City Vet offers free consultation for sick fur babies
Due to the current high temperature, aside from rabies, the City Veterinary (CityVet) Office expects fur babies to get frail and sickly; hence, their office is offering a free consultation and diagnosis to prevent chronic diseases and to be immediately treated for their illnesses.
City Veterinarian Dr. Charlemagne S. Calo explained that common diseases of pooches during hot weather are canine distemper for adults and parvovirus for puppies. He said canine distemper is a contagious and serious disease caused by the virus. It attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and nervous systems of dogs resulting in multi-organ dysfunction that may cause fatality due to dehydration.
Calo further elaborated that dogs catch distemper from other dogs or wild animals that are infected with it through having direct contact or by standing near the animal while it is coughing. The same virus was also snapped up by exposure to food bowls or other objects that were contaminated by infected animals. Nonetheless, pooches can survive distemper; however, they may develop lifelong incapacitating nervous system issues.
Similar to distemper, parvovirus is also a highly transmissible ailment caused by an acute gastrointestinal (GI) disorder for puppies where infections affect in puppy’s stomach and intestines resulting in pain and other problems like diarrhea.
Meanwhile, vaccines for canine distemper are unable to completely protect against a disease, nevertheless, providing dogs with the recommended inoculation protocol will greatly reduce the chances of becoming at risk. Survival from a parvo infection, on the other hand, is possible, but still depends on age, size, and depending on the owner’s promptness in giving care to sick doggy.
As an intervention and to lessen the possible disabilities, the CVO is now providing free services to the affected dogs. For the small category, the fur parents or dog owners can go straight to their office on the 2nd floor, city hall, with their pet, while those dogs belong to medium and large groups, owners can inform the said office and wait for the staff downstairs.
Calo made clear that their office can only provide free services but no free medicine. “Libreng serbisyo lang po ang maibibigay ng ating tanggapan at wala tayong libreng gamot,” the city veterinarian said, following the call to all dog owners to avail free anti rabies vaccination whether it has breed or it may Aspin (asong pinoy).