Coping With Canine Distemper

Before I start my story I want u to know about my family. I have a spouse, two children a son & daughter. We had two pets Rosie (dauchund) who was 17 years old when she passed away middle part of Sep. and Bear (Lab) who was 14 years old when he passed away first of Sep.

We loved them so much and they loved us. They died two weeks apart grieving for each other. We were good pet owners taking them to the veterinarian giving them their annual visits to get vaccinated and giving them their medications. After losing them I felt lost without them so I decided to get another pet two months later.

I got an 8 wk. old chocolate lab named Homer. He was my love and gave me so much love in return. He had gotten his first booster for distemper at 9 weeks. In the mean time a stray dog had come to my house and my neighbors so we feed him and named him (Scout). I felt sorry for Scout so me and my neighbor decided to keep him. I loved himand Homer loved playing with him.

My daughter came home for the weekend from college and brought home her new dog (MEME) she had gotten at a shelter that was going to be put down. Supposely had it shots. I noticed that her dog (MEME) had a cough in which she informed me it was on antibiotics for kennel cough. I told her that it was contagious and to take the dog upstairs because Homer had not had all his shots yet. They only played whith each other about 30 minutes. Scout played with Meme about 10 minutes. My daughter (Natalee) left back to college on Sun.

On Friday she called to let me know her dog (MEME) who she loved so much had died from distemper not kennel cough. They have similar symptoms. A week later My Scout died from distemper and then My Homer died 1 weeklater. We were all so devasated . I did not know how deadly distemper was. In fact I tell everybody now to get your dog vaccinated as soon as possible I think u can vacinate as early as 3 weeks.

If u get a new puppy please get him vacinated before u bring him home. U can see how devestatesd we are. Even though I had vaccinated (Homer) it takes 2 weeks for the vaccine to work so he was exposed to(MEME) before the vaccine had time to enter his blood stream. I hope whoever reads this understands how important is to vaccinate your pet. So before i end my story all i can say is PLEASE VACCINATE YOUR PETS WHEN YOU GET THEM ! Ido not want anybody to go through the nitemare we went through. Thanks to all who took the time to read my story.