MIDLAND, Texas — NewsWest 9 has been keeping you up to date on the distemper outbreak that happened within the City of Midland Animal Shelter (MAS). The illness forced the city to deep clean its facility. This was an action that usually requires all the animals in the shelter to be euthanized.
However, this time, the city partnered with Fix West Texas to foster out every animal before they were euthanized. It was a decision met with both praise and criticism. On Tuesday, April 23, NewsWest 9 sat down with Fix West Texas to discuss how the community has responded to the call for help.
"We didn't want to see that many animals die and we just wanted to know if there was a better way out of this," said Fix West Texas Executive Director Karen Patterson.
Distemper is a deadly illness for dogs without the vaccine. Luckily, MAS does vaccinate for the virus.
"They're no longer contagious just because they are scoring on a PCR test does not mean they're contagious," Patterson said.
PCR stands for polymerase chain reaction. It is a test to detect things like a virus.
The City of Midland and Fix West Texas came to an agreement - to get as many dogs out of the shelter as possible. Not one dog was lost, but there were precautions in place.
"Every foster was required to sign an agreement," Patterson said. "Number one, that they attested to the fact that their pets were fully vaccinated and number two that they would not bring the pet into a public space until the pet had totally been cleared."
Along with the signed agreement, Fix West Texas told the foster families what to do, not do and what to look out for both physically and emotionally.
"We provide the handouts that tell them everything we they need to know," Patterson said. "So it's simply keeping them in their home, feeding them, watering them, loving them and probably loving them is probably the number one most important thing. Every person that fostered a dog definitely has love for these animals."
Before any dog was fostered out, its health was evaluated.
Patterson explained that all of the dogs were vaccinated at intake, therefore their symptoms the dogs were displaying were on the milder scale of the virus.
Dogs have continuously been tested for distemper, even in their foster homes.
Patterson stated that the knowledge and experience she had came from a similar case in Odessa three years ago.
"That science said number one, anybody in the high range should be euthanized, and number two all those animals should be kept in the shelter and not fostered out," Patterson said. "The new science is get them into homes, so they've already been fully vaccinated. They've already been tested and most of them have already peaked [and] are on the down downhill slope."
Past the peak of the illness, and hopefully on their way to a loving forever home, this was all made possible by a community who cares.
"It wasn't just Fix West Texas, all we did is ask," Patterson said. "It was every single person, every everyday joe that showed up to save these animals and what that spoke to our city leaders is that animals are important to our community and our community members don't want to see them die."
Fix West Texas has received the results from the second distemper test and the next step is to let the fosters know how their dog is doing. From there they can decide to adopt, but if not, the dogs will be transported by Bissell Pet Foundation.
For more information on how you can help, click here.
See below for information on the Finder to Foster Program and signs of distemper: