Serum

What is serum?

The legendary serum injected into "Zhou Dog" refers to immune serum, also known as antiserum, which contains a variety of antibody components (also known as polyclonal antibodies). antibody, PAb) serum preparations. When these immune serum (or cellular immune preparations, etc.) containing specific antibodies are injected into animals, the body can immediately acquire specific immunity and exert its anti-infection effect in a timely manner. This serum is mainly used to treat diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses and their products.

What is the use of serum?

In the case of some infectious disease outbreaks, the maternal antibodies (natural passive immunity) in young animals are not enough to resist the invasion of foreign pathogenic microorganisms. In order to ensure that they can If they survive healthy, veterinarians usually inject them with immune serum for emergency prevention (artificial passive immunity). When treating some severe infectious diseases, such as canine distemper, immune serum will also be used as an auxiliary treatment to resist the harm of other pathogens.

Of course, without fully understanding the physical condition of young cats and dogs, veterinarians will recommend injecting immune serum into pets to temporarily alleviate the intrusion of unknown pathogens, and then follow the immunization program to immunize them within a specific time ( vaccine). Therefore, technically speaking, it is possible to inject immune serum into cats and dogs to mask the symptoms of the disease. In fact, it is not wrong to inject serum into young cats and dogs, but the key lies in the quality of the serum.

Measuring the quality of immune serum for injection usually includes two factors: antibody content and the source of the serum. There are two sources of serum, homologous serum and heterologous serum. Antibodies from homologous serum are effective and have a half-life of up to 3 weeks, while antibodies from heterologous serum have a half-life of only 4-6 days, and there is a possibility of serum sickness when using heterologous serum.

Since the current legal system in China's pet market is not yet complete and there are certain loopholes in management, it is difficult to guarantee that all serums sold on the market are homologous serums. In addition, there are also problems such as inconsistent antibody content standards and uneven quality, which makes some cheap immune sera have limited antibody content and specificity. It is difficult to completely eliminate all pathogenic microorganisms and their toxins released in the blood, and the therapeutic effect is relatively low. Difference.

Injecting such serum can only relieve clinical symptoms to a certain extent. After just a few days, when these antibody components are exhausted in the fight, there is nothing left to compete with the pathogenic microorganisms and their toxins, and cats and dogs will show obvious clinical symptoms.

Advice to owners

Technically, using some drugs commonly used in veterinary medicine can indeed improve the condition of cats and dogs in a short period of time and achieve the purpose of concealing the condition. Because most of these veterinary drugs can only temporarily relieve the clinical symptoms of small animals, and there are hidden dangers in drug quality, dosage, etc., young pets often become sick only after they are bought back, and gradually worsen. If the owner does not discover it in time, the condition of the young pet will worsen because it cannot receive effective treatment in time.

Although it seems that it is still difficult to eliminate stray cats and dogs by regulating pet medication and monitoring access to medication, as long as we pay a little attention, we can avoid being deceived.

1. The most fundamental principle is to go to a regular pet market, don’t be greedy for cheap, and don’t give those roadside vendors an opportunity;

2. Carefully observe the overall condition and color of the cat and dog during the transaction;

3. Be sure to pay attention to details, such as whether the pet's natural openings (eyes, ears, mouth, nostrils, anus, etc.) are clean, whether the nose is moist, whether there are needle holes on the body, etc.