Canine Distemper Virus is a very deadly disease, and it’s quite common in dogs. In fact if we look at the data over 100,000 deaths occur every year in India alone due to this disease affecting our dogs our kids. So you can understand the severity of this disease it’s extremely deadly and there’s no cure for it. Today we’re going to tell you about this disease in a bit of detail make you aware of how you can understand it.
how to protect your dog from it and if your dog gets distemper, how to recognize it and how to handle it. This is going to be a very important guide, so please read it until the end and don’t skip it. It’s a very technical guide and you won’t find this kind of information anywhere else.
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Spread and Transmission
Canine Distemper Virus is a very deadly virus and it’s not only found in dogs. It’s also found in wild wolves, foxes, raccoons, and ferrets. From there, it spreads from forests to human habitats, affecting domestic dogs. It’s also very common in zoos, especially in leopards and lions. You might have seen news reports that lions have also contracted distemper. So, from there, this disease spreads to our domestic dogs and stray dogs. It’s extremely deadly and a highly lethal disease worldwide, and it’s quite common.
Once a dog gets infected, if another dog sniffs its urine or feces, comes into contact with an infected dog, or comes into contact with its saliva, the virus will transfer from the infected dog to a healthy dog. It takes one to two weeks for symptoms to appear, which we call the incubation period. During the incubation period, until symptoms show up, the dog appears healthy.
How the Virus Affects the Body
During this time the virus multiplies in three places inside the dog’s body first in the buccal cavity where the tonsils are; second, in the intestine where Peyer’s patches are located and third in all the lymphatic tissues like lymph nodes. When the virus multiplies in the lymph nodes the problem is that the body’s immune system becomes very weak and compromised. So here’s the focus if a dog gets infected with the distemper virus we need to immunomodulate it meaning we need to boost its immunity. The entire target of the treatment is immunomodulation nothing else.
Initial Symptoms
As soon as the incubation period ends the dog starts getting sick. It will develop a fever become lethargic, extremely weak and stop eating. Then discharge from the nose will start, and it will begin coughing a little. These are the starting signs.
Stages of Canine Distemper
The canine distemper virus progresses in stages, affecting the dog step by step and causing significant damage to the entire system.
Ocular and Respiratory Stage
The first stage is the ocular and respiratory stage, where the eyes and respiratory system are affected. There will be excessive watering from the eyes, eye discharge and redness in the eyes, which we call conjunctivitis. Along with that there will be nasal discharge, which later turns into mucopurulent discharge. The dog will have difficulty breathing and will cough a lot. These are the early-stage symptoms in dogs.
Gastrointestinal Stage
After crossing this stage since the virus has already developed in the intestines it will disturb the gastrointestinal system causing gastric symptoms. The dog will vomit a lot, have diarrhea and become severely dehydrated. These signs are quite uncommon, meaning not every distemper patient will show these symptoms. Sometimes dogs with distemper only show muscular or neurological symptoms.
Neurological Stage
The next stage is the neurological stage. In this stage the virus multiplies and directly attacks the neurons. When it attacks the neurons neurological symptoms appear, such as severe seizures or fits in dogs. There will be muscle twitching, especially in the head and the dog’s body will move randomly without any control. Technically we call this chorea. The dog will walk uncontrollably, scream or moan. If you have a distemper patient at home you’ll feel troubled because the dog won’t sleep at night will keep circling, and will keep screaming. These kinds of symptoms are seen in distemper patients.
Convalescent Stage
After this stage if the dog survives the severe seizure attacks and has good immunity it will become extremely weak and recumbent unable to walk or move. It will stop eating completely. In the neurological stage even if the fits stop the body’s jerking movements and twitching (chorea) will persist. The pads on the dog’s forelimbs and hindlimbs will harden and you’ll feel this hardness when you touch them. This is seen in the convalescent stage.
Prognosis and Recovery
If a dog survives up to this stage, there’s a higher chance it might survive but there’s no guarantee it will fully recover. Once the neurons are damaged they don’t heal. That’s why distemper patients don’t fully recover. Some dogs can’t even stand while others may stand but won’t walk properly and will have lifelong jerking movements. So keep this in mind complete recovery doesn’t happen in distemper patients.
Treatment Options
If the dog survives this stage it won’t survive on its own it will need treatment. If you don’t treat it 90% of dogs won’t survive and will die. If you recognize that your dog has distempe and your vet has diagnosed it the next question is how to treat it. Basically there is no cure. If you take your dog to any clinic or hospital the doctor will immediately say it’s distemper and the dog won’t survive advising you to take it home. This is a common response from vets because they know there’s no real cure.
There are some possible treatment options you can discuss with your vet but there’s no guarantee they’ll work for your dog. We don’t know but we have to try. There are two basic treatment options: conventional allopathy and alternative therapy.
Conventional Allopathy
In conventional allopathy our main target is to stabilize the dog. If the dog isn’t eating is very recumbent and can’t walk we need to stabilize it. If it doesn’t eat how will it survive? To maintain nutrition drip therapy is very important just like we use it for parvo patients. But I recommend consulting your vet about which fluid therapy to use and how much to give. Don’t do it on your own because vets are vets and you’re not a vet you’re a pet parent. Stay in touch with a good vet in your area and follow their guidance.
There are some medicines like antibodies called Canine Distemper Serum manufactured by Republic and imported to India. It’s expensive costing around 3800+ per vial so it’s not very affordable. Plus we don’t know how many vials will be needed or if it will work. I recommend that if you have the money and want to try this shot approach your vet as it’s only available through them. This can help boost immunity. Apart from this, drip therapy is the mainstay of allopathic treatment.
Alternative Therapy
In alternative therapy we’ll talk about homeopathy and Ayurveda. In homeopathy there’s a medicine called Distemperinum 200 dilution,which you can get from the market and use as a supportive therapy. It will definitely help to some extent. In Ayurveda there are some important oils and ingredients with antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties that play a supportive role. These can definitely help your dog.
