September 26, 2023 • 9 mins
The Dog Professor, Robb Lust from The Edgefield Animal Care Center is stressing that Distemper is going around and you need to make sure your pets are vaccinated against it, and other nasty viruses, too.
Learn more at www.EdgefieldAnimalCare.com
Learn more at www.EdgefieldAnimalCare.com
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Joining me today is the Dog ProfessorRob Lust from the edge Field to Animal
Care Center. It is a anotherdog professor podcast, How are you sir?
Good? Good? We are movinginto fall, which means a lot
of things that we'll be talking about, I know in future episodes about getting
your household, your dogs, yourfamily with your pets already for being more
(00:20):
inside than outside. But one ofthe things you wanted to address today is
something that in some cases comes fromthe outside, and that is distemper.
Yeah. Distemper is a disease thatyou know, for years and years it
wasn't even thought about. You know, everybody goes and they get as you
should, get their pets vaccinated,and they hear about all the different viruses
(00:44):
that they're animals being vaccinated for,but a lot of times they don't pay
attention to what those actual viruses arebecause they haven't encountered it. They haven't
heard of anybody who's encountered it,because those vaccinations have been affected for a
long time. But if anything we'velearned in the past few years, you
never can sit back and just feelcomfortable with that situation. Parvovirus has heard
(01:07):
quite a bit about and distemper hasbeen forgotten about for a while, But
distemper is actually case wise back onthe rise, especially in Ohio. We
distemper is something that's carried by wildlifea lot in Ohio. Foxes, raccoons,
(01:30):
skunks very common, probably more commonin those animals than rabies. You
know, we just kind of chalkit up. We see a raccoon that's
acting weird and he's sick out thereand things like that, and we just
kind of chalk it up to rabies. But but distemper is actually a little
bit more prevalent than that. Distemperin dogs is very it's I mean it's
(01:53):
it's pretty fatal once once they getit. Wow, it starts off symptoms
wise, they start to get pussyeyes, you know, very lethargic,
loss of appetite, nasal discharge,all that stuff. And the disease works
in kind of two stages when they'refirst exposed, that's what that's what they'll
(02:15):
start to develop. Within three tosix days, they'll start to develop those
symptoms, and then it can developinto what they call hard pads or hypocaratosis
of their their nose and their padsof their feet where they get real hard
and they start to swell and dryout. Then then it'll move to the
secondary bacterial infection of things where theystart to get head tilt, seizure,
(02:40):
paralysis, and then pretty much,you know, unless they're lucky, pretty
much death after that. Wow,there really is no cure for it.
Basically, if a dog contracts it, the most we can do a lot
of times is just trying to givesupportive care, hydration, sometimes antbiotics,
things like that, but it's ait's a it's a pretty bad scenario.
(03:07):
Probably the most susceptible class of dogsare young puppies under four months of age
that might be in between vaccine protocols. Sometimes they're finding a little bit of
a genetic lineage to it where ifit came from you know, if you're
(03:27):
in a genetic line and these dogshave had distemper before or or or susceptible
to distemper, that's genetically passed downin the line. But it's usually unvaccinated
dogs and puppies, especially dogs thatspend a lot of time outside. And
one thing, one other carrier thatpeople don't think about are ferrets. Okay,
(03:51):
Ferrets are very susceptible to distemper,and a lot of people don't think
about vaccinating their ferrets for distemper,so it's important to look into that also
as you go along when you're gettingthat ferret vaccinate along with your dogs,
cats, especially if they're all livingin the same household in that case.
But usually the best treatment is prevention. In this case, like we've talked
(04:15):
about before, and I know,you know, times are hard and people
are looking to save money here andthere. It's happening to everybody, and
and you know, when it comestime for your pet care, you know,
that's that's a place where people reallystart to think about saving some money
here or there. So they seea vaccine in the fridge at a store
or you know, they're ordering offlineor whatever, and decide they're going to
(04:40):
do it themselves and to save somemoney. And look where we've all been
there and it is what it is. But one thing you need to know
in cases like that is from themoment the vaccine leaves the factory to the
moment it's at the point of purchase, what was the treatment of that vaccine
during that trip? Okay, wasit sitting in a truck in a parking
(05:01):
lot, in Arizona under the ninetydegree heat and not being refrigerated, and
then now it's at the store andthey refrigerated, which basically just wipes out
the vats. The effectiveness of thevaccine. How was it kept in that
case? So, long story short, not saying those those those places where
you can just go walk in andbuy it or ordered online, not saying
that those places do that, butthey're not really responsible for chain of custody
(05:26):
a lot of times in cases likethat, So veterinarians usually have the quickest,
the most effective chain of custody whenit comes to vaccine as far as
freshness, effectiveness and everything like that. So, long story short, even
though it might be a little bitmore money, you can pretty much count
on your veterinarians vaccine to be alot more effective in cases like that.
(05:50):
So basically what it comes down tois you have a puppy, make sure
your puppy is vaccinated, and thenkeep an eye on who they are engaging
with when they're outdoors. Right,you know, we go out, you
know, we go out in publica lot and we see you know,
we've talked about this before, breweriesand stuff like that, and we see
I see puppies that I know havenot been through a full vaccination routine.
(06:15):
You know, full vaccination routine usuallystarts at six weeks and goes every three
weeks. They get a vaccine untilthey're about four months of age, or
through until they're through the series ofthree or four vaccines according to what their
veterinarian's recommendations are. And like we'vesaid before, we do that because there
are times that they're that vaccine's effectivenesswears off in that period, or their
(06:39):
mother's immunity wears off in that periodthat so we're trying to hit and build
that immunity as we go. So, yeah, it's important to keep that
in mind. I know everyone wantsto rush and they want to get their
their pup out to get it associalized as possible in cases like that,
but you maybe it maybe have socialinteractions with something that you really don't want
(07:01):
it to right, especially some ofthese viruses that can hang out in the
soil, hang out in the air, and all it takes is your pup
being down on his vaccine load orimmunity load at that point in time,
goes through the spot that a skunkhad gone through. Or a fox had
(07:23):
gone through the night before and sneezed, and now here we are with distemper,
and it's a bad, bad wayto go. So it's important to
stick with your routine. Talk toyour veterinarian, stay with the schedule as
much as you can. Now Iunderstand, and I think pretty much,
pretty sure everybody in the world understandsnow that a vaccine is not a end
(07:47):
all, beat all when it comesto protect him for the disease. But
in the case with these vaccines we'veused for years for these diseases, distemper,
parvo, leptospirosis, pair of influenza, all of those things that you
get your pet vaccinated for and havefor years. These vaccines are very very
effective and have continued to be veryvery effective. So listen to your vet,
(08:09):
stay with the schedule, start itas soon as you get your pup
and getting vaccinated, and follow throughand keep up that schedule every year.
Good stuff. Hopefully everything works out. Now, if somebody needs to see
the vets, they can certainly giveyou, guys a call at the Edgefield
Animal Care Center. Sure. EdgefieldAnimal Care is a full service pet care
(08:30):
facility where a full service veterinary hospital, boarding, grooming, training, anything
you need. You can get onlineand find out all about us at Edgefield
Animalcare dot com. You can listento all the past episodes of the Dog
Professor podcasts. Anything you need EdgefieldAnimalcare dot com. Good stuff, And
if you're new to the Dog Professorpodcast, make sure you hit follow right
(08:50):
there. Where you get the podcast, whether it be on the iHeart app
or any of the other places,it's there, and when we post a
new one, you'll get a notificationright on your phone. Remember we have
one hundred and ten past episodes.Almost all of them are fairly evergreen.
You can go in and find aparticular topic that is going on in your
household and you can solve that problemthanks to the Dog Professor
Joining me today is the Dog ProfessorRob Lust from the edge Field to Animal
Care Center. It is a anotherdog professor podcast, How are you sir?
Good? Good? We are movinginto fall, which means a lot
of things that we'll be talking about, I know in future episodes about getting
your household, your dogs, yourfamily with your pets already for being more
(00:20):
inside than outside. But one ofthe things you wanted to address today is
something that in some cases comes fromthe outside, and that is distemper.
Yeah. Distemper is a disease thatyou know, for years and years it
wasn't even thought about. You know, everybody goes and they get as you
should, get their pets vaccinated,and they hear about all the different viruses
(00:44):
that they're animals being vaccinated for,but a lot of times they don't pay
attention to what those actual viruses arebecause they haven't encountered it. They haven't
heard of anybody who's encountered it,because those vaccinations have been affected for a
long time. But if anything we'velearned in the past few years, you
never can sit back and just feelcomfortable with that situation. Parvovirus has heard
(01:07):
quite a bit about and distemper hasbeen forgotten about for a while, But
distemper is actually case wise back onthe rise, especially in Ohio. We
distemper is something that's carried by wildlifea lot in Ohio. Foxes, raccoons,
(01:30):
skunks very common, probably more commonin those animals than rabies. You
know, we just kind of chalkit up. We see a raccoon that's
acting weird and he's sick out thereand things like that, and we just
kind of chalk it up to rabies. But but distemper is actually a little
bit more prevalent than that. Distemperin dogs is very it's I mean it's
(01:53):
it's pretty fatal once once they getit. Wow, it starts off symptoms
wise, they start to get pussyeyes, you know, very lethargic,
loss of appetite, nasal discharge,all that stuff. And the disease works
in kind of two stages when they'refirst exposed, that's what that's what they'll
(02:15):
start to develop. Within three tosix days, they'll start to develop those
symptoms, and then it can developinto what they call hard pads or hypocaratosis
of their their nose and their padsof their feet where they get real hard
and they start to swell and dryout. Then then it'll move to the
secondary bacterial infection of things where theystart to get head tilt, seizure,
(02:40):
paralysis, and then pretty much,you know, unless they're lucky, pretty
much death after that. Wow,there really is no cure for it.
Basically, if a dog contracts it, the most we can do a lot
of times is just trying to givesupportive care, hydration, sometimes antbiotics,
things like that, but it's ait's a it's a pretty bad scenario.
(03:07):
Probably the most susceptible class of dogsare young puppies under four months of age
that might be in between vaccine protocols. Sometimes they're finding a little bit of
a genetic lineage to it where ifit came from you know, if you're
(03:27):
in a genetic line and these dogshave had distemper before or or or susceptible
to distemper, that's genetically passed downin the line. But it's usually unvaccinated
dogs and puppies, especially dogs thatspend a lot of time outside. And
one thing, one other carrier thatpeople don't think about are ferrets. Okay,
(03:51):
Ferrets are very susceptible to distemper,and a lot of people don't think
about vaccinating their ferrets for distemper,so it's important to look into that also
as you go along when you're gettingthat ferret vaccinate along with your dogs,
cats, especially if they're all livingin the same household in that case.
But usually the best treatment is prevention. In this case, like we've talked
(04:15):
about before, and I know,you know, times are hard and people
are looking to save money here andthere. It's happening to everybody, and
and you know, when it comestime for your pet care, you know,
that's that's a place where people reallystart to think about saving some money
here or there. So they seea vaccine in the fridge at a store
or you know, they're ordering offlineor whatever, and decide they're going to
(04:40):
do it themselves and to save somemoney. And look where we've all been
there and it is what it is. But one thing you need to know
in cases like that is from themoment the vaccine leaves the factory to the
moment it's at the point of purchase, what was the treatment of that vaccine
during that trip? Okay, wasit sitting in a truck in a parking
(05:01):
lot, in Arizona under the ninetydegree heat and not being refrigerated, and
then now it's at the store andthey refrigerated, which basically just wipes out
the vats. The effectiveness of thevaccine. How was it kept in that
case? So, long story short, not saying those those those places where
you can just go walk in andbuy it or ordered online, not saying
that those places do that, butthey're not really responsible for chain of custody
(05:26):
a lot of times in cases likethat, So veterinarians usually have the quickest,
the most effective chain of custody whenit comes to vaccine as far as
freshness, effectiveness and everything like that. So, long story short, even
though it might be a little bitmore money, you can pretty much count
on your veterinarians vaccine to be alot more effective in cases like that.
(05:50):
So basically what it comes down tois you have a puppy, make sure
your puppy is vaccinated, and thenkeep an eye on who they are engaging
with when they're outdoors. Right,you know, we go out, you
know, we go out in publica lot and we see you know,
we've talked about this before, breweriesand stuff like that, and we see
I see puppies that I know havenot been through a full vaccination routine.
(06:15):
You know, full vaccination routine usuallystarts at six weeks and goes every three
weeks. They get a vaccine untilthey're about four months of age, or
through until they're through the series ofthree or four vaccines according to what their
veterinarian's recommendations are. And like we'vesaid before, we do that because there
are times that they're that vaccine's effectivenesswears off in that period, or their
(06:39):
mother's immunity wears off in that periodthat so we're trying to hit and build
that immunity as we go. So, yeah, it's important to keep that
in mind. I know everyone wantsto rush and they want to get their
their pup out to get it associalized as possible in cases like that,
but you maybe it maybe have socialinteractions with something that you really don't want
(07:01):
it to right, especially some ofthese viruses that can hang out in the
soil, hang out in the air, and all it takes is your pup
being down on his vaccine load orimmunity load at that point in time,
goes through the spot that a skunkhad gone through. Or a fox had
(07:23):
gone through the night before and sneezed, and now here we are with distemper,
and it's a bad, bad wayto go. So it's important to
stick with your routine. Talk toyour veterinarian, stay with the schedule as
much as you can. Now Iunderstand, and I think pretty much,
pretty sure everybody in the world understandsnow that a vaccine is not a end
(07:47):
all, beat all when it comesto protect him for the disease. But
in the case with these vaccines we'veused for years for these diseases, distemper,
parvo, leptospirosis, pair of influenza, all of those things that you
get your pet vaccinated for and havefor years. These vaccines are very very
effective and have continued to be veryvery effective. So listen to your vet,
(08:09):
stay with the schedule, start itas soon as you get your pup
and getting vaccinated, and follow throughand keep up that schedule every year.
Good stuff. Hopefully everything works out. Now, if somebody needs to see
the vets, they can certainly giveyou, guys a call at the Edgefield
Animal Care Center. Sure. EdgefieldAnimal Care is a full service pet care
(08:30):
facility where a full service veterinary hospital, boarding, grooming, training, anything
you need. You can get onlineand find out all about us at Edgefield
Animalcare dot com. You can listento all the past episodes of the Dog
Professor podcasts. Anything you need EdgefieldAnimalcare dot com. Good stuff, And
if you're new to the Dog Professorpodcast, make sure you hit follow right
(08:50):
there. Where you get the podcast, whether it be on the iHeart app
or any of the other places,it's there, and when we post a
new one, you'll get a notificationright on your phone. Remember we have
one hundred and ten past episodes.Almost all of them are fairly evergreen.
You can go in and find aparticular topic that is going on in your
household and you can solve that problemthanks to the Dog Professor
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