Canine Distemper

Sometimes people think getting one or two shots is enough, but the problem is that with a forming immune system, a puppy must get multiple shots, usually 4 of them a few weeks apart each, and the last one needs to be done after the puppy is 16 weeks old. If it's not, the likelihood that the pup can retain any kind of immunity is greatly reduced. We see that all the time where I work. People coming in saying "Oh yeah, he got his shots" because they don't want to pay for more, but then we see on the puppy record that the pup only got one or two, when they were very, very young. Sometimes we don't find this out until the pup is almost grown up, and when that happens we do 2 more puppy shots even then, to make sure the dog is protected. I'm sorry your friend's puppy is so sick. The only thing that can be done for him unfortunately is to provide supportive care and somehow keep him eating, or on an IV if he won't. It's going to be dependent on whether the puppy is physically strong enough to live while the virus runs its course. Be warned, too, that this puppy is highly contagious to other dogs and especially other puppies, so keep him away from any others, as well as keep yourselves clean after handling him. Good luck.

I think Distemper is even worse than Parvo. Distemper can invade the respiratory, gastrointestinal, skin, immune and nervous system. Sometimes, after the dog recovers from gastrointestinal and respiratory disease, and the owner thinks the dog is cured, neurological signs appear. This can happen weeks, even months from the first signs of illness. There is no remedy known for Distemper. The disease course depends on the immune response of the infected dog. All you have to do is keep him hydrated and fed, as Shira told you before. I hope the poor dog is strong enough and he will have the power to go through all this suffering. You can find out more about distemper here: http://www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_canine_distempervirus.shtml