DISTEMPER OUTBREAK

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30979, 8 February 1966, Page 16

DISTEMPER OUTBREAK

Veterinarians’

Warning Five dogs in the Bryndwr district had to be destroyed last Saturday when it was discovered that they were in an advanced stage of distemper. Some Christchurch veterinarians fear the disease will spread unless owners immediately have their animals inoculated.

The manager of the home run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Mr' L. Wade) said that all five dogs which had been destroyed were too ill to be saved. He said the main symotoms of the disease were listlessness and running eyes. One Christchurch veterinary surgeon said yesb .’day, that there had been a minor epidemic of the disease in Christchurch for more than a month. He had treated an average of about two dogs a day f rom a large number of districts.

Dog owners should be on the watch for the first signs of suspicious symptoms. “Vaccination is the only satisfactory answer to the disease,” he said. “It is very easily prevented, but difficult to cure.”

Mr C. E. Steer, supervisor of the City Council’s vehicle testing station in Lichfield street, will retire on April 1. He has been in the employ of the council for 25 years.