How Canine Distemper Presents a Risk to Wildlife

Photo by Quinten de Graaf on Unsplash

The county I live in has a problem. First, we thought it was an outbreak of rabies (shudder) in the raccoon population, but testing of dead animals showed only a couple of cases of rabies.

In fact, it was a disease that can show very similar symptoms: Canine distemper.

What is Canine Distemper?

Canine distemper is a highly infectious disease caused by a paramyxovirus. Symptoms include:

• Discharge from eyes and nose
• Difficulty breathing
• Coughing (sometimes leading to pneumonia)
• Fever
• Loss of appetite
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Thickening of the nose and foot pads
• Abnormal behavior
• Convulsions
• Paralysis
• Abnormal head and neck posture
• Loss of coordination

The neurological symptoms at the end are relatively rare, but can look, as in this outbreak, exactly like rabies.

Canine distemper has no treatment whatsoever, with only supportive care possible. It has a very high level of mortality, especially in wildlife.