MIDLAND, Texas — Fix West Texas teamed up with the City of Midland back in April to help with the distemper problem, so they took in dogs that were either distemper positive or exposed to distemper.
They say they took in 139 dogs. 129 of them survived thanks to the partnership between the city and organizations like Fix West Texas.
“Luckily, the city had been committed and was vaccinating all the dogs on intake. So, that's what gave them a chance of survival. All said and done, we have 129 dogs left that survived. That is a 93% survival rate,” said Karen Patterson, executive director of Fix West Texas.
The shots that they got before being handed off to Fix West Texas went a long way in helping their recovery.
“So, all of them had some level of antibodies that help protect them from like a full-blown case of distemper," Patterson continued. "So, there's really no treatment for distemper, but you can certainly treat the symptoms.”
When the dogs were given the all-clear for their health, Patterson says they reached out to the community about the need for them to be adopted and managed to get 79 dogs since then in forever homes.
“What it really showed us is that our community cares when we tell our community what's going on, our community is stepping forward to help solve those problems, so we don't have to kill animals," Patterson added. "So, it was just our everyday citizens. It wasn't any specific rescue or anybody with special training. It was just everyday Joe and Jane that came into the shelter to help save these precious dogs.”
Patterson also says that they hope their partnership with the city continues for the foreseeable future. They still have 50 dogs in their care still in need of homes.