Shelter Alters Policies to Combat Distemper

It’s been somewhat of a logistics challenge at the Fort Worth animal care and control shelter. Veterinarian Kent Glenn said they noticed an uptick in distemper cases starting back in June.

“I mean you just have to have a crystal ball to know if it’s going to be distemper. Then you have to have a magic wand to try to do something with it,” Glenn said.

With that in mind, stopping the spread of the virus that causes distemper is the focus right now.

They’ve come up with a plan of action: separate healthy dogs from those that are obviously sick and perform as many PCR tests as possible. Still, because the virus incubation period is so long, and PCR tests are relatively slow, that the plan isn’t failproof.

“It’s like a five-day turnaround from the time that we run the PCR test until we have the results back,” said Glenn. “Well, if an animal is shedding that virus during that time, that’s possibly a lot of exposure.”

The rate of distemper prompted changes in the shelter’s adoption and foster policies within the last few weeks.

Assistant Director Chris McAllister says the sooner puppies are out the door, the better chance they have of avoiding distemper. So, instead of waiting six months to put them for adoption, they become available immediately.

Dr. Glenn says sometimes even their best efforts can’t prevent euthanizing.

“Even if they’re healthy puppies and they get it, more than 50% will die even with the best of care,” he said.

Ultimately, they say the first line of defense starts with personal responsibility; the community working in tandem with the shelter to keep pets healthy.

“If 75% - 80% of the public actually vaccinated their pets, it would be a pretty strong barrier for spread,” Glenn said.

On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Operation Kindness will be offering free vaccinations to the community. They will be located at the Chuck and Brenda Silcox Animal Shelter at 4900 Martin St. in Fort Worth.