Canine distemper, commonly known as canine distemper, is a serious canine disease that mainly harms puppies. The pathogen is canine distemper virus. Sick dogs are characterized by biphasic fever, rhinitis, severe digestive tract disorders and respiratory inflammation. Encephalitis may occur in a few cases. Dog breeds suitable for living in cold areas, such as sled dogs, have a higher mortality rate from this disease. Various secretions and excretions of sick dogs (nasal juice, saliva, tears, pericardial fluid, pleural effusion, ascites and urine) as well as blood, cerebrospinal fluid, lymph nodes, liver, spleen, spinal cord and other organs contain a large amount of viruses, and can It is detoxified to the outside world with respiratory secretions and urine. Respiratory or digestive tract infection occurs when healthy dogs come into direct contact with sick dogs or through contaminated air or food. In addition to puppies being the most susceptible to infection, foxes and mink among fur animals are also very susceptible to canine distemper.

The incubation period of canine distemper is generally 3-6 days, but if the source of infection is a heterogeneous animal, the incubation period may be extended to 1-3 months. In the early stage of the disease, the sick dog is listless, has a loss of appetite, secretions will flow from the eyes and nose, and the body temperature rises twice. After the second rise in body temperature, the condition gradually worsens, with symptoms such as vomiting, pneumonia, diarrhea, and hyperkeratosis of the foot pads and nose often appearing. If dogs are taken to a pet hospital for treatment in the early stages of illness, the cure rate is relatively high, but it is difficult to cure sick dogs in the middle and later stages.

Neurological symptoms usually appear 21 days after infection or a few days after systemic symptoms improve. Puppies with transplacental infection will develop neurological symptoms around 5 weeks of age. Symptoms will vary depending on the part of the central nervous system that the canine distemper virus infects. Epilepsy, circling, abnormal reflexes, convulsions and spasms are all possible symptoms.

Once the dog is diagnosed with the disease, the owner needs to keep them in isolation and thoroughly disinfect the contaminated environment. Although the cure rate of canine distemper is very low, we can effectively prevent it by vaccinating dogs, so owners must not forget to immunize their dogs!

【Diagnostic Key Points】

(1) Epidemic characteristics: This disease occurs frequently in the cold season (from July to April of the following year), especially in units or areas where dogs gather. Once the disease occurs in a group of dogs, it is difficult for other puppies to avoid infection unless they are under absolute isolation conditions. Breast-feeding puppies rarely get sick because they can obtain antibodies from their mother's milk. Puppies aged 3 months to 1 year old are usually the most susceptible.

(2) Clinical characteristics: The body temperature is biphasic (i.e., the body temperature rises to about 40°C at the beginning of the disease, continues for 1 to 2 days, then drops to normal, and rises again after 2 to 3 days); when the body temperature rises for the second time (A few cases died at this time) Respiratory symptoms appear, the sick dog coughs, sneezes, serous to purulent nasal juice, dry nose; eyelid swelling, purulent conjunctivitis, corneal ulcers often occur in the later stage; on the skin of the lower abdomen and medial thigh There are rice-grained red spots, edema and purulent papules; oftenVomiting; constipation at first, then diarrhea soon, feces smelly, sometimes mixed with blood and bubbles. Hyperkeratosis of the skin on the soles of the feet and nose can be seen in a few cases. Some sick dogs show neurological symptoms at the beginning of the disease, and some do not show neurological symptoms until 7 to 10 days after the disease. In mild cases, the lips and eyelids may twitch locally. In severe cases, the symptoms may include drooling, chewing, spinning, colliding, or foaming at the mouth, trismus, falling to the ground and convulsing, presenting as epileptic seizures, lasting from seconds to minutes, and the number of seizures may vary. From several times a day to more than ten times. Most of the dogs with this disease have a poor prognosis, and some only have neurological symptoms such as local convulsions or convulsions, paralysis, ataxia and other symptoms of one limb, two limbs and the entire hindquarters. Even if such dogs recover, they often have sequelae such as weakness of the hindquarters. Because this disease is often mixed with canine infectious hepatitis and other diseases and secondary infections with bacteria, the symptoms are complicated. Therefore, only a preliminary diagnosis can be made based on the above symptoms alone. For the final diagnosis, the disease materials (conjunctiva, bladder, stomach, lungs, trachea, brain, and serum) must be collected and sent to the testing unit for specific tests such as virus isolation and neutralization tests. Sexual examination.

【Preventive and Control Measures】

(1) Regular vaccination. The canine distemper vaccine currently produced in my country is a cell culture attenuated vaccine. In order to improve the immune effect, the following vaccination schedule should be followed. The first vaccination time is when the puppies are 6 weeks old, the second vaccination is at 8 weeks old, and the third vaccination is at 10 weeks old. From now on, immunization is performed once a year, and the dose of each immunization is 2 ml, which can achieve a certain immune effect. In view of the fact that it takes a certain period of time (7 to 10 days) after vaccination to produce a good immune effect, and the current epidemic of canine distemper is relatively common, some dogs have been infected with canine distemper virus before vaccination, but did not show clinical symptoms. Under the influence of certain stress factors (changes in living conditions, long-distance transportation, etc.), clinical symptoms can still be triggered and the disease will occur. This is one of the important reasons why some dogs still develop canine distemper and other diseases after vaccination. one. In order to improve the immune effect and reduce the infection rate, when purchasing puppies, it is best to inoculate the puppies with 4 to 5 ml of canine five-linked hyperimmune serum, and then inject it once a week later, and then vaccinate the puppies with canine five-linked high-immune serum according to the above immunization procedure after 2 weeks. Combined vaccine, which is safe and reliable and can reduce the incidence of disease.

(2) Strengthen veterinary health and epidemic prevention measures. Each breeding farm should try its best to reproduce and support itself. During this epidemic season, it is strictly prohibited to bring dogs from outside the venue into the venue.

(3) Timely isolation and treatment. Timely detection of sick dogs, early isolation and treatment, and prevention of secondary infections are the keys to improving the cure rate and reducing mortality. In the early stage of the disease, anti-canine distemper hyperimmune serum (or canine pentavalent hyperimmune serum) or serum (or whole blood) of dogs who have recovered from the disease can be injected intramuscularly or subcutaneously. The dosage of serum should be determined according to the condition of the dog and the size of the dog's body. Usually, 5 to 10 ml/time is used for 3 to 5 days to achieve a certain curative effect. There are reports that while treating with hyperimmune serum, the therapeutic effect can be improved by using anti-duling freeze-dried powder for injection. The usage and dosage are as follows: before treatment, add 20 ml of anti-duling lyophilized powder with sterilized saline or water for injection. dissolve, mediumFor dogs, 2 to 4 bottles should be infused intravenously. For dogs that are younger than 1 month old, the dosage may be reduced. According to recent reports, Quushikang injection has good curative effect when used in the early stage of the disease. Especially when used together with hyperimmune serum, the curative effect is better than that used alone. The usage and dosage of Quanbingkang is 0.l~0.3ml/kg body weight, intramuscular injection, sub-2 times/day. In severe cases, the dosage may be increased as appropriate. In addition, early application of antibiotics (such as penicillin, streptomycin, etc.) in conjunction with symptomatic treatment is of great significance in preventing secondary bacterial infection and in the recovery of sick dogs.

(4) Strengthen disinfection. Dog kennels and sports grounds should be thoroughly disinfected with various disinfectants, such as Baidusha, 1210, Weidao brand disinfectant, sodium hypochlorite, etc.