Q: Our dogs killed a raccoon that looked rabid, and we took it away from them. The county animal services people who picked up the raccoon later reported that it had distemper, not rabies. Is raccoon distemper transmissible to dogs? What about humans?
A: Distemper is widespread in the raccoon population. The disease is caused by the canine distemper virus, or CDV.
CDV can spread from raccoons to dogs. Fortunately, the canine distemper vaccination is very effective, so your dogs are protected if their distemper vaccinations are current.
Humans do not get distemper. Under experimental conditions, the virus can enter human cells, but it has never caused infection in humans….