Colorado wildlife officials are seeing a spike in canine distemper — in raccoons

As the debate rages over whether or not to vaccinate kids for things like measles, raccoons in the San Luis Valley are dying from canine distemper, which can be transmitted to unvaccinated dogs.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife says several raccoons have tested positive for the canine distemper virus in recent weeks.

First, a raccoon carcass from Monte Vista tested positive for the virus at Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s health lab in Fort Collins. Then two raccoons from Alamosa were sent in with symptoms consistent with the virus. Canine distemper attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous systems of dogs, ferrets, skunks, raccoons and other animals. Tyler Cerny, CPW district wildlife manager for the area, says new cases keep coming. 

When they do, he said, “any other raccoon in the area exhibiting symptoms is presumed to be positive for canine distemper. We are continuing to see more cases.” 

But those symptoms aren’t always easy to see, especially in an animal that you aren’t cuddling on the couch or sharing an ice cream cone with.  

Symptoms can range from high fever, eye and nose discharge, and loss of appetite to coughing, extreme thirst and lethargy — none of which you’re likely to notice in the varmint that just knocked over your garbage can or is hissing at you from up in a tree. 

But if you see one stumbling around looking blind or confused, having seizures or vomiting, that could mean it has distemper, too. CPW says sick animals often have difficulty moving and can act abnormally because of brain infections. Crusting around the eyes and/or nose is commonly observed, and infected animals usually don’t survive. 

Unlike bird flu, or brucellosis, anthrax, Q fever or milker’s nodule from livestock, distemper can’t be transmitted to humans. But if your dog is unvaccinated, it can get distemper from another dog, coyotes, foxes, raccoons and skunks.

The treatment for distemper is focused on reducing the intensity of signs and symptoms, at a veterinary hospital, to provide the patient with intensive nursing care, intravenous fluid therapy and treatment for vomiting, diarrhea, cough, etc, says VCA Animal Hospitals. Anti-seizure medications may be required in some cases. And all of that can cost as much as a dinged-up Toyota for sale on Facebook Marketplace. 

Because distemper is indistinguishable from rabies without postmortem testing of the brain, CPW says sick animals that have contacted people or pets should be tested for rabies.