Sad news of Puppies with Distemper

We ended 2024 on such a high with the completion of the recent fundraiser, however, we are starting 2025 with a challenging, worrying situation. We have another Distemper outbreak.
We are not sure how it got into the Sanctuary as we test every new rescue for Distemper before they come in, but the tests can only detect the virus if the viral load is high enough.

Finn, male

Distemper, being a viral disease, has no cure. The only way to overcome it is if the immune system can fight it off. All our dogs are vaccinated against Distemper, but the vaccination does not always prevent the disease. If a dog is vaccinated when its immune system is compromised, it often won't build up enough immunity.

Rafa

Giselle, female

In some cases, a dog may have just contracted the virus days before, and it doesn't register. We believe this is what happened with the puppies we found in the sack on the side of the road a few weeks ago.
Once a dog contracts the Distemper virus, it can take up to a month for symptoms to show, and in this time it can pass it on to other dogs.

Gabriella, female

Sick, old, weak or very young puppies are always vulnerable even if they are vaccinated. Our current Sanctuary is too small to provide adequate isolation areas. Ideally, dogs should be put into a system whereby they have no contact with other dogs until at least 6 weeks after intake. This is what will happen at the new Sanctuary.

By the time we discovered that the puppies had Distemper, they had already been close to other dogs in quarantine. It is also carried on clothing and airborne, it's so difficult to contain. We have given all dogs something called Can Glob D, which is an antibody booster specifically for Distemper, but it's not cheap. We have lost eight puppies already - Garret, Geraldine, Gillian, Gabriel, Rafa, Finn, Giselle and Gabriella. We desperately hope that will be an end to it, but with many other dogs exposed and testing positive, we just have to everything in our power to help them fight this awful disease.