Residual Effects of Distemper causing Spinal Curvature in Canines

[Daveyo]

Special Information for Owners and VETS

It has come to my attention of the curve of the spine that develops on Canines who became infected with Canine Distemper.  What you might most likely see is the hunchback syndrome and it will be located around the dead middle of the spine between the front legs and the rear legs.  This disease knows no bounds and does cause a lot of damage and even affects the developing bone structure as well.

This condition mainly affects mostly on young developing pups and dogs and it will happen if the owner and the VET do not commence action to keep that back straight.  The key is to keep it straight until the dog reaches adulthood.  Once the canine reaches adulthood the bones are permanently set and the growing stops.

Officially now to date it took my Charlie a good 26 months from the NDV-CSF tap for his curvature on the spinal vertebrae to finally level up and it did on its own, thereby negating any need for me to have surgery done on his back.  How it was able to do so I have no idea but had the faith that somehow and someday it might level out, and I am glad I had the patience to WAIT and allow him the time to recover on his own.  So to you the owners of the Canines please do not panic and wait a minimum of say 30 months before commencing any surgical actions if need to fix the backs of the canines.

I do encourage owners and VETS to come up with a means to design and make a back traction for the animal, so that it can be made to adjust as it is growing up both vertically and horizontally and can move about without much restriction, and at the same time the brace on the back is keeping the vertebrae straight.  The dog can always move side to side but cannot bend upwards or bend downwards like when they do sleeping.  I would also suggest that from time to time every few days to take the traction off and give the dog some physical therapy to bend the back once in awhile to keep it supple and to allow the vertebrae to move up and down.  Good therapy works wonders.

The last thing you want to see is the dog curving that back such as sleeping or resting for long periods of time.  

The real key and the success to all this is to keep the back straight for as long as possible and I can assure you if you can do this that vertebrae once it reaches adulthood will be just fine and from that point on the animal will be Ok, and if not otherwise WAIT and see if it will return back to normal and if not you will need to have a small surgery to straighten it up.

At first after being kept straight for so long it will be stiff so you do not need to panic and the transition from the restricted brace to being free from the brace will not be so hard as long as you gave the physical therapy at least once a day.

I hope this suggestion works for the VETS and the Owners so please do keep this in mind and do your best to help on the recovery of your Canine.

Daveyo

Revision History

December 14, 2009

April 16, 2010  (Charlie status on his vertebrae)