Canine respiratory disease outbreak impacts out-of-state adoption

GEORGETOWN — Interstate adoption and fostering of dogs to and from Delaware is on hold amid a nationwide infectious canine respiratory disease outbreak that has put a strain on animal shelters across the state and spurred a plea for assistance.

The Delaware Division of Public Health requests the cooperation of the public to reunite stray dogs with their owners before contacting the Office of Animal Welfare’s Delaware Animal Services for pickup or taking them to Brandywine Valley SPCA, the state’s contracted animal shelter.

That is a result of an outbreak of Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex, commonly known as kennel cough. It is a contagious illness that has been confirmed in many states, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Recently, the Delaware Department of Agriculture issued an order prohibiting shelter and rescue dogs from moving in or out of the state due to the outbreak.

“These restrictions in place on Friday are set to be in place for 30 days. That means all shelter and rescue dogs need to stay in the state and cannot be any brought in from another state as far as shelter and rescue dogs,” said BVSPCA communications director Sara Smith. “It limits adoption and fostering of dogs out of state. We are an organization that is stretched across two states so of course this is causing a ripple effect.”

The BVSPCA, with four locations in Delaware and a shelter campus in West Chester, Pennsylvania, echoes the state public health department’s plea, which is for the community to do what it can to keep dogs out of shelters.

“If you find a stray, try to reunite before you come to shelter,” said Ms. Smith. “Anything we can do to limit any exposure to any of these upper respiratory infections is always the best.

“Stray dogs are usually found very close to home and by walking the dog around the neighborhood or checking with neighbors, the dog can often be reunited with their owner with no need for impoundment,” said OAW executive director Christina Motoyoshi. “We ask that all finders post the dog on the state lost and found pet registry so the owner may quickly find their pet.”

Additionally, posting the dog on the Nextdoor app and other forms of social media can be extremely effective.

“We thank the public for their assistance as we try to limit the number of impounded dogs and work to reunite every lost dog with their owner,” said Ms. Motoyoshi.

Ms. Smith emphasized that in-state adoptions continue during this out-of-state moratorium.

“We are open. Our adoptions are going to continue. If someone in Delaware is able to adopt or foster, we would love that,” Ms. Smith said. “If you are a Delaware resident, you can adopt from our Delaware shelters.”

Those First State shelters are in Georgetown, Dover and New Castle. BVSPCA also has the Animal Rescue Center on Shingle Point Road, east of Georgetown, near Milton.

Besides the respiratory outbreak, Ms. Smith said the BVSPCA has learned of positive cases of canine influenza at another shelter in the state.

“We understand that it is in the community now. We are beginning to vaccinate all of our dogs who enter our shelter, and all of the dogs who are in our shelters for canine influenza, which is above what our normal intake protocols would be and a significant financial investment in the dogs that are in our care,” Ms. Smith said. “But we really feel like this a necessary step to do everything that we can do.”

“We are still getting dogs in. We have plenty of healthy animals. We have been lucky that we haven’t seen a massive outbreak amongst our kennels,” Ms. Smith said. “We will support our adopters with post-adoption care. We have a clinic at all our locations. We will be doing follow-ups. We will be working with and counseling our adopters on what to look out for because the incubation periods are what they are.”