By Guest
Date 14.06.04 03:10 UTC
I will make this as brief as I can! I have had dogs all my life. I have a 7 yr old pit terrier mix female, a 1yr old pit lab mix male, and rescued another baby as my lab pit mix is becoming too much for my terrier mix. Our new addition had kennel cough when we brought him home. He exposed the other two and it took them almost a month to get over it. I was just overwhelmed, felt so sorry as I didn't think the others would catch it being up to date on all vaccines. The puppy is a Lab Shar Pie mix, he was 3mos when I brought him home. He was so sick with the kennel cough, I (along with my husband) had been back and fourth to the vet several times for stronger antibiotic meds, more antibiotic shots etc. When it got to the point I was force feeding the puppy I took him back to the vet and insisted he do something!!! He ran blood work for Distemper and said (His white cell blood count was up high) and he showed signs of distemper? He had the runny nose real bad, not too much of the bad coughing, just trying to cough up the flem, no runny eyes. But did lose his appetite, didn't always keep his food down due to trying to cough up that nasty flem.
I have done a lot of research and read up on the effects of distemper and its effects later in life.
My question is this. Is it at all possible that this was just a very bad case of kennel cough (a very bad cold), or if it really was distemper, and I pray to God it was not. Because my concerns now are this. I have had so many different breeds of dogs through out my life. AKC's all the way down the line. I have never had a Shar Pie! He is now 5mos, he is still coughing some of this mess up, not often but at least it's getting out. I am so concerned because he will be playing with my other male (whom became his bud for life) and all the sudden he will just dart off and run around the yard as though he's looking for someone, I could be watering the yard (his favorite thing to play in) and he will run right under the water as though it's not their. I feel awful, it's as though he's lost looking for someone or something. I did notice from time to time as he's running, he will run his nose along the grass and continues running, and then he'll do that again. He bit me pretty good one afternoon while weed eating, he did not like the weed eater and as I told him no (as he lunged at it) he took a running jump and bit me in the thigh. That was a first ever from a dog I have ever owned. At times (NOT OFTEN) he gets pretty aggressive towards my lab pit mix KoKo, KoKo is the sweetest dog you could ever meet, he took this little guy under his wing as though he was the Daddy. Also a question on teeth? I would hate to think this might ever be a problem, but I hear his teeth clank?? at times when he licks, as though something is out of alignment. I hope it's not an over or under bite as I have read different things on this issue.
Please help me in this issue as I am not sure about what this might be, as I said, I am praying to God it's not some side effect "If" he really did have distemper.
I've tried to research his breeds and know from owing AKC labs, this behavior is not one of their traits, this running around? I'm thinking with his big lips ha! And the wrinkles under his mouth, perhaps it's not Shar Pie? Maybe it's a mix of a breed from one of the Hound breeds?
PLEASE HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
okay, first of all, if you have taken your pup to the vet to get antibiotics for the "kennel cough", i would think he'd recognize it if he had distemper. if you really think your pup has distemper, you ought to be taking it to the vet ASAP. distemper is a pretty serious illness to be "not sure about".
also, a side effect of distemper is not a bad temperment, as you were wondering. your dog is not aggressive acting to the other dog because of distemper. when i was a kid, my mom had a puppy that got distemper from the shelter he was in. after barely making it through the illness, he turned out to be a wonderful dog with no temper problems.
if i were you, and worried about sickness, i would take your pup to a vet soon and find out.
as for the aggressiveness, i would irradicate that right away, if posible. it is not okay for the puppy to bite your thigh.......what did you do when this happened? my dog would have been scolded pretty seriously. you want to make sure he knows that is not acceptable behavior.
as for the clicking teeth and overbite concern: ask the vet if he has an overbite.
it could be just when he is biting (playfully or otherwise) at the other dog, his teeth are just hitting eachother.
but go the vet.
good luck.