Canine distemper is a viral infection which can affect many parts of the body – the nervous system, the gastrointestinal system and the respiration. It normally only affects young puppies or unhealthy dogs. It is a widespread disease. However, it can be both prevented and treated by adopting a natural dogs health care policy.
Symptoms of distemper are similar to those of other diseases. The initial symptoms include a loss of appetite, diarrhoea which may be blood stained (indicating bleeding in the intestines), fever, a hot and dry nose, an anxious expression. This can then move onto respiratory symptoms with nose and eye discharge (clear at first then becoming purulent), a moist cough, harsh dry skin and foul smelling diarrhoea. Pneumonia can result.
Eventually, there are nervous system symptoms including muscle twitching, chorea, convulsions, paralysis even paraplegia plus thickening and hardening of the foot pads.
Distemper can be hard to diagnose without a laboratory test. Distemper, a virus, is not treated successfully by the veterinary system. Instead, they focus on the secondary symptoms and prescribe antibiotics, medication to bind up the intestines and perhaps fluid treatment if the diarrhoea continues long enough to create dehydration.
A vaccination, to try to prevent this serious disease, is usually strongly advised. However, vaccinations have many serious side effects themselves, which can be worse than the disease they are trying to prevent. They can also give your dog distemper.
The problems with vaccination are never openly discussed, so most people are unaware of the other side of the story.
And the vaccination causes the virus to mutate to a new and now more virulent disease – in this case parvovirus.
Any and all disease has much less to do with the pathogen (the bacteria, virus, etc), than it has to do with your dog’s immune system. A dog with a healthy immune system will either not contract disease or will contract only a mild disease, from which recovery is swift and sure.
So instead of worrying about diseases, concern yourself with the health of your dog’s immune system. That is not only a more effective approach, it is a more economical one, too.
The best approach is through a system of natural dogs health care, where the diet is a quality, natural one and the medical treatment is focused on raising the immune system, not suppressing the symptoms. Homeopathy offers you the best medical system to help your dog through a bout of distemper. It can also provide immunisation against it.
