MO: Canine distemper hits Sedalia Animal Shelter

Canine distemper hits Sedalia Animal Shelter

Emily Jarrett The Sedalia Democrat, Sedalia, Mo.

5:25 a.m. CDT, May 5, 2012

An outbreak of canine distemper in the Sedalia Animal Shelter forced the shelter's executive board to approve the euthanization of 28 dogs this week.

The shelter was first alerted to the virus when a Sedalia resident adopted a puppy who was sick, though the owner says the shelter didn't do enough to protect other dogs who may have the disease and have already been adopted unknowingly.

"I feel like I was duped, but more than that, who knows how many dogs were already infected with distemper then allowed to be adopted out," said Kevin Defoe.

Defoe and his girlfriend decided to adopt a puppy from the shelter for her mother, who had recently finished undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

"We wanted to get her a puppy for Easter," Defoe said. "When we went to the shelter on April 3, we found this little lab, pitbull mix who the doctor told us wasn't 10 weeks yet."

Defoe said he noticed the puppy -- who they named Lilly -- had what he thought was a cold.

"She had gunk in her eyes and a little mucus coming out of her nose and a cough," he said.

"The workers at the shelter told me she had a cold and was on antibiotics. We bought her for $75 but they told me we couldn't take her home then because she was sick. Also, they said at that young age when she was sick she might not come back out of anesthesia when she was spayed, so we kept her there."

In the meantime, Defoe and his girlfriend visited Lilly to get her used to them, he said, and asked the shelter manager Jamie Ditzfeld if puppies were usually as docile as Lilly seemed to be acting.

"He told me that was because of her cold," Defoe said. "On April 10, I called the shelter again and they said she had gotten spayed and that went fine but she still was sick. A few days later I called again and told them I would just take her home, even if she was sick. I could give her better one-on-one attention and thought it'd be better for her at my house than in the pound."

Defoe said Ditzfeld argued against it because "owners who took sick puppies from the shelter didn't call the shelter back when they were better," Defoe said. "But I insisted and took her home."

On April 12, Defoe took Lilly to a veterinarian at Thompson Hills Animal Clinic, who said she had kennel cough, an upper respiratory infection, and put her on a different antibiotic. As the week progressed, however, Lilly didn't get better and kept barking through the night.

"My girlfriend took her back to Thompson Hills April 20 and she saw a different vet this time who told her it was distemper," Defoe said. "They said they highly recommended putting Lilly down right then."

Canine distemper is a virus that affects dogs, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, skunks and ferrets, though it's rare these days, said Thompson Hills vet Chad McNeal.

"Distemper used to be pretty rampant in dogs but though vaccinations, we don't see it much anymore," McNeal said. "It's very contagious though, usually when a nonvaccinated dog comes into contact with the virus, which is spread by coughing or sneezing."

McNeal said it usually takes about a week for distemper symptoms to show, which range from coughing and a runny nose, discharge from the eyes, vomiting and -- in worst case scenarios -- seizures and fits where dogs continuously chew their gums.

"These days we see sporadic outbreaks of distemper but it most commonly happens in animal shelters," he said. "That's simply because they have dozens, or in the big shelter's cases hundreds, of dogs with unknown vaccine histories; it spreads like wildfire."

Distemper does not affect humans, McNeal added, and cannot be spread from a human to a dog.

"Puppies are most likely to catch it because their immune system isn't complete yet," he said. "But once a dog has it, if they come into contact with another dog who isn't vaccinated, they'll catch it."

Defoe believes this was the case with Lilly, that she caught distemper from another dog in the shelter.

"She wasn't a stray and didn't come into contact with other dogs until she got to the shelter," he said. "When the vet told us we'd have to put her down, I immediately went to the shelter and talked to Jamie about what was going on. I wanted to let him know, especially with distemper being so contagious, that other dogs could have caught it.

"He told me distemper was very rare and then acted like he didn't believe it."

When called about the distemper outbreak, Ditzfeld told the Democrat he wouldn't comment on the story.

Defoe and his girlfriend decided to put Lilly down because of the fast progression of the virus.

"We put her down April 20," he said. "We had her for 10 days, that was it. When I told Jamie he said they were 'keeping an eye' on the other dogs for signs."

Animal Shelter Board President Becky Hardesty said when distemper is found, the shelter follows their shelter vet's advice to "depopulate."

"I believe 28 dogs were euthanized," Hardesty said. "We do all we can to prevent things like this from happening. If people vaccinated their animals like they vaccinate their children, we could avoid these kinds of problems. Overall people have been understanding though."

Hardesty said she didn't know if other dogs with the virus were adopted out without the owner's knowledge. Defoe said when he called the shelter to tell them he put Lilly down, they offered him a voucher.

"They gave me a voucher to get another dog," he said. "I don't want a voucher. I'd rather have my $75 back. I've spent almost $200 between the shelter and the vet's fees for a dog I had 10 days. Honestly, I'd rather it be that Lilly didn't catch distemper in the first place."

To add to the problem, Defoe said, Lilly infected his girlfriend's parents' dog.

"She was having seizures and it was so bad she bit her tongue off," he said. "A perfectly healthy 7-year-old dog and they had to put her down Friday because she contracted distemper."

McNeal said the vets from Thompson Hills had a meeting with the shelter board Monday to discuss the issue.

"We told them what we found and what we suspected," he said. "When it's one or two dogs, it may be coincidence but when it's three or four, we're sure. We discussed at length what to do. They were obviously very concerned about the dogs and the health of the shelter."

After the dogs were euthanized, the shelter did a "top to bottom disinfecting." Household disinfectant and light easily kill the airborne virus, McNeal said.

"We had a case of distemper a few years ago," Hardesty said. "We're hoping it doesn't become a recurring thing, but it does happen. Again, the best way to prevent it is to vaccinate your dogs."

Defoe, however, said he isn't happy with the shelter's response.

"I'm irritated with the whole process," he said. "I'm mad I had a puppy for only 10 days before having to put her down but I'm more concerned with how many other dogs were infected because of this. I wouldn't want anyone else to go through what we did because they didn't know there was a possibility of their adopted dog being sick."

Canine distemper hits Sedalia Animal Shelter - chicagotribune.com