Shelter reopens cat adoption rooms

After closing cat adoption rooms due to symptoms of Feline Calicivirus, the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter has announced that cat adoptions are available once again.

On Thursday, the shelter released a video on Facebook announcing the reopening of cat adoptions. For over two weeks, cat adoptions have been on hold after several cats began showing symptoms of Feline Calicivirus, a contagious virus. After sending samples from several cats to a laboratory, the shelter received a positive test result for Feline Calicivirus on Aug. 12. 

According to Steven Heath, Animal Protection Supervisor for the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter, American Pets Alive!, a non-profit based out of Austin, aided the shelter by taking 14 cats for one-on-one care. 

Heath said that over half of the originally diagnosed cats were improving, but some were still lingering with illness. American Pets Alive! has a large staff, along with a building dedicated to Calicivirus. 

“They just have more staffing to meet the needs of those cats,” Heath said. “And it was a big help for us because it gave us some breathing room to get the animals spread out here and the healthy ones up for adoption and back up to adoption and get those rooms thoroughly cleaned.”

While the non-profit visited the shelter to pick up the cats, Heath said they went over the shelter’s current protocols to offer suggestions such as more inexpensive medications available for the animals. 

“You never stop learning. And when other people come in, and they offer you advice, you listen to it, and you look at your protocols…” Heath said. “We can take something that they have, that we don’t, and kind of mesh it in with ours and maybe make ours better.”

The shelter is still offering a “name your own price” program until the end of September, according to Heath. 

“You can come in and pay whatever you want to pay for adoption,” he said. “So it can be a dollar or three hundred dollars, whatever you want to pay.”

Heath encouraged the community to microchip their animals and make sure animals have up-to-date vaccinations. To find more information about adoptions and volunteering visit the city’s website.