On Monday, July 13, the Durham County Board of Commissioners approved funding to begin the architectural design of Durham’s future animal shelter. While there is still a long road ahead—including design, planning, and construction—this marks the first significant step toward bringing a new shelter from vision to reality. For many years, our community has recognized … Continued
Over the past two weeks, APS staff members have worked alongside local veterinary experts and the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine Shelter Medicine Program to complete the most comprehensive infectious disease assessment our shelter has ever undertaken. Thanks to this collaboration, every dog in our shelter received individualized evaluation, including PCR testing, antibody … Continued
Last Friday, we shared that a routine surveillance PCR test confirmed a case of canine distemper in a dog at APS on Thursday evening. We immediately paused dog movement, adoptions, and most dog volunteer activities. Taking these precautions very quickly gave us the time we needed to carefully evaluate the situation and proceed with the … Continued
On Thursday, June 25, an APS dog in the shelter tested positive for canine distemper during a routine surveillance screening. We immediately isolated the dog and began implementing enhanced safety protocols. Out of an abundance of caution, we have temporarily paused most of our dog services (e.g., adoptions, routine intakes). What is canine distemper? Canine … Continued
Thank you so much for helping with my adoption of Pebbles (now called Archer). She’s doing fantastically and has already learned that if she screams at me, I’ll come in and pet her immediately. Attached is the photo of me as a baby with my parents’ cat from APS of Durham, Marlin, and my father. There’s also … Continued
I wanted to share an update on Spruce, now known as Bruce! He has been adjusting wonderfully to his new life. Bruce quickly warmed up to our other dog, Remi, and the two of them have been having a blast wrestling and playing together. He is incredibly sweet, well behaved, and loves to cuddle and … Continued
Hi! We adopted Marlowe (FKA Esteban) about four years ago and just wanted to give an update on this wonderful boy! Marlowe has been a wonderful addition to our household after the loss of our first dog. True to his original APS description, he is a certified ham and velcro dog and we really don’t … Continued
Sweet, cuddly Agnes arrived at the shelter in early October and immediately won our hearts! She loved everyone she met and would crawl into your lap at any opportunity. We were scratching our heads trying to figure out how she wasn’t snapped up immediately. Turns out it just took a minute for her adopter to … Continued
It’s Clear the Shelters 2026!
As part of this national campaign, APS is reducing all cat and dog adoptions to only $50!
Find your new furry family member today!
