{"id":344757,"date":"2026-06-21T15:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T15:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/344757\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T15:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T15:10:06","slug":"screwworm-medications-straining-animal-shelter-budgets-across-texas-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/344757\/","title":{"rendered":"Screwworm medications straining animal shelter budgets across Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas  \u2014 The screwworm outbreak is having a major impact on animal shelter budgets across Texas. Instant kill and preventative medications for dogs and cats are an unprecedented expense.<\/p>\n<p>Paul is a rescue dog from South Texas, where he was living on the streets and starving. He is now at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.austinpetsalive.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Austin Pets Alive!<\/a> getting Screwworm prevention medication and the treatment he needs to get healthy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny dog that enters our shelter period, but especially if they look like this, we are going over them with a fine-tooth comb and looking for anything that might be a wound where a screwworm might have been able to gain access,\u201d said Dr. Ellen Jefferson, CEO and President of Austin Pets Alive!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/fda-authorizes-generic-over-the-counter-drug-to-treat-new-world-screwworm-in-pets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RELATED| FDA authorizes generic over-the-counter drug to treat New World screwworm in pets<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dr. Jefferson says dogs and cats need regular checks of their eyes, noses, ears, and underneath their fur. But Austin Pets Alive! says the best protection is a combination of Capstar, which is an instant-kill medication for existing active screwworm larvae, and prescription preventatives that provide ongoing protection when administered every 30 days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust to buy the initial Capstar for our program, it was close to $10,000,\u201d said Rebecca Giamona, Asst. Medical Care Director at Austin Pets Alive!<\/p>\n<p>Giamona says preventative meds are also putting a heavy financial strain on the nonprofit\u2019s budget at a cost of around $70,000.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need about 5,000 doses of the monthly preventative, and they are roughly $14 to $15 per dose,\u201d said Giamona.<\/p>\n<p>Products with the active ingredients ending in l, a, n, e, r are highly effective at preventing and treating infestations. But keeping Paul and every shelter animal up to date will take <a href=\"https:\/\/www.austinpetsalive.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">help from the public.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDonations, and hopefully some more donations,\u201d said Giamona.<\/p>\n<p>An infestation of New World Screwworm can be painful, disfiguring, and potentially deadly for animals. Most cases involve livestock, especially cattle, but dogs and cats can also get infestations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The screwworm outbreak is having a major impact on animal shelter budgets across Texas. Instant&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-344757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}