RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Animal centers in the Triangle are stepping up to help our four-legged furry friends since the Wake County Animal Center announced a canine influenza outbreak.

“This is a national issue right now of being overcrowded, overcapacity. We are truly in a crisis right now,” said Darci VanderSlik, SPCA of Wake County director of communications.

VanderSlik said the SPCA reached out to the animal center as soon as they heard about the outbreak to try to get pets rehomed by their owners to decrease the spread of the virus.

“So skipping the shelter all by itself and just going from owner to owner,” said VanderSlik.

As of Tuesday, a total of 78 dogs at the animal center were sick. Four have been confirmed to have canine influenza.

SPCA of Wake County is trying to help this issue while focusing on keeping about 30 dogs in their own care healthy.

“How we are taking care of these animals are biosecurity throughout the SPCA adoption center and in our intake facilities, being sure that we’re changing robes between each dog and take and just monitoring their medical symptoms if they have any, like a cough or a runny nose or anything like that,” said VanderSlik.

VanderSlik also explained one of the reasons why canine influenza is on the rise right now is because of warmer weather, allowing stray dogs to roam around outside more that may not be spayed or neutered.

Officials told CBS 17 you can help prevent canine influenza right now by fostering dogs yourself to keep them from entering shelters altogether.