Distemper outbreak hits Coconino Humane Association, northern Arizona

And local veterinarians can attest to the outbreak.

“This week alone we’ve seen seven puppies for distemper,” said Julianne Miller, a veterinarian at Canyon Pet Hospital in Flagstaff.

The virus manifests in respiratory symptoms, such as cough and heavy mucus and goopy eyes as well as gastric issues, and can progress to the point of neurological symptoms, brain damage and death. It is difficult to diagnose as the initial symptoms mimic kennel cough, Miller said. And although some dogs survive the disease, they will likely be left with issues such as neurological ticks, lack of enamel on teeth and geriatric seizures later in life. Distemper also has high fatality rates.

According to Miller, puppies (especially those ages 6 weeks to 12 months) and immunosuppressed or older dogs are most likely to both contract the disease and die from it.

Ryan noted that the Humane Association has had over 20 cases this summer alone.

Additionally, although the shelter vaccinates all dogs upon arrival, several that are brought in have already caught the virus but are not exhibiting symptoms at the time of intake. The vaccine is rendered useless after the virus has already been contracted.

"It typically takes about two weeks for the illness to break after the puppies are spayed and neutered on intake," Ryan said. "Within that time we keep puppies separately."

Though the Humane Association eliminates initial contact between new dogs and ones already living at the shelter -- and does not adopt out sick animals -- a trend the shelter has been seeing is that dogs get adopted and then about two weeks later are reported as exhibiting symptoms of distemper.

“Because the disease breaks so late and often the beginning stages are similar to a regular respiratory disease, it can be hard to identify,” Ryan said.

Local shelters, especially open admission shelters such as Coconino Humane Association, often see the highest concentration when outbreaks hit, Ryan said.

“Over the last two years the shelter has seen more than it has overall since the 1970s," she said.

Ryan said the disease has been primarily coming from dogs brought in from rural Coconino and Navajo County. 

According to Miller, the cost of the vaccination can also be prohibitive.

“You can’t treat it. You treat its clinical symptoms like cough, vomiting and diarrhea with antibiotics, but you cannot treat distemper itself," Miller said.

As such, if a puppy is diagnosed with distemper, veterinarians are more often than not forced to euthanize the animal.

According to Miller, of the seven dogs with distemper that Canyon Pet has seen this week, five had to be put down.

"Two of them are in the hospital now," she said. "But the rest we've had to euthanize."

The Humane Association has stopped accepting animals who have even the slightest symptoms. This means if a dog exhibits signs such as coughing or sniffling, the shelter is forced to euthanize the animal.

“Animal sheltering and shelter medicine is different than taking care of your own pet, even different from vets in private practice. In a shelter situation you’re doing herd health management, so you’re going to have to make that difficult decision for the good of the animal species and the whole,” Ryan said.

The association had to euthanize approximately 129 dogs in the summer of 2017 due to the illness. It has adopted out 1,300 dogs since then. 

The Humane Association is considered a no-kill facility, meaning they will rehabilitate an animal that has a disease that is considered treatable. 

“The caveat here is that if [the disease] is really contagious to the other animals or becomes a public health risk, if they come from from outlying areas and we don’t know their vaccination history and they’re showing signs of upper respiratory infection and fever, at that point we humanely euthanize,” Ryan said.

The Humane Association remains in the 12-14th percentile range, just above the no-kill parameters of 10 percent.