Canine Distemper Virus

Canine distemper virus or CDV is an above ground variety and highly transmissible disease-causing illness that is every so often deadly and can affect the respiratory, urogenital, gastrointestinal, optic nerves, central nervous systems and your dog health as a whole. This communicable disease usually affects dog of all ages worldwide. However the degree of severity is more dangerous in young puppies compared to a non-immunized adult dogs.

Dog distemper is a dog health problem which is strongly associated to human measles because the virus that generates canine distemper belongs to the same paramyxovirus group where human measles virus is a member. Thus, if a person has vaccine and is immune to measles then they will also have imperceptibility to canine distemper. In spite of this, there is an account that humans can conceivably be infected with dog distemper virus but will unveil no signs or warnings at all.

Symptoms of canine distemper are on case to case basis depending on your dog health. Early signs include high fever, loss of appetite because of tonsils and lymph nodes problem. Because of this the dog will drastically loss weight and will eventually becomes very weak. The virus will attack the lungs and respiratory tract so dogs will develop persistent cough. Severe diarrhea with bloody traces is the manifestation of intestinal inflammation.

This disease that attacks dogs has a 50% mortality rate and most of the dogs die by the third week because of neurological complications. In selected cases, the dog's protective mechanisms generate antibodies in this period, and subsequently beat the infection. However the virus is not completely gone and it actually remains in the brain which can be activated anytime. This if often times referred to as “Old Dog Encephalitis”. It should be noted also that virus can survive and in fact loves cold temperature and is more pervasive during winter and fall season. However they only remain dormant on warm weather.

It is important that puppies should receive colostrums from their mother to strengthen their immune system in order to battle not only distemper virus but all forms of dog health problems. New and tested vaccines are now available to protect your dog health from canine distemper virus. Veterinarians strongly advised that your dog should be vaccinated at an early age and lessens contact with other animals and avoid exposure to other places. Proper sanitation is encouraged as a best form of prevention.