San Antonio Animal Care Services is reporting an increase in canine distemper cases in its shelter population and is urgently asking the community to step up as emergency fosters to help prevent the disease from spreading.<\/p>\n
In an update released Oct. 1, 2026, the city shelter said it is taking additional steps to reduce the risk of transmission and protect animals in its care, including consulting with nationally renowned animal health experts such as Purdue College of Veterinary Medicine.<\/p>\n
Canine distemper is a highly contagious viral disease that primarily affects unvaccinated and under-vaccinated dogs. The shelter said infected pets can be asymptomatic or show symptoms including eye and nasal discharge, coughing, fever, reduced appetite and diarrhea.<\/p>\n
Animal Care Services Director Jon Gary said the increase reflects what is circulating in the broader community and that shelters must adjust when conditions change. \u201cThat means taking a hard look at our shelter processes while also helping pet guardians understand the lifesaving importance of vaccination,\u201d Gary said. \u201cOur goal is to protect the animals already in our care, the animals entering the shelter and pets throughout San Antonio.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gary said rabies vaccination is required, but other core vaccines are not. \u201cDistemper shots, parvo shots, the combination shots that protect our dogs against so many other very contagious diseases, they’re not required by law,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so I think a lot of people think, well, you know, I don’t need to do those, but in fact you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lisa Norwood with ACS urged residents to take advantage of local vaccination opportunities. \u201cWe have vaccination clinics almost every single weekend in San Antonio,\u201d she said, adding that people can find the next free community vaccination clinic on the agency\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
The shelter said it continues to provide services including adoptions, fostering and rescue transfers while evaluating what additional safeguards may be necessary. Norwood said the shelter vaccinates pets upon intake, but it takes time for protection to develop.<\/p>\n
Emergency fosters are needed immediately, and the shelter said even two to three weeks in a foster home can help limit exposure while dogs build immunity. The ideal foster homes are those with no dogs, or homes with dogs that are at least 1 year old and fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n
Fostering through Animal Care Services is free, with supplies included. Norwood said, \u201cYou don’t have to pay for anything. We will give you the food. We will get you the medical that you have to have for your pet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pet owners are encouraged to ensure their dogs are current on core vaccinations and to contact a veterinarian if their pet develops symptoms of illness.<\/p>\n
Norwood said the shelter is open until 7 p.m. and is open seven days a week, including weekends until 5 p.m. \u201cBecome an emergency foster and we can have you go home with a pet today,\u201d She said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio Animal Care Services is reporting an increase in canine distemper cases in its shelter population and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-454785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454785","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=454785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}