Disease in dogs - signs, symptoms, treatment

Plague - a viral disease that is deadly. It is expressed in fever, dysfunction of the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory organs, damage to the skin and mucous membranes. Often leads to severe forms of encephalitis or meningitis.

The disease is known to dog breeders from the times when dogs were domesticated. Even in the scientific works of Aristotle the distemper was described as a sore throat. On the territory of Russia, for the first time, the disease manifested itself in the Crimea, it happened in 1762, which formed the basis for the name Crimean Disease. At the very beginning of the twentieth century, a scientist from France, Carré, confirmed that the disease is viral in nature.

Factors and characteristics of the virus

The causative agent of the disease is a virus belonging to the extensive family of paramyxoviruses. Once in the environment, the plague virus loses its resistance.His activity is lost after a week or a little more when he is in the feces or mucus from the nose of the animals.

Being chilled or withered, the virus can save livelihoods for several months. More than a year the function is preserved when the virus is lyophilized. At 100 degrees of heat, the virus instantly collapses, and only half an hour is required for the virus to disintegrate if heated to 60 degrees.

Environmental factors and substances for disinfection can quickly deactivate the pathogen: UV rays and 1% solution of Lysol - in half an hour, light of the sun or formalin solution - within two to three hours;

In the form of an epidemic in various animals, the disease is present throughout the world. Foxes, wolves, bears, Ussuri raccoons, foxes and weasels are distinguished by their high susceptibility to the virus.

The antibodies produced by an individual born from a mother that are in milk can form passive-type immunity in puppies, no more than two weeks old. But this does not happen in every case. In animals that have successfully transferred the distemper, the immunity is fixed for a long time, but does not possess sterility and is not always acquired for the entire period of life.

Fact! Even animals that have been immunized can lose resistance to the causative agent of the disease, suffering prolonged stress, contact with an animal with an open form of the disease or immunosuppression.

In most cases, the distemper in a generalized form is observed in dogs that have not been vaccinated. In particular, this is true for puppies aged 8-16 weeks, if their colostral immunity, obtained with maternal colostrum, is violated.

Dogs of short-faced breeds suffer from discomfort less often in comparison with long-long breeds. In its various forms, almost every dog ​​is sick with distemper, but it usually happens at a young age.

Ways of transmission and infection

The main factors determining the transmission of the pathogen between animals are hygiene and care products that have been infected, clothes, blood-sucking insects, birds, food and rodents.In addition, the latter can not only transport the virus mechanically, but also release it into the external environment, without having any symptoms of the disease.

Under natural conditions, the reservoir of the virus is homeless dogs or wild animals. The disease can manifest itself in any season, as an epidemic or sporadically.

Manifestations of the disease

The incubation period (continuing from the time when the pathogen has entered the animal's body, and until the first signs of the disease show up) in dogs, can last from 3 to 21 days. In some cases, the duration of the incubation period is much longer, it can take 2-3 months. In recent years, given the development of the immune system of animals, the clinical picture of the disease has undergone certain changes.

If earlier the disease was expressed vividly, clinically noticeable, accompanied by a significant increase in body temperature and symptoms of intoxication, now an atypical form of the disease or a combination of the disease with other infections is becoming increasingly common.

In the first stages (three to five days), the disease is expressed in conjunctivitis - bilateral, serous.In the morning and in the afternoon, the animal's eyelashes are glued together with purulent secretions of various colors, the dog opens its eyes hard, experiences photophobia. A pet may seek to leave brightly lit rooms, find a shadow, hide under the bed, tables, look for cool areas. In conjunction with conjunctivitis, or somewhat later, there is a copious rhinofei, a dryish cough, which transforms into a wet cough during the week. Nasal effusions cloudy, transparent or green.

Types and course of the disease

The severity of manifestations of the disease determines the conditional division of the distemper into several forms: generalized, intestinal, nervous, skin, or pulmonary.

How a particular form of the disease will develop is primarily determined by how reactive the dog's organism is. Different clinical manifestations (from fever to symptoms of damage to the nervous system) can be caused by the same strain of the pathogen.

The course of the disease can be acute and subacute, fulminant or chronic. Also, there is an abortive form of the disease.

1. The fulminant course of the disease means the almost complete absence of manifestations of the disease, the animal dies within 24 hours.
2. The acute course is accompanied by a rapid rise in temperature up to 41 degrees, this symptom is most pronounced in the evening or at night. The appetite of the animal can be perverted, but in most cases it disappears. The dog is very thirsty. After the development of coma, the puppy or adult dies on the twenty-seventh day of the disease.
3. Sub-acute current is expressed in a significant increase in body temperature, which is fixed for the period from 1 day to 14 days. Subsequently, the fever becomes moderate. In puppies whose age has reached one and a half months, the temperature may rise slightly or remain normal. Fever is accompanied by apathy, sluggish behavior, tremor, fear, lack of appetite, the nose is dry and rough.
4. Pulmonary form. It is expressed in violation of the functions of the respiratory organs: first, the upper respiratory tract is affected, then the lower ones. There is a consistency in the development of symptoms - from rhinitis to pneumonia and bronchitis.
5. Intestinal form.Accompanied by severe violations of the digestive tract, manifested by acute gastroenteritis, loss of appetite, diarrhea or constipation, nausea and vomiting. This can result in rapid dehydration and exhaustion of a pet. The stool contains a large amount of mucus, sometimes blood is mixed with it.
6. The most serious and dangerous form for dogs is the distemper of a nervous nature. In this situation, the forecast is almost always disappointing. This form threatens with deadly complications: meningitis, epilepsy, paralysis, encephalitis, and myelitis. This occurs as a result of the introduction of the pathogen into the cells of the brain and meninges. The clinical picture of complications appears 2-5 weeks after infection.
7. Generalized form. It is the most common: about 90 percent of all animal diseases are caused by plague. It combines the manifestations of all the above forms of the disease.

Skin and nervous forms often occur chronically. Animals that have suffered a distemper may experience muscle cramps, paralysis, loss of vision and hearing, growth of the pupil of the eye, or epilepsy,which are fixed for a long period, often for a lifetime.

Diagnosis of distemper in dogs

The diagnosis is made by a specialist on the basis of anamnesis, changes in the pathoanatomical plan, results of analyzes, and clinical manifestations. The doctor of veterinary medicine will take into account the following parameters:

• damage to the respiratory system;
• inflammatory processes in the mucous organs of the gastrointestinal tract;
• the presence of effusions from the nose and eyes;
• hyperkeratosis of the skin, nose lobes, paw pads and fingers.

The defeat of the central nervous system, accompanied by tremor, epilepsy, paralysis and impaired functioning of the brain.

If the animal has 4-5 described manifestations, then we can safely assume plague. Two of the five signs suggest the presence of the disease, and three - to make a diagnosis.

Disease therapy

It is important that assistance is provided to the animal in a timely manner, the therapy should be comprehensive. If the owner is suspicious, it will be best to call the veterinarian to the apartment.

Therapy includes:

1. Specific treatment (based on the use of immunoglobulins).
2. The use of stimulants and immunity modulators.
3. Iimptomatic treatment: antibiotics are used to suppress the pathological microflora.
4. Antiallergic, vitamin, astringent or cardiac drugs.
5. Drugs acting in a stimulating manner on the functioning of the central nervous system, anticonvulsant substances.

The dog should be kept in a warm, light-free, clean and isolated room, the air in which is moderately humid. It should provide the animal a calm atmosphere and silence.

Also, a specific diet is prescribed, which is based on the age and breed of the dog.

Disease prevention

For vaccination in the territory of the Russian Federation used drugs of domestic production. Also nowadays it is increasingly possible to meet the use of imported vaccines. Injections are used to specifically prevent infection.

Puppies should be vaccinated from the age of 2-3 months, injections are given up to two times a year. Then, after a year, the animal is vaccinated once a year. After grafting it is forbidden to walk an animal, it is placed in a two-week quarantine.Before you vaccinate a pet, you should rid it of worms.

If the animal is sick, in those rooms where it was located, disinfection should be carried out.

Remember! If your pet is sick, first of all you should contact your veterinary doctor. Any independent actions of the owner can result in harm to the dog, which in some situations is fraught with its death.

Video: how to make the dog not die of the distemper