What are the differences between feline distemper and canine distemper?

Feline distemper virus is a contagious disease that mainly infects cats, while canine distemper virus mainly infects dogs and canine species. They usually do not infect each other. The feline distemper virus mainly causes gastrointestinal symptoms in cats, while the canine distemper virus mainly causes respiratory symptoms in dogs, occasionally accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms.

What is feline distemper?

Feline distemper, also known as feline panleukopenia or feline infectious enteritis, is an acute, highly contagious disease in cats. It usually mainly infects young cats and cats with incomplete vaccination. After infection, cats mainly show symptoms such as fever, frequent vomiting, watery diarrhea, bloody stools, poor mental and appetite, and a sharp decrease in white blood cells. Pregnant cats infected with feline distemper virus may experience stillbirth, miscarriage, and neurological symptoms in newborn kittens.

What is canine distemper?

Canine distemper, also known as dog distemper, is a malignant infectious disease that is more common in young dogs. Once infected, the mortality rate among young dogs can be as high as 80% to 90%, and they can develop complications such as pneumonia, enteritis, and intussusception. Dogs infected with canine distemper virus may show symptoms such as repeated fever, increased secretions from the eyes and nose, coughing, sneezing, lethargy, poor appetite, and thickening of the pads on their feet. In the later stages of canine distemper virus infection, neurological symptoms may occur.

Precautions

After animals infected with feline and canine distemper recover, attention should be paid to the following points: 1) Thoroughly disinfect the living environment, food utensils, and clothing of the infected animal, as there may be a large amount of virus in the previous living environment. 2) Pay attention to the gastrointestinal health of the infected animal and feed a suitable amount of probiotics to regulate the intestinal tract. 3) Feed a small amount of nutritional paste, eat small meals frequently, and strengthen the animal's nutrition to help it recover faster.