Canine distemper virus causes severe multi-system disease in unvaccinated dogs and wild carnivores, with vaccination being one of the most impactful individual welfare interventions.
Distemper causes severe multi-system illness with significant suffering from pneumonia, neurological signs including seizures, and the systemic effects of viral infection. Neurological sequelae including seizures and tremors may persist in recovered dogs for life, causing ongoing welfare compromise. Vaccination prevents an extremely unpleasant disease. Wildlife populations can be decimated by distemper spillover from unvaccinated domestic dogs, causing significant welfare harm at population scale.