CONCURRENT JUVENILE CELLULITIS AND METAPHYSEAL OSTEOPATHY - AN ATYPICAL CANINE-DISTEMPER VIRUS SYNDROME

Four young dogs aged eight to 17 weeks were presented with signs typic al of juvenile cellulitis, including peripheral lymph node enlargement , vesiculopustular dermatitis, widespread subcutaneous abscessation, f ever and malaise. Three of the four dogs had or subsequently developed clinical signs and radiological features typical of metaphyseal osteo pathy (hypertrophic osteodystrophy). Two of these dogs, and the remain ing case with more subtle bone involvement, had been inoculated with a combined live attenuated vaccine 10 to 14 days previously. All four d ogs were successfully treated using prednisolone (approximately 2 mg/k g once a day per os for two weeks or longer), usually combined with an anti-staphylococcal antibiotic. The simultaneous occurrence of juveni le cellulitis and metaphyseal osteopathy, two comparatively uncommon c onditions, suggests that both syndromes may be a manifestation of the same disease process. Based on the recent documentation of distemper v iral mRNA in metaphyseal osteopathy lesions and additional information from a variety of sources, we propose that in some patients juvenile cellulitis is an atypical clinical variant of canine distemper virus i nfection.