For people, flu season usually starts in the fall, but for dogs and cats living in shelters, sickness peaks in the summer. Sue Bell, president of the board of the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, says people going on vacation are unlikely to adopt a pet, so shelters are crowded.
"When you have more animals in a confined area, if one comes in with a cold, then much like a child daycare, it tends to spread to all of the other animals," she explains.
Compounding the problem – animals in crowded quarters are usually stressed.
"Dogs and cats that used to come in and leave within five days to adopters are now sitting for weeks and sometimes months, so when you have an animal sitting around in a shelter environment, their stress level increases, and just like humans, when your stress level increases you are more susceptible to illness."
And Bell says veterinary services were limited during the pandemic.
"Those included affordable or free spay/neuter services. In our more under-resourced communities in Virginia, that meant that animals who might have had the opportunity to be sterilized at that time were not and have been creating litters of puppies and kittens that are also overwhelming our shelters," Bell says.
Ironically, the surplus of pets is also tied to a spike in adoptions when people were staying home to keep from catching COIVD.
"We do believe that during COVID some areas reached adoption saturation," she says. "During COVID, record numbers of animals were adopted into loving homes. That means fewer adoptive homes available now to take in an animal."
Her organization represents more than 125 shelters, and she says many are facing a crisis. She founded a rescue organization in Northern Virginia called Homeward Trails that has capacity for sixty dogs.
8 – We have had to shut down intake at our shelter twice now, because 90% of the animals in our adoption center had broken with some variation of canine influenza. There is a large shelter just over the line in Maryland who remained shut down to adoptions, because canine influenza had become so widespread in their shelter that they simply can’t get on top of it.
Like people, infected dogs may be listless, have fever and a cough. Animals can be vaccinated to protect against the flu, but Bell says there isn’t enough vaccine to go around, and it’s expensive.
"Most rural, small shelters are not going to be able to afford it, and the counties unfortunately are not going to permit them to purchase it, if it was available, due to cost."
And, finally, she says shelters are reluctant to release dogs that could infect pets in the community.
"It is a dilemma, because we obviously need these animals to move out into homes, but when you’re placing animals in homes with other dogs, there is a much-heightened chance that those existing dogs will get sick from their newly adopted dog or their foster dog."
So Bell is calling on shelters to be vigilant – to quarantine sick dogs as soon as they show signs of the flu, and she hopes people who already have dogs will act to protect them.
"If you have the means and the vaccine is available, do it!" she says. "If you don’t have the means, then be very mindful about the other dogs your dog is spending time with and try to limit that interaction when you’re talking about dogs whose vaccine status is unknown, or dogs that have recently come from a shelter or a rescue."
Longer term, she’s hoping for public support in Richmond. During the next legislative session, Bell will be pressing lawmakers to provide more money for public shelters which she says are dramatically underfunded.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
