Distemper in South African Dogs

It has not gone away

Distemper is a virus that attacks the respiratory system, the gut and then the nervous system. Vaccination has made it uncommon in well-vaccinated populations, but it circulates persistently in South Africa wherever vaccination coverage is low.

Outbreaks appear regularly, and unvaccinated puppies are the usual casualties. It spreads through respiratory droplets and is highly contagious.

The two stages

The first stage looks like a bad respiratory infection: fever, thick discharge from the eyes and nose, coughing, lethargy, often vomiting and diarrhoea. Some dogs appear to recover.

The second stage is neurological and can follow weeks later: twitching, muscle spasms, head tilt, circling, weakness in the back legs, and seizures. A characteristic rhythmic twitch, sometimes called a chorea tic, may persist for life.

Thickening of the nose leather and the paw pads is a classic later sign and gives the disease its old name, hardpad.

The outlook

There is no antiviral treatment. Care is supportive — fluids, anti-nausea medication, antibiotics for secondary infection, anticonvulsants where needed.

Many dogs do not survive. Those that do frequently keep permanent neurological deficits, and the twitching often never resolves.

This is a disease where prevention is the entire strategy, because treatment offers so little.

Prevention

The core puppy vaccination course covers distemper. Three visits, three to four weeks apart, completing between twelve and sixteen weeks, then boosted in adulthood.

Keep an unvaccinated puppy off shared ground until a week after the final vaccination. That means no parks, no pavements where other dogs walk, and no pet shop floors.

If you have taken on a rescue or street dog of unknown history, assume unvaccinated and start the course. The cost, R1,300 to R2,500, is trivial against the alternative.

If you suspect it

Phone the practice before arriving. Distemper is contagious enough that they will want to bring you in through a side entrance rather than through a waiting room of puppies.

Isolate the affected dog from other dogs in the household immediately, and check the vaccination status of every other animal on the property.