King County has issued a warning to pet owners in response to a suspected outbreak of canine distemper, an extremely contagious and incurable viral disease, in raccoons.

Photo taken in Ballard on Sunday from the deck of Nic Launceford’s apartment on NW 59th. More photos can be found here.

“King County residents are reminded to avoid feeding wildlife, keep domestic pets away from wild animals, and be sure their pets’ vaccinations are current,” a release sent by the county, PAWS and the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife states. Samples from a raccoon in Bellevue have been sent to Washington State University for testing.

Although humans and cats cannot get canine distemper, it is highly contagious among dogs and other animals. “Dogs are normally vaccinated against canine distemper, but the disease has become generally uncommon and some pet owners are not getting their pets vaccinated,” said Dr. Sharon Hopkins, the Veterinarian for Public Health – Seattle & KingCounty. The release goes on to say, “Distemper causes encephalitis, inflation of the brain, in animals. Infected animals may have runny eyes and stagger, tremble, foam at the mouth or snap, according to veterinarians. Daytime activity by a raccoon does not necessarily indicate the animal is sick.”

This is particularly important as there have been a number of incidents of raccoons attacking domestic animals, and in some cases their owners, in Queen Anne over the last year. Pet owners, especially those with smaller animals, are advised to vaccinate their pets against distemper and be extremely cautious when leaving them outside unsupervised.