Proven Pet Care for Pet Health

If you're like many pet lovers, your life pretty much revolves around your pets. Their happiness and wellbeing is as important as your own, so you provide the best pet care for you pet's health. We offer a wide variety of pet health information and healthy pet care products to keep your pets playful and purrfectly happy. Nothing is better than coming home to wagging tails and purring rubs on your legs! Discover information about adopting a pet, kitten care, pet travel, pet first aid, and compare pet health insurance. Find quality pet supplies from our online pet store.

Canine Distemper Virus 

For many years canine distemper virus was the most feared of the viral diseases affecting dogs.Parvovirus may have surpassed it in this regard but it is still a deadly virus that kills dogs and other members of the canine family. It is also infective to ferrets, mink, weasels and their kin among the Mustelidae family as well as raccoons, pandas and other members of the Procyonidae family. Recently it is believed to be the culprit in the death of a number of African lions.

Canine distemper virus is an RNA virus from the morbillivirus family. In humans, measles is caused by a member of this virus family. Distemper virus is more likely to affect puppies than older dogs. This is probably due immunity acquired through canine distemper virus vaccination or exposure to the virus naturally, leading to immunity. It can affect dogs of any age, though. It causes very variable clinical signs which makes ruling it out in a young sick dog a difficult process. In some dogs a transient fever, perhaps accompanied by a lack of appetite or mild depression may be the only signs of onset of distemper. Other dogs are affected by a systemic illness with nasal and ocular discharges, coughing, fever, depression, lack of appetite, vomiting and diarrhea. It is not uncommon for dogs to have some but not all signs associated with this disease.