Distemper poses no health risk to humans, but it can affect your companion animals. The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter shares the following tips to help prevent your companion animals from contracting distemper:
- Vaccinate your dogs and cats.
- Although distemper poses no threat to humans, anyone bitten or scratched by a raccoon must contact their physician immediately.
- Feed pets indoors.
- Those who feed pets outdoors should take special care to remove any leftover food. It can attract infected animals not completely debilitated by the disease.
- Please do not feed wildlife. Feeding wildlife may lead to large concentrations of animals around food, increasing the spread of disease.
- Restrain your pets; do not allow them to roam. Keep dogs on a leash when outside your property.
- If you observe a sick wild animal, do not approach the animal.
A healthy animal may contract canine or feline distemper from direct contact with an infected animal or its bodily secretions and waste. Under most environmental conditions the virus does not survive long outside the body; therefore, transmission requires close interaction between animals to enable direct contact or aerosol exposure. Many of the symptoms displayed by an animal with distemper are very similar to symptoms displayed by a rabid animal (only testing of brain tissue can determine if an animal is rabid).
In the initial stages of canine distemper, the major symptoms include high fever, reddened eyes, and a watery discharge from the nose and eyes. An infected dog will become lethargic and tired, and will usually become anorexic. Persistent coughing, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. Symptoms of feline panleukopenia, commonly referred to as feline distemper, include fever, vomiting, diarrhea and sudden death.
Please contact your veterinarian to find out if your pet is up to date on their vaccinations. Report sick or injured wild animals by calling the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter at 831-454-7303 extension 1.
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Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter, 2200 7th Avenue Santa Cruz, CA 95062 Office: 831-454-7203. Website: www.scanimalshelter.org