Canine distemper is one of those fearsome diseases that your dog can contract. Dogs with this kind of disease infection sometimes have uncontrollable shaking of the head. This is similar to what humans might experience if they had multiple sclerosis. It is possible that your beloved and very friendly dog could grow mean and nasty to people even in their own household -- this the reason for the term distemper. It is a neurological disease, and gives rise to twitching, shaking or shivering in the affected canine, and the virus can eventually affect your pet’s abdominal organs as well.
Canine Distemper Virus
As a relative of the measles virus, this disease is highly contagious and has claimed the lives of a great number of dogs and puppies. The fatality rate is high, by some estimates claiming more than half the dogs that have contracted the disease. The distemper virus affects the central nervous system and is passed through direct contact with other dogs or through contact body secretions like feces, urine, semen, and saliva from infected canines. The alarming part is that it can also be contracted even through other objects and even the air where virus-laden microbes can pass through.
Signs and Symptoms of Canine Distemper
Canine distemper usually starts out as an increase in body temperature coupled with a slight increase in bodily discharges. Other signs and symptoms that indicate a potential for distemper includes weight loss, vomiting, coughing, nasal discharges and even diarrhea.
One main problem with distemper is that dogs having the disease do not show symptoms immediately upon contraction. Most dogs will show symptoms of other diseases and will get treated for those, until the time that the virus has already infected the nervous systems and the dogs start having fits and would exhibit uncontrollable twitching. Further deterioration can lead to partial paralysis.
How to Prevent Canine Distemper
Canine distemper is a highly contagious disease with a very grim prognosis. There is no known treatment or effective cure that could be administered to dogs that have contracted this disease and dog owners can only do so much to help their canine friends fight off the infection. If these pets manage to survive the infection and eventually recover, there is no guarantee that they will develop immunity and they are still susceptible for relapses.
Given this scenario, the only recourse that dog owners have is to prevent the occurrence of the disease while their pets are still very young. Puppies can have some level of immunity which they get from their mothers; however this does not last long and eventually dissipates. The best course of action is vaccination. TO be effective, this immunization is required to be administered just before the puppy’s natural immunity is gone for good. The best time would be within the period of 6 weeks from birth, with repeat shots every 3 months during their first year, and booster shots every subsequent year.
Comments
Post a Comment