Canine Distemper

An Overview for Pet Owners.

- Riyaz Ahmed Bhat, Shahnawaz Ahmad Bhat, Neha Sharma and Irfan Ali Shah

Canine distemper is a highly contagious, systemic viral disease that affects a wide variety of animals, including domestic and wild species of dogs. It was previously believed that animals in the family felidae, including many species of large cats as well as domestic cats, were resistant to canine distemper, until some researchers reported the prevalence of CDV infection in large felids, but now it is known that both large cats as well as domestic cats can be infected by keeping them with dogs in close housing and/or sometimes through blood transfusion from infected cats, but such infections appear to be self-limiting and usually without showing clinical symptoms.

Etiology