A dog had to be put down on Wednesday last week after contracting the highly contagious virus called distemper.
Residents of Daffodil Crescent in Acaciavale noticed that there was a dog wandering around outside their homes for almost two days. The small dog was still a puppy of a few months old.
Residents noticed that it seemed to be lost, with no owner coming to pick it up. The dog appeared to be sick, as its movements were slow.
“It was just going around in circles, so we suspected something was wrong.”
In addition, a watery substance was oozing out of its nose and even its eyes.
Other dog owners in the street quickly came to the conclusion that the dog was unwell and contacted the Animal Anti-Cruelty League (AACL). They spoke to Annamarie Koen of the AACL and she said she would send out the bylaw enforcement officers from Public Safety.
Quick response by the officers saw the dog being taken out of the area and to the AACL kennels. Annamarie then took the dog to the vet, only to find that the animal had distemper, which is highly contagious.
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The dog had to be put down, as the distemper had affected its entire body and brain, with no possible way of surviving.
Canine distemper is a contagious and serious viral illness with no known cure. In the initial stages of the disease, the major symptoms include high fever, reddened eyes, and a watery discharge from the nose and eyes.
An infected dog will become lethargic and tired.
Persistent coughing, vomiting and diarrhoea may also occur. In the later stages of the disease, the virus starts attacking the other systems of the dog’s body, particularly the nervous system. The brain and spinal cord are affected and the dog may start having fits, seizures, experience paralysis and attacks of hysteria.
The symptoms the dog from Daffodil Crescent experienced were consistent with the above.
The disease can be acquired from improperly attenuated vaccines, though this occurs rather rarely. Bacterial infections of the respiratory or gastrointestinal systems may also increase an animal’s vulnerability to the disease.
Non-immunized dogs that come into any kind of contact with an infected animal carry a particularly high risk of contracting the disease.
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