Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Richard Carter — Sat, 18 Feb 2017 11:06:52 GMT

In South Africa, the dogs that recovered the acute episode of distemper often went on to having residual clonic muscle contractions esp around face, top of head so the ears pull up in spasm type contraction. They would then usually be quite stable clinically (cns, respiratory tract etc) and not need further medication so presumably the CNS damage had been done and they had recovered as best they could

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 21:37:09 GMT

[quote user="grumpyoldman"]

The CDV cases I remember, (not seen one for at least 25 years) had a very very green ocular nasal discharge , chorea , a fluctuating pyrexia 103.5-104.5, its also worth looking at the retinas for areas chorioretinitis.

[/quote]

Yeah, but some were mostly nervous signs.... I always understood that some strains were epitheliotropic but some were more neurotropic.

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Noweia — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 17:45:15 GMT

I had a vaccine-caused distemper a few years ago and he had myoclonus of the hindlimbs and face with minimal other signs.

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

grumpyoldman — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 16:26:24 GMT

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Anthony Dennison — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 15:54:23 GMT

There are 2 ways to test for distemper - the PCR and also a titre. It may be worth doing the other also. I had a case almost 2 years ago now that had a positive PCR but a negative titre

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Mair Tyler — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 08:54:24 GMT

Case update:

Dog doing a bit better -eating well, stools starting to firm up on metronidazole treatment. Distemper PCR 33 which according to lab is not suggestive of infection? ACTH stim normal. Full bloods repeated -still not much to go on. The dog is not as weak as when first presented but still tachypnoeic (though chest sounds normal on auscultation, no coughing, etc). Chest and abdominal radiographs unremarkable. The dog still has muscle twitching especially around the face and hindlimbs and a 'head bob'.

Our next step is probably CSF tap but has anyone any other differentials for this case?

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Lesley Strong — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 11:55:45 GMT

Yep just seen 6- 9 mo G retriever with chorea poorly thriven diarrhoea from Romania. This is in central Scotland. Getting bloods for neospora as well

Havent see distemper for 30 years but looks v like it Not vacc except rabies

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Tim Browning — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 09:21:18 GMT

I used to see many CD cases (where the CNS signs were usually the clincher, will be interesting to see if this case confirmed) thirty years ago and none for ages. It can't be due to vaccination alone given the large proportion of un-vaccinated animals? Does anyone know why it went and will it come back? as I have heard of it in recent imports as well.

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Dinu Catilina — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 08:26:49 GMT

We used to get a few a day during the stray dogs puppy season, the one common symptom was the purulent conjunctivitis. I can't remember seeing a dog without it.

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Mair Tyler — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 00:38:17 GMT

Thanks guys, ok will get some samples from her tomorrow to send to lab for distemper. Was expecting to see more respiratory signs with distemper but maybe they've been and gone before she's presented to us or she's not reading the textbook.

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Dinu Catilina — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 23:39:03 GMT

Twitching, sunken eyes with conjunctivitis, developing nasal discharge on second or third day is a classic appearance of distemper which is rife in Romania. Some will make it with symptomatic treatment most don't. Some have permanent neurological damage. Obviously I would not rule out other causes yet.

Oh, and I would not believe the vaccination card or passport, fraud is common in Romanian shelters.

RE: Urgent advice needed on weird case! 1-year-old Retriever weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss

Noweia — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 23:16:02 GMT

Twitching - distemper?