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.

Dog Health 101: Why Dog Lovers Need to Vaccinate their Pets

Oftentimes, pet owners have this doubt about dog vaccination. They pity them, especially newborn puppies whenever getting their vaccinations. That is why, questions like, “How often do we need to let our dogs have their injections?', or “why do we need to vaccinate them?”, or for dog lovers who cannot withstand the pity cries of their pets ask themselves first, “to vaccinate or not to vaccinate?” Those are just some of the baffling questions most dog owners always ask themselves. But do they know the importance of vaccination?

Talking about dog health, vaccinations are antigenic preparations used to boost immune system and in so doing, establish immunity to various illnesses. These are given to prevent your dogs from acquiring malefic diseases and are designed to stimulate your pet's immune system, bolstering it to bring out antibodies to battle all kinds of harmful or deadly viruses or bacteria. Today the widespread of harmful zonotic diseases or diseases from animals to humans is one of our major health problems. With this we resort to the fundamental and most effective form of prevention, that is, vaccination both to humans and our pets. Since most of the dog lovers usually interact with their pet, vaccination uphold the dog health and/or public health.

If you want to make your dog’s life easier and less painful, you can also choose to administer what they called multivalent vaccine. The basic principle is a single injection for multiple defensive actions. One of the most common multivalent vaccines is DHPPiL for dogs or referred to as 5 in 1 vaccine. This stands for the 5 common dog diseases namely distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, para-influenza and leptospirosis. However, vaccines can only last for 6 months or a year so annual re-vaccinations are suggested to keep your dog healthy. We just have to relate the need for regular shots for our dogs to newborn babies. Babies, still don't have a strong immune system that is why they need to have their monthly immunizations. Same as with our pets, we need to keep them away from viruses that may cause their unwanted sickness or even untimely death.

Dog vaccination helps protect your dog from diseases and your pet can develop strong immunity thus making vaccination a vital factor of your dog health care. Nevertheless, engaging your pets to 'annual vaccinations' needs to be consulted from veterinarians. It is important that you know what and how often to give your dog a vaccination, for his total safety. You should continue vaccinating you dog as per advice of your vets or by the requirement of local laws. As dog lovers, you should take full responsibility to make your dog as healthy as he can be. Prevention is always one step ahead than cure.

Dog Lovers Guide to Dog Vaccination

A certified dog lover must not only be concerned about how his pet dog would bring fun and entertainment to the household but a certified dog lover must also seek for the dog health and welfare. To do this, a complete and regular vaccine shot is needed for protection against possible diseases.

Dog vaccination does not only develop the well being of the dog but most importantly the overall well being of your household and the community. Prevention is better than cure has always been the rule. You wouldn't imagine how adverse and disastrous a rabid dog would cause and the contagious dreadful infections it carries may become alarming.

Dog vaccination has been found to be the preventive method. Remember that there is no proven cure for the disease only preventive measures. Thus to some countries were there are prone cases of rabies , government had imposed a law requiring core vaccination, not only to rabies but as well as dog diseases such as canine distemper, canine parvovirus, canine hepatitis serovars and leptospirosis. The vaccine being administered contain viruses and bacteria. Normally it may cause diseases but in this case, they have been chemically altered so that they won't bring any harm to your beloved pets. After vaccinated, your pets immune system develops antibodies that combats the virus and bacteria during exposure. Thus, prevent the disease and strengthens dog's health.

You may asked as to what age does vaccination must be applied how frequently. The answer is as soon as the puppy is weaned from the protection of a mother's milk. The mothers milk called the colostrum contains antibodies that serves as the primary protective agent for the nursing young. The antibodies are stored in the blood but its effect is temporary up until the puppy can be able to produce his own antibodies to keep it more effective and long lasting vaccine shots are needed. How often? Consequently, puppies are given a series of vaccinations until they reach 16 weeks of age. By vaccinating more frequently, later doses will continue to stimulate the pet’s generation of its own disease-fighting antibodies.

This protection from dog vaccination however has not come without side effects. Adverse reactions may occur in the appearances of ulcers, scabs, darkening of the skin, lumps with scarring with hair loss nearing or surrounding areas where the vaccine is administered. Fever may occur afterwards. To treat this a pentoxyfylline may be given to eased the inflammation. Future vaccinations where reactions arises must be reduce or avoided to the extent medically and legally possible. Dog Vaccinations are necessary but a dog lover must also take note the appropriateness of the type of vaccination to be administered so as to avoid further damage to the dog health. Consultation and supervision of a veterinarian is your best advantage.