Coping With Canine Distemper

our family would like to share with you about our pup who is still recovering from distemper virus. she is a 4 month old Labrador X Border Colie. Last February of this year 2010 we noticed our pup “bella” having diarrhea almost every time after taking her meals. color of her poop was kinda close to light brown-light orange and it had a foul smell like a rotten fish. At first we thought she just ate something that made her tummy upset. a week after, bella’s appetite decreased, kept on vomiting, she started drooling and had these hiccups from time to time. we decided to bring her to the vet. she was diagnosed with distemper. she lost 750g of her weight. the vet gave her shots and prescribed some antibiotics, vitamins and immune booster tabs. we went home and let bella take her meds religiousy. 2 days after, bella was twitching, had the “chewing gum fit” which also led to seizures, had a hard time standing up and walking. we called our vet again and told him about her seizures. he then prescribed an anticonvulsant drug for bella and observed her for 2 weeks.

the first week was very hard for bella and for us. she was restless due to her seizures. i check her every two hours and gave her meds round the clock. the 2nd week came and we saw some improvements from bella. she was eating and drinking lots of water (i was handfeeding her and give her fluids using a dropper or a syringe). she tries to stand up and walk again. i noticed that her hard footpads were peeling and the greenish discharge from eyes lessened. we went back to the vet and was happy to hear that bella was showing positive signs that she might be able to survive distemper.

bella has been fighting distemper for almost a month now. she still takes her vitamins and antibiotics. she still sleeps a lot ( maybe because she is still recovering).

we hope and pray that she can really survive this illness. we call bella a fighter. call it crazy but we talk to her, encourage her and tell her we love her always. i truly believe that meds alone could not help our pet survive and recover from their sickness. we should also let our pet feel the love, care and concern that we have for them.