My Poor Kiara Was Diagnosed With Distemper

Two weeks ago, I was so worried about Maki's health condition when he suddenly got rushes that turned into wounds. I had no idea how he got those as he was on a leash all the time, and the only time he can leave the place was whenver we had to take them out for a walk to do their potty thingy. Perhaps I should write about this one of these days too. Well, to make the long story short, Maki survived and now, he is back to his jolly self again.

During those days, I noticed that Kiara was showing a different symptom. She started sneezing, and there was a bit odd about her too. I thought it was just one of the normal sneezes but last week, it was different. She started showing signs that she got a cough. Although she still eats food normally, she started feeling so distant from the rest of the pack. After several days of planning to visit a vet, I was finally able to go there this afternoon. And the moment the vet saw Kiara, she already suspected that my poor little furry one has distemper.

So what is distemper and how serious this illness is for dogs?

Distemper in dogs is an extremely contagious viral disease that is often fatal. This airborne disease is incurable and can affect multiple organs, including respiratory, gastrointestinal, and even its central nervous systems. Based on my research, adult dogs that are diagnosed with distemper have a 50% chance of survival than puppies who have absolutely no chance at all.

Distemper is very dangerous that any dog can have it, anywhere they go. Since this is airborne, the risk of getting infected is very high. Coughing and sneezing are some of the ways to get infected. Sharing food and water is one of the common scenarios too. Dogs can also get infected through sexual intercourse. Furthermore, the virus can also be transferred to shoes and clothing, which gives more stress to the owners.

There is no cure for distemper. However, you can prevent this from happening by making sure your dog is updated with their vaccines. If you have a puppy, make sure to get your little furry one vaccinated on time. The same goes with adults as they are still prone to get this virus.

To know more about distemper, feel free to visit these links below:

• https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/distemper-in-dogs

• https://pets.webmd.com/dogs/canine-distemper#1

• https://petsrpriority.com/distemper-in-dogs/

Medications

We went to the vet this afternoon and the moment she saw Kiara, she knew right away that it could be distemper. She didn't allow us to get inside their clinic but she still did the test outside. The Canine Distemper Virus Test cost me 650php or $13, and after 10 minutes, the result came in positive.

Since it is incurable, she only prescribed us 5 meds: CO-AMOXICLAV, BRONCURE, POLY NERVE, ASCORBIC ACID + ZINC, and DEXTROSE POWDER. I have 4/5 meds since POLY NERVE is out of stock in all pharmacies here. I guess I need to ask my cousin's wife to buy it for me as she works in the city.

These meds are just to boost her immune system so she can fight back against this virus. So far, she still eats normally, but I pray that she will really survive this and none of my other fur babies will experience this too.

Oh, and after 2 weeks, I will have to send all furbabies to the vet so they too would get vaccinated. They all need to be vaccinated just to keep them all safe from any canine health problems. Yes, it's going to cost me a lot but their health is more important than anything else. Now that we have the pet clinic here, there's no reason to skip their monthly, quarterly, or yearly vaccinations.

Challenges

Since this is extremely contagious, I am so worried about my other furbabies here. I have 2 in the same house as the others are staying in my soon-to-be house. Those are safe I guess but not Kiah, especially Maki.

Kiah was vaccinated with distemper when she was a pup. She completed her vaccines for 3-4 years until we came here to my province where a pet clinic was a rare sight. Although we have now the pet clinic here, these past 3 years, Kiah and the rest haven't had vaccinated yet ever, except for the anti-rabies.

Now, the challenge is how to keep Kiah and Maki safe. What I'm doing right now is I put Kiara inside my room. She is not allowed to leave the room without me. I also now put Maki on a leash again just to make sure he won't get near to my room. As for Kiah, I plan to keep her in one of the rooms whenever I need to take Kiara out to pee.

I also need to make sure the house is clean and well-disinfected. So this afternoon, instead of going out with the family, I chose to stay to clean the house and mop the floor with chlorine and Zonrox for 3x. So tomorrow morning, I'm going to mop the floor again and will continue this routine until she and the rest are safe.

Another problem is Kiah. She always sleeps next to me and now, she can't stay in my room for weeks. Earlier, she wanted to cuddle, but I chose not to get closer to her because I was with Kiara and it's not safe yet unless I took a bath.

Closing thoughts

When I heard the vet say the word distemper, I almost shed tears but, of course, I needed to be strong for her. I'm so worried about her condition, but I believe we can get through this as long as she takes her meds on time. I also need to make sure she is isolated so that the others won't get infected.

Moreover, not having mom around is making this whole thing very complicated coz it means that I need to do all these things alone. I can't rely on my sister coz she's not really into dogs, and she has kids to attend to. Nevertheless, I will do my best to keep all furbabies safe.

However, I kind of blame myself for this. I got so busy online, especially on Discord that I forgot to monitor them. I knew she's sick but I wasn't really paying attention to her health and now, she's the one who's suffering big time. Lesson learned: it's better to be paranoid than assume that everything is normal.