Canine distemper is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by canine distemper virus. It is extremely contagious and has a mortality rate of more than 80%. In the early stages of canine distemper symptoms, the dog's body temperature is as high as 39.5 to 41 degrees Celsius, with loss of appetite, depression, watery secretions from the eyes and nose, sneezing, and diarrhea. Within the next 2 to 14 days, the dog will have an elevated temperature, cough, purulent nasal discharge, and purulent eye excrement again. This is the middle stage of canine distemper. At the same time, secondary gastrointestinal diseases include vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. Highly depressed and lethargic. Typical neurological symptoms will appear in the later stages of canine distemper, such as foaming at the mouth and convulsions. At this time, it is generally difficult to cure, but some can be successfully cured.

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Canine distemper is a very serious infectious disease. It is generally characterized by complex fever, acute nasal catarrh, bronchitis, catarrhal pneumonia, severe gastroenteritis and neurological symptoms. A few sick dogs will also develop nasal and footpad angles. A situation of excessive transformation. It is often mixed with parvovirus, canine infectious hepatitis, pneumonia, etc., so the mortality rate is extremely high. The initial stage of the disease is similar to fever and is easily ignored by parents. It manifests as conjunctivitis and dry cough, which then turns into wet cough, dyspnea, vomiting, diarrhea, intussusception, and ultimately death due to severe dehydration and weakness in the child.

The incidence of canine distemper: Canine distemper is distributed in almost all countries in the world and occurs in all dog-raising countries. However, the disease is most common in the cold season from October to April of the following year, especially in densely populated places, residences, kennels and other areas in various countries. Once the disease occurs in a group of dogs, it is difficult for other dogs to avoid infection unless they are under absolute isolation conditions. Dogs that recover from the disease can obtain lifelong immunity.

Four types of canine distemper

Canine distemper, as the number one infectious disease in dogs, is very destructive to the body of pet dogs. Moreover, the disease is highly contagious, has a high mortality rate, and the treatment time is relatively long. And even if the dog is cured, some dogs will still suffer from sequelae, and some symptoms may stay with the dog throughout his life. Let’s learn about the sequelae of canine distemper.

Canine distemper is generally divided into four types: catarrhal distemper, eczematous distemper, gastrointestinal distemper, and neurological distemper. If it is digestive tract canine distemper, the dog’s appetite may be smaller than that of normal dogs after it is cured. Moreover, the absorption rate of nutrients is not high, so some dogs tend to grow more slowly after canine distemper, and their appetite is not very good.

Among these conditions, neurological canine distemper is the most serious. Generally, when a dog shakes its head, twitches, etc., most doctors will advise them to give up because the chance of cure is gone. If a dog with neurological symptoms survives, the twitching and shaking of the head may continue to occur in the future. Because some of the dog's nerves are damaged by the disease, the dog cannot function well.control yourself.

There is no doubt that canine distemper is harmful to pet dogs. Therefore, in order to prevent dogs from getting canine distemper, the best prevention method is to take the dog for vaccination in time to nip it in the bud.

Canine distemper symptoms and sequelae

The incubation period of canine distemper is 3-9 days. Symptoms vary and are related to the intensity of virulence, environmental conditions, age and immune status. The first symptom of canine distemper is an increase in body temperature, which lasts for 1-3 days. Then it subsides, much like the symptoms of a cold. But the temperature rises again after a few days, and the duration is uncertain. Tearing, redness of the conjunctiva, and eye secretions from liquid to mucopurulent may be seen. The nose is dry and nasal fluid flows out. It is serous nasal fluid at first and then turns into purulent nasal fluid. At the beginning of the disease, there was a dry cough, which later turned into a wet cough and difficulty breathing. Vomiting, diarrhea, intussusception, and ultimately death from severe dehydration and weakness.

Neurological symptomatic canine distemper mostly appears about 10 days after the above symptoms. Clinically, neurological symptoms frequently occur in cases of footpad keratosis and nasal keratosis. Because canine distemper virus infects different parts of the central nervous system, symptoms vary. The virus damages the brain and manifests as epilepsy, circling, abnormal standing posture, unsteady gait, ataxia, paroxysmal twitching of masticatory muscles and limbs and other neurological symptoms. The prognosis of this type of neurological canine distemper is usually poor. .

Canine distemper virus can cause eye damage in some dogs, clinically characterized by conjunctivitis and keratitis. Keratitis is mostly seen about 15 days after the onset of illness, and the cornea turns white. In severe cases, corneal ulcers, perforation, and blindness may occur. The disease has a high mortality rate in puppies, with the mortality rate reaching 80 to 90%. Symptoms such as pneumonia, enteritis, and intussusception may occur secondaryly.

Clinically, once the characteristic canine distemper symptoms appear, the prognosis is very poor. Especially unvaccinated dogs. Despite clinical symptomatic treatment, the progression of the disease is difficult to control, and most patients die from neurological symptoms and failure. Dogs that partially recover generally have varying degrees of sequelae.