Fox with possible Distemper

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Marie Kubiak — Sat, 21 May 2016 10:48:47 GMT

Had a suspected ferret case 2 weeks ago in Birmingham

Marie

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Bob Russell — Sat, 21 May 2016 10:36:46 GMT

The only distemper case I have seen in years was a rescue dog brought down from Sheffield by a charity for re homing. Seems not a lot has changed there!

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Cat Henstridge — Fri, 20 May 2016 22:15:06 GMT

Thanks everyone for their input!

An update on this, we have now seen several foxes with Distemper like symptoms and so has a neighbouring practice. We are in Sheffield. Is anyone else seeing them?

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Julian Earl — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 17:32:30 GMT

Holly, Indeed it is and in a number of cases will develop before other symptoms. I have said on here before about suspected distemper cases that my first action is to place one and on top of the head, the other under the chin. You can feel a tic in the temporal muscles at a very early stage and is a poor prognostic sign.

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Holly Norman — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 15:45:24 GMT

Hi Cat,

I had a similar situation a few months ago and did lots of asking around to see if it needed reporting!. Apparently, distemper cases don't need to be reported as not notififiable.

A bit terrifying, bearing in mind the case I saw was in a dog from Eastern Europe, never vaccinated and just PTS. Had similar signs to yours but also had the chorea of the head muscles which I think is supposed to be quite diagnostic.

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

mariette asselbergs — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 22:47:29 GMT

Thanks Wynne, It came from my BSAVA exotics lecture notes.

Hope it actually works and still exists!

Mariette

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Hannah Wynne Richards — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 08:40:20 GMT

That's a useful bit of info

Wynne

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

mariette asselbergs — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 19:48:34 GMT

There is a government wildlife survey partnership which apparently welcomes any info from vets who see cases of wildlife. Here is a link:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/434264/pub-survrep-w0115.pdf

Mariette

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Marie Kubiak — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:57:31 GMT

[quote user="Julian Earl"]

I don't think you get latent carriers of distemper and the virus does not survive long in the environment so it passes from one clinical case to the next victim. I've never seen it in a fox but did see it in a Coatimundi about thirty years ago! Unless I skived those lectures, I don't think Coatimundis were in the syllabus when Iwas at Liverpool. I'm not even sure what a Coatimundi was doing in an east Lancashire pet shop in the first place!

[/quote]

Hedgehogs can asymptomatically carry paramyxoviruses and rodents may also be able to act as carriers. It has been suspected that hedgehog virus carriage may include distemper but I don't think it was ever confirmed so it is just guesswork but they may be an ongoing source of distemper!

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Julian Earl — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:41:10 GMT

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Marie Kubiak — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 12:07:09 GMT

If you're still in the W Mids then I would be more suspicious of distemper as there seems to be a reservoir of disease here that causes occasional outbreaks in ferrets/skunks and it would seem plausible that wildlife is the reservoir.

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Hannah Wynne Richards — Tue, 26 Apr 2016 08:15:39 GMT

It sounds remarkably like distemper to me. Distemper isn't a notifiable disease, so there isn't a reporting system.

Wynne

RE: Fox with possible Distemper

Richard Carter — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 21:47:05 GMT

it is a virus attacking all body surfaces - so eyes, nose, respiratory, git - so sounds your diagnosis spot on. The CNS signs in dogs tended to be seen as clonic temporal muscle contractions in those that had recovered but obviously those in full septicaemia would be cns depressed, ataxic etc