A viral outbreak among animals at the Athens-Limestone Animal Shelter has temporarily shut down the Athens facility, according to a social media post by the shelter’s volunteer team.

“We have a highly contagious and deadly sickness going around here,” the post reads. “… We have lost several (animals) already and cannot in good conscience let any animal go that might require costly treatment and still not make it into the new year.”

Dr. Robert Pitman, owner of Limestone Veterinary Clinic and the veterinarian who treats the shelter animals, said the virus making its way through the shelter is canine distemper, a relative of the human measles virus typically found in unvaccinated domestic dogs.

“That’s why it’s so important for pet owners to have their individual pets vaccinated every year,” Pitman said.

Animals brought to the shelter must be kept for seven days, during which time they are evaluated and given any treatments or vaccinations needed, he said. However, it can take three to five days for immunity from a CDV vaccination to start to form, and in that time, “they expose everything in the dadgum shelter,” Pitman said.

“We have a lot of irresponsible pet owners who don’t keep their dogs’ vaccines current, and that creates situations like the one we have here now,” he said.

Fortunately, this is the first major outbreak the shelter has seen, and shelter workers were quick to voluntarily stop intake while they worked to treat animals and prevent healthy ones from getting sick.

Pitman said he’s reached out to experts at Auburn University to make sure the shelter’s guidelines are up to date and to see if there are additional steps that can be taken. He said the shelter is equipped with the medication and manpower necessary to handle the problem right now.

“We just need time,” Pitman said.

About CDV

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, canine distemper is a virus that affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of dogs. An infected dog or wild animal infects a healthy dog through airborne exposure to the virus.

Symptoms include watery or pus-like discharge from the eyes, fever, nasal discharge, coughing, lethargy, reduced appetite and vomiting. A dog whose nervous system is affected may experience head tilt, circling behavior, muscle twitches, convulsions and paralysis. The virus may also lead to thickened or hardened footpads, which is why the disease is sometimes called “hard pad disease.” In the wild, the disease resembles rabies.

“Distemper is often fatal, and dogs that survive usually have permanent, irreparable nervous system damage,” according to the AVMA website. “… There is no cure.”