The name distemper might be familiar to you, but do you know more precise characteristics of this treacherous viral disease? Let’s take it one by one from the historic roots up to the present day
Canine distemper was brought to Europe from America. It travelled across the ocean to the old continent sometime in the 18th century. It was mainly dogs and minks who started to succumb to this aggressive disease. Records of occurrence of the canine distemper on Czech territory appear after the First World War
Canine distemper has several forms: dermal, nervous, pulmonary and intestinal. In most cases, puppies catch the distemper, but it also transmits to an adult dog quite often. The treatment is usually demanding and very often unsuccessful. Rather than curing the disease, the veterinarians can suppress its symptoms in the long term.
It affects both skin and inner organs
Now, let’s talk about how various forms of distemper manifest themselves. In general, the disease is accompanied by fevers and loss of appetite. Other symptoms are directly connected with a specific form of the disease.
If it manifests on the skin of a dog, the skin will keratinize and crack – on the balls of the paws, for instance. This is probably the least aggressive form of the disease.
When distemper attacks the nervous system of an animal, there are, apart from other things, spasms and seizures that resemble epilepsy. The disease sometimes manifests itself on the nervous system together with its pulmonary or intestinal form.
When the lungs are affected, an inflammation of the air passages develops, which appears like a cold at first, later the phlegm is joined by pus and blood. Further, a cough appears in the animal.
In the intestinal form of distemper, the animal suffers from vomiting, diarrhoea, but sometimes also from congestion. There’s tonsillitis, pharyngitis, inflammation of the stomach and intestines.
How to fight back against the disease
Distemper incubation period is 3 to 7 days. Infection occurs, for instance, when an animal licks an object that was previously licked by an infected animal. Dogs that survive distemper can bear the consequences in the form of damaged teeth, affliction of the joints or, for instance, occasional twitching. The illness does not endanger only dogs by far, but also minks, for example, foxes, wolves or ferrets. The most effective weapon is vaccination, which we should remember already in two-months-old puppies. Afterwards, it is necessary to regularly re-vaccinate during the dog’s life.
Is your dog vaccinated against canine distemper?
Did you know that the domestic cat which is now kept as a pet all over the world, is probably a domesticated form of the wild cat, specifically of its subspecies the African wildcat, European wildcat and Asiatic wildcat?
Apart from regular care for the fur and dog’s teeth we should include also the inspection and cleaning of the eyes and ear inspection in the list of everyday tasks. Even though the cats are rather known for cleanliness, it’s important also for a...
Cat is a perfect tool for hunting. It owes it to the dozens of years of evolution. While in dogs, their physical signs have been emphasised or suppressed, cats got to keep, apart from several exceptions, their main anatomical features unchanged. In...
According to various statistics, the number of cats in our country is increasing. Not only dogs, but also cats belong to increasingly more common pets. So, it can happen to us more often, that we'll meet an abandoned cat in the street and we're...
Some dogs take the arrival of a new family member in a hard way. Previously, we described how to prepare them for this situation already before the baby even arrives home and today, we will take a look at the introduction itself.
It's no longer a strange thing when a municipality sets up a dog park or a dog playground. Due to frequent regulation of off-leash movement of dogs, this should, however, often be obligatory. Do you know how to behave in such places so that you...
Another possible sport at which you can play with your dog and exercise with them at the same time, is the Dog Puller. You can practice it with all the dog breeds, no matter the size or age.
Nowadays, cats are increasingly more often becoming members of our households. Cat toilets producers are adapting to this trend as well. They can provide cats with a greater comfort in their daily need. From the perspective of the owners, the producers...
Vacation time is finally here and many of us are planning where they will be headed this year. If you decide to go for an adventure by car and to take your dog friend with you as well, a bit of advice might come in handy on how to provide safety for...
Of course that we won’t talk about how to teach a dog the swimming technique. We want to talk about how to teach the dog to get used to water and how to make swimming a positive experience for it. Since not every one of them trusts water and some are...
If you’re planning to bring a new addition home and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a kitten or an adult cat, it is necessary to prepare the flat for it as well. Do you know what will the animal need and what you shouldn’t forget about or how to choose...
No matter how thorough we are with the prevention, a situation might come up when a dog or a cat will get to a poisonous thing, whether it’s by our inattention or it's somebody else’s fault. That’s why it’s not off-topic to prepare yourself for the...
