After 10% of the dog population at the Palm Valley Animal Society tested positive for distemper, officials say the outbreak of the highly contagious virus is over.

"We were able to identify some animals that did have distemper to get some to foster and some out to rescue,"shelter director of operations Faith Wright said. "Unfortunately, some we were not able to save if they were so sick." 

Wright said they were only able to save about 20 of the dogs that were sick. The rest had to be put down because there was not enough space at the shelter to isolate them for treatment.

"In a shelter like this, we don't have large scale isolation units, we do have to worry about the rapid spread," Wright said. "You're talking about trying to treat an animal for 30 to 45 days in a shelter setting and not have any cross exposure with other animals, which is very hard."

The virus entered the shelter through an infected stray, and Wright said there are more cases out there. 

"We are seeing a lot of animals coming in from the community that have it," Wright said.

Dog owners are aware of the problem. Sofia Salas said she keeps her dog — Leah — who is a rescue, vaccinated.

"I do see a lot of dogs out there that are not with owners, just walking around hungry and stuff, and it does look like it's a big issue in the Valley," Salas said. "So I keep her vaccinated since she was like three weeks old when I found her."

It's those same vaccinations that the shelter encourages owners to get for their pets.

"Distemper is highly contagious for dogs, they need to be fully vaccinated," Wright said. "And if they're not fully vaccinated, they run the risk of getting distemper from each other," Wright said.