Distemper-urgent - Page 1

Hi everyone
I just  got a 12 week old German shepherd 6 days ago. he had 2 sets of shots done. On the 2nd day i had him my friend came over with her puppy. she just called and said her puppy has distemper. I am really worried. Is 2 shots enough to protect him? How long of a time is it before you see signs of the Distemper? Is there anything I can do to build up his immune system? any advise would be great. please help us. thank you. Also I have bleached/water the whole house and threw out his toys.

in my experience, distemper seems to get better coverage by the vaccines than parvo. so that has always been proven around here. had it two times in rescue dogs and mine where always ok. even the young dogs.
still, some believe in it or not, bovine colostrum, powdered has served me well to up my dogs immune system. or go to your local health food store and see. here we have a great one that works with some local vets as well.
best of luck. almost nothing i hate more than distemper.

ok I just looked up bovine colostrum do you know the amount to give for a 23 pound pup? poor pup I keep checking his eyes for discharge and checking his poop for blood. i am so scared.

some breeders only give parvo vaccine in the first injection.  double check to make sure your pup has had two that include distemper vaccine.  i agree with HB (above) that distemper prevention seems to work better, it is also easier to treat than parvo and usually has less damaging/long term effects.  just to be on the safe side, though, you might call your vet as he/she might recommend getting on an antibiotic for added protection.

pjp

i do have his shot records and he did have 2 distemper shots one at 8 weeks the other at 11 weeks. how long before you start to see signs of the disease? some web sites say 3 days others say 7-21 days. so confused. thanks for all the advise.

i was thinking distemper had an incubation of 7 days.  i'd call the vet, if i were you.
good luck.  hope your pup is okay.
pjp

I can understand how worried you must feel! I would definitely call the vet to ask if there is anything that can be done as a precaution. But I think that earlier comments are probably correct as I personally have seen quite a number of cases of parvo in vaccinated puppies, but only one case of distemper in a puppy that had had only the first vaccination. I also believe I have read that while parvo is a tough, long-lived virus, the distemper virus is much more fragile and short-lived in normal environmnets exposed to light and transmission is normally via coughs and sneezes of infected dogs, so infection would not have been very likely unless the puppies were licking eachother. Interesting Ziegenfarm's comments about distemper being easier to treat and having fewer long-term consequences as my vet has always said completely the reverse. He says he can cure 80% parvo cases if they are brought in early, but very few pups recover from distemper and those that do almost invariably have long-term neurological symptoms, tics etc. But in most cases puppies are not brought in until it is too late as people try to treat the early symptoms at home. In your case, if any symptoms do appear the treatment would be immediate and so the chances of a successful outcome would be much higher. I do hope this is a false alarm and that your puppy is fine. How is your friend's pup doing?

distemper generally will not occur in puppies with even one vaccine I would not panic,I doubt he will get it, call you vet and tell them whats going on though

http://hauspharao.com/health/sid.html

I hope things work out.
Thats all I'll say.

Moons.