NORTH BATTLEFORD — The Battlefords Humane Society says it has had a possible case of distemper in the shelter and will have to close its dog area for a minimum of four weeks.
The society says it will not be able to take any dogs in during that time or adopt any out. In addition, the dog area will be closed to viewings for that period. The society apologizes for any inconvenience, explaining it is doing this to keep the community safe and hopefully any other our shelter residents from getting sick.
The society explains canine distemper is a contagious and serious disease caused by a virus that attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of puppies and dogs.
Puppies and dogs most often become infected through airborne exposure (through sneezing or coughing) to the virus from an infected dog or wild animal. The virus can also be transmitted by shared food and water bowls and equipment. Infected dogs can shed the virus for months, and mother dogs can pass the virus through the placenta to their puppies
All dogs are at risk but puppies younger than four months old and dogs that have not been vaccinated against canine distemper are at increased risk of acquiring the disease.
Initially, infected dogs will develop watery to pus-like discharge from their eyes. They then develop fever, nasal discharge, coughing, lethargy, reduced appetite and vomiting. As the virus attacks the nervous system, infected dogs develop circling behaviour, head tilt, muscle twitches, convulsions with jaw chewing movements and salivation (“chewing gum fits”), seizures, and partial or complete paralysis. The virus may also cause the footpads to thicken and harden, leading to its nickname “hard pad disease.
Distemper is often fatal, and dogs that survive usually have permanent, irreparable nervous system damage.
Parvo also on the uptick
This announcement regarding distemper comes just weeks after the shelter and local veterinarian Dr. Shawn Haas issued a warning that canine parvoviral enteritis seemed to be on the rise.
Late summer is always a bad time for canine parvoviral enteritis, Haas said, but this year seems to be worse than usual.
“We might see half a dozen cases in August, September, and we've been averaging a case a day since the beginning of [August],” Haas said.
There is no apparent nexus for the current cases, Haas said.
“Essentially it's been a community-wide problem. We've seen cases from in town, we've seen cases from smaller communities around us, like Biggar and Cochin, cases coming in from various lakes.”
Haas said parvo typically affects dogs under 18 months of age. It has an incubation period, usually, of five to seven days. Highly contagious, it causes vomiting, bloody diarrhea and lack of appetite.
Haas said, without treatment, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50 per cent of infected dogs will pass away.
“With treatment,” he said, “we still lose them occasionally.”
Dogs catch parvo by being exposed to another dog who is shedding the virus of from the urine, feces and vomit of infected dogs. A hardy virus, it can live in the environment for several years.
Vaccination is an important part of preventing the illness in the first place, said Haas.
“Typically, we would vaccinate young dogs at eight, 12 and 16 weeks.”
If you have an older dog that hasn’t been vaccinated, you can still get the shots, and after the initial series it can actually be done once a year, said Haas.
If your dog hasn’t completed the initial three-shot series, Haas recommends that you try to keep them at home.
“Stay away from the dog park, stay out of the regular parks,” he said.
If you have family members or friends whose dogs are vaccinated, it's OK to interact with them, said Haas, but just going out into public spaces can be quite risky.
Should your dog contract parvoviral enteritis and require treatment, it could mean a clinic stay of between four and seven days, which includes intravenous fluids, IV antibiotics and a clinic. Depending on the practice, said Haas, the cost could run between $600 and 1,500.
Opting to vaccinate against parvo is certainly the cheaper option. A ballpark figure for the vaccinations, Haas points out, is $250, again depending on the practice.
At the Battlefords Humane Society animal shelter, director Michelle Spark says watching out for parvo is an ongoing priority and, despite the current uptick, the centre is free from parvo. They’ve seen dogs with parvo, but have caught them in time before they actually came into the building and effect any of the other animals, said Spark.
“We're always watching for the signs and symptoms, so when somebody brings in a puppy that they found … the first questions we ask is have they had any diarrhea, are they eating, have they been happy and playful like a normal puppy should be,” said Spark, “and if the answer to any of those questions is not what we want to hear, then we will send them directly to the vet clinic to be tested for parvo.”
If it does have parvo, and is going to be cared for by the humane society, it goes into quarantine. That is not usually done at the shelter itself, Spark explained.
“For instance, we have a dog right now that was treated for parvo and now he's on a quarantine for two to three weeks while he finishes shedding the virus, just to make sure that he can't give it to anyone else, so in that case it's very, very hard to do that quarantine at the shelter. We can do it if we absolutely have to, but ideally we look for a foster home who's willing to take on a parvo dog that has fully vaccinated animals or has no intentions of getting a puppy in the near future because it can stay in the ground for up to five years.”
Spark said, “We try very hard to find a foster home that is willing to take that on short term or a staff member who doesn't have other animals at home who can take that on short term.”
As for adopting a dog during a rash of parvo cases, Spark says the shelter does everything possible to make sure the animals leaving the shelter are healthy.
“If a stray dog comes in and it's showing perfectly healthy when it comes in, but it was in contact with the parvovirus, it can take up to 14 days to show any symptoms,” Spark explained, “So when you think about it, we get a stray dog, we hold it for five days, we vaccinate it, get it chipped, get it spayed and neutered, and then we adopt it out and — and if all of that happens within two weeks — there is always a possibility that that dog will show symptoms of parvo after it left here.”
It’s possible, she pointed out, but not very likely.
Has it happened? "Yes," said Spark. "On a regular basis? Absolutely not.”
