Houston area animal shelters, already overloaded with unwanted cats and dogs during and after the height of the pandemic, are now dealing with an increasing number of illnesses that in some cases has forced the temporary shutdown of facilities.
Making matters worse, some of these crowded facilities, even if they’ve remained open, tell people to hold on to the strays until there is an opening for them or return them to the street where they found them.
Frustrating for residents trying to do the right thing –- but can’t add a dog or cat to their household – and for many animals a sentence of illness or death as they are returned to the streets.
As animal shelter personnel have discovered, the stray populations are still growing and bring with them a host of canine and feline diseases, said John Fischer, the animal services manager at the City of Pearland.
“Stray populations were already left relatively unchecked during COVID-19; everybody closed their doors and weren’t doing any intake of these animals, so these animals bred and had more interactions with each other,” Fischer said. “Now, as a result of this happening during the pandemic and continuing, we are seeing that there is this sort of epidemic of diseases.”
Within just weeks of each other, both the City of Sugar Land’s Animal Shelter and Houston’s BARC Animal Shelter had to announce temporary closures after finding positive cases of distemper in their facilities.
Since their initial closure, BARC has re-opened their shelter for services. Sugar Land’s animal shelter will remain closed for at least four to six weeks – the quarantine period – to ensure all dogs that have indirectly or directly been in contact with the active case can be tested, said Cindy King, interim animal services manager at the shelter.
Alongside distemper – a viral disease that attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of dogs – cases of canine and feline parvovirus are on the rise, said Fischer.
Fischer said at the City of Pearland’s Animal Shelter they have treated three to four cases of parvovirus this year, which is more than they have seen in the last four years.
“These problems are only going to get worse as shelters continue to intake and stay populations continue to rise; it’s not just cases of distemper or parvo, we are seeing mange, feline immunodeficiency viruses, ringworm and other upper respiratory issues all going up,” Fischer said.
Dr. Tony Malone, the medical director at the Houston Humane Society said that distemper and parvovirus – another highly infectious viral disease spread through indirect or direct contact with an infected animal’s feces – despite being common, are two of the more dangerous viruses found in local shelters.
Distemper affects dogs and wildlife, while parvovirus can infect older cats along with dogs and other animals. Both diseases tend to impact younger animals, like kittens and puppies, more drastically than older ones, Malone said.
There are preventative measures to avoid increased infection: vaccinating both domestic pets and shelter animals prior to interactions with other animals or quarantining infected populations.
“The primary thing is to follow the cleaning and intake procedures and guidelines when introducing new animals into a population that is already somewhat stressed,” Malone said.
However, there really is no easy solution for these shelters seeing a rise in cases, especially because a majority of local shelters provide service on an appointment or scheduled in-take basis, said Fischer.
Although these systems help mitigate crowd-control in these shelters, it leaves more animals on the street. “This wave of appointment-based intake or managed intake, while coming from a good place, is absolutely decimating stray populations,” Fischer said.
Many city and county shelters are placing residents in an impossible position – choosing to either hold onto the animal until there is an opening or returning the animal back to where they found it, Fischer said
At the City of Pearland’s Animal shelter, they receive at least two dozen calls a day from people outside of the city wanting to bring stray animals they have found on the street. Fischer is forced to decline assistance for animals that are found outside Pearland, saying as they do not have enough resources to keep up with the needs of surrounding cities along with their own.
“It’s like a dog chasing its own tail, we either don’t take animals off the street that we should, or we take animals off the streets, and we’re forced to put them to sleep because of overcrowding and overpopulation,” Fischer said. “So, it’s a no win-win situation and we are demonized no matter which avenue we take.”
Fischer said what local animal shelters need are the funds to put toward resources that they have struggled to maintain since coming back from the pandemic, such as hiring more animal control officers to pick up strays in the field or more veterinary care providers to keep their animals safe.
He also said that the volunteers that are brought on need to have experience working in shelters, as cross-contamination could be a higher risk if lower-skilled workers are handling these animals upon intake.
“The industry is changing, nobody wants to just bring in a bunch of animals, put them to sleep and consider ourselves successful, that’s not what we want to do. We want to save as many animals as we possibly can,” Fischer said.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
