Ensuring Health

Canine distemper

Although great progress has been make, canine distemper remains the greatest single disease threat to the world’s dog population. It strikes principally at young dogs, usually affecting those under one year of age. Among puppies the death rate from distemper often reaches 80 per cent. The disease also strikes unvaccinated older dogs. More than 50 per cent of the adult dogs that contract the disease die from it. And even if a dog does not die from the disease, its health may be permanently impaired. Blindness is one or both eyes may result form discharges affecting the cornea. The same discharges sometimes leave the dog deaf or without the sense of smell. Permanent damage to the nervous system may cause chorea ( muscle twitching), convulsions, partial or total paralysis. 

Distemper is caused by an airborn virus. It may be picked up by the dog that comes in contact with mucus and watery secretions from the eyes and noses of infected dogs, and also from contact with their urine and fecal matter. A healthy dog can become affected without direct contact with an infected animal. Kennels, runs, bedding and in fact every-thing used by a distemper-sick dog may spread the infection-even the feet, hands, and clothing of the person caring for such a dog. 
Symptoms appear within four to ten days after exposure and include listlessness and loss of appetite, eye and nose discharges-at first watery, later thickened with pus-coughing, vomiting, fever, first, and diarrhea with black, foul-smelling stools. In later stages the virus often attacks the nervous system and there may be partial or complete paralysis, as well as fits or twitching. Occasionally the virus causes rapid growth of touch keratin cells on the food pads, resulting in a hardened pad. 

To avoid infecting others, a distemper patient should be isolated for at least three weeks following his recovery. If there is a case of distemper in your neighbourhood, steer clear of the house in which the sick dog lives and of every member of his family. Do not let them visit you! Remember: they can bring the disease to your dog even though they leave their dog at home.
There is no drug that will cure distemper, although anti-biotics, serums, and fluid therapy are helpful, particularly against the secondary infections, which often do the greatest damage. Good nursing is vital to bring a dog through. The patient should be isolated in clean, warm, dry, well-ventilated quarters. Give simple foods in small amounts three or four times daily: beef broth, cooked egg, and custard. Keep the eyes and nose free of mucus. Flush out the eyes with sterile cotton dipped in boric-acid solution. Clean out the nostrils gently with a cotton swab, and use Vaseline to prevent cracking. 

Follow your veterinarian’s advice about medications. Above all, keep the patient quiet. His nerve are on edge, so no sudden bright lights, no door slamming, no confusion, no loud talking. Dim the lights in his room, since his eyes are sensitive throughout the course of the disease. 
Following recovery, burn any dog blankets, beds, and bedding that are not too valuable to discard. Otherwise thoroughly disinfect everything the patient has used or come in contact with. If the dog dies, do not bring another puppy into the house for at least a month, and be sure to have him properly immunized.