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Canine Distemper Virus causes an incredibly contagious illness that is most common in young puppies and unvaccinated older dogs. Distemper is an airborne virus which can be spread through the air or through direct & indirect contact (such as blankets, bowls, human contact). The virus attacks the respiratory, urogenital, gastrointestinal, and finally nervous systems.
Symptoms
Symptoms
High fever that comes and goes
Lethargy
Upper Respiratory signs - conjunctivitis, eye discharge, nasal discharge, coughing
GI Signs - vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia
Neurological signs (as the disease progresses) - Twitches, Chewing gum seizures, head tilt, seizures. paralysis, fits of hysteria
Spread and Transmission
The virus becomes airborne and starts spreading before symptoms are even seen. As such, it is VERY easy to spread this disease – as easy as being a couple feet away from a distemper puppy that isn’t even showing symptoms of URI yet! The virus can also spread through any body fluid (urine, diarrhea) and unfortunately by humans as fomite (our hands, clothes, etc).
Treatment
Just like parvovirus, treatment is supportive care, but these guys wax and wane with illness for several weeks to months (instead of a few days like parvo).
Prognosis
Unfortunately, the survival rate for the sick ones is not nearly as good as in parvo. Survival rate is probably closer to 50-70%. Some puppies do end up needing to be humanely euthanized once they are physically unable to move, have lost the function to swallow, and/or have uncontrollable seizures even with our best medications.
With this in mind, the Parvo ICU is the biggest hotspot at our shelter for puppies catching distemper while in our care due to puppies being immunocompromised and coming from shelters all over the state. We must be vigilant with taking all necessary precautions to prevent giving these puppies distemper while they are being treated for parvo. Its truly sad to see puppies survive parvovirus only to die from with distemper, so please commit the below requests to memory & do your best to help us prevent this disease from spreading -
1. Keep those shower curtains closed 24/7! - This prevents spread by containing airborne virus. In fact, we saw a big decrease in puppiesrbreaking with distemper from ward 1 once these curtains were installed. They are working, but they can only work if they are kept closed at all times, with the exception of when they're actively being treated.
2. Get those IV Vitamin C doses in, stat! – This medications provides an immune boost against distemper and works best when given close to the first exposure to distemper. We’ve seen that puppies that get their IV Vitamin C while in parvo have a better survival rate when coming down with distemper than those that did not. Please, please do not skip the IV Vitamin C.
3. No puppy cuddles or making new friends! – this one may be hard, but it is crucial to not spreading disease. Please no holding animals against your clothes or allowing puppies in separate kennels to interact or even breath on each other! If a puppy needs to be held to be able to give SQ fluids – wrap them in a towel & don’t let them touch your scrubs. If they accidentally touch your scrubs, change them as soon as you’re done.
4. Wash hands/arms up to your elbows between patients!! This is the best way to prevent spread of disease by washing pathogens off your skin
5. Remind each other
If you see a shift-mate forgetting to close the curtains, cuddling puppies or forgetting to wash hands properly, please help them out and kindly remind them. We all forget things from time to time and need a little reminder to keep us on track.
Here is a webinar presenation that was originally presented at our American Pets Alive Conference 2019 by Jordana, Dr. Naya, and Dr. Jefferson (APA’s executive director), if if you’d like to learn more!
This is a very serious disease, much more severe than Parvovirus, and protocols must be strictly followed if a dog is put on Distemper Watch. This is imperative to prevent other puppies in the ICU from catching the virus. Always watch for symptoms of this virus in our patients, especially for those that come from surrounding areas/shelters (other than Austin Animal Shelter).
Protocol
Protocol
Isolate - place in back bathrooms. Since Distemper is airborne, other patients in the ICU shouldn't even be breathing the same air.
Treat Last
Prepare all medications, blankets, thermometer, food, water, other equipment before entering the cage. To reduce chance of spread, do no go in and out of the cage
Wear gloves and smock
Wash hands IMMEDIATELY after leaving the room. DO NOT touch other equipment in the ICU, including medicine viles, blankets, etc, before washing hands.
Do not bring charts to the treatment area, they are likely contaminated. Write down the dog's medications or take a picture on your phone so that you can draw them up.
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