July 24: Distemper.

This morning I was genuinely worried about Ruby so I got her into the vet. I was fairly certain there was something else going and it was not my imagination. Ruby’s instability had become more pronounced. She not only stumbles, but falls completely; she’s unable to stop herself. She walks into furniture and doorways. Walking through the grass is extremely difficult as she just cannot keep her balance in the uneven terrain. I was mortified to see her wander about the backyard, wobbling, swaying and falling as though she was drunk. I sat with her on the proch, to rub her belly after she had fallen yet again, and was even more concerned to notice that now not only was her nose like sand paper, but the pads of her feet were very hard. Later, when she sat still in her crate, her head would bob, her shoulders waggle, and her legs twitched. In fact she looked exactly like a person who has Parkinson's. Watching her manuever this morning was one of the most heartbreaking sights I've ever seen. She is up to two cups a day, yet seems to have LOST a little weight again, and it looks like her coat and dandruff is getting worse, not better. But she remains hungry, has a decent energy level and is still happy and cheery.

Once the vet saw the neurological symptoms, the diagnosis was obvious: Ruby had distemper. Canine distemper is a contagious, incurable, often fatal, multisystemic viral disease that affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems. Until she began the shaking, nobody had put two and two together, NONE of the vets that had seen her made a connection. Her symptoms up to this point seemed in line with her other issues: a short and very minor bout of respiratory "gunk" was thought to have stemmed from the trachea infection, poor nutrition causes issues like her dry, loose coat. Even the worms could have caused her to have trouble getting the weight back on. Apparently, this is not unusual with Distemper. The beginning stages look so much like every other bug out there, that sometimes it's only very late in the game, when it begins to attack the epithelials (skin, feet, nose) and the nervous system, that it becomes readily apparent.

How and why did Ruby contract distemper? Fortunately, the vaccine is extremely effective. Ruby had her first shot when she arrived at the shelter, but in previously unvaccinated dogs it takes a second round and then annual boosters thereafter to be truly protected. A healthy dog may have fought off the virus after having just had that first shot; however Ruby came in with puppies, heartworms, injuries to her ears, poor nutrition, worms….you name it and that dog had been through it. Her immune system was way too compromised. When you add her recent spay and the resulting complication, there’s no way she could have fought it off. Once again, as has seemed to happen over and over again with this poor girl, it was likely just bad luck in the convergence of many unfortunate events.

The only thing left to do was either go ahead and euthanize her now or wait and see if she can survive. If she managed to survive, nobody could guarantee the nervous system damage would reverse itself, either. Ruby has been kept away from other dogs since she arrived, so she could continue to be effectively quarantined if we were willing to let her keep fighting. Since she seemed so happy and was still eating (and pooping) well - the only real problem was the shaking - we decided to let her keep fighting.