[aabella]

We adopted a 10 week old puppy. He is really playful, eats well, doesn't have diahrrea....but he has a snotty, runny nose and is sneezing. The vet said he had distemper and gave him an antibiotic...which we have been giving him. He did have a lot of congestion and would "snore" when he was asleep. He did have a lot of mucus (greenish) coming out of his nose when he went to the vet, too....now it is a brownish color and not thick... His demeanor has not changed...he is still really playful, eating well and no diahrrea....could he REALLY have distemper? Or what else could this be?

[Daveyo]

There are two symptoms that are closely related to Canine Distemper. Respiratory Herpes, Kennel Cough.

Primary number one you need to do right now is determine officially if the dog has Distemper or not.

An additional very good test and the MOST RELIABLE test to confirm distemper, do a brush border slide of the bladder transitional epithelium. Stain with Dif-Quick. About 90% of the bladder cells will be positive for inclusions in the early stages of distemper.

Any Qualified medical person can tell you how to get cells from the bladder. Urinary catheter. Empty bladder flush with saline and collect some of the last saline. Spin down the saline and remove the cells. Place on slide and dry stain with diff-quick. Very common stain used by most medics or lab people who use medical microscopy. Everyone? I should hope so. Very fast, very cheap, very accurate for Dx of distemper. If NEGATIVE> then either kennel cough or respiratory Herpes. So be advise to call your VET to see if they can do this procedure and if not ask the VET if they know of anyone in the medical field who can do it, or hit the web or phone books and locate someone who can do this for you as quickly as you can and do not waste time on it. Make it your priority.

This test says it all. If postitive, then you must move quickly and find yourself some NDV and give it to the dog via a blood vein injection. Cure is between 12-48 hours. I would not wait because Distemper is a very bad virus and disease.

If negative, then it is something else, and respiratory Herpes can also be cured of this disease using NDV much faster than antibiotics.

Keep in mind you can only use NDV ONCE in the body so use it ONLY if it has Distemper. Respiratory Herpes can be cured by antibiotics and it takes longer, but the dogs do survive it. It is Distemper that is extremely very dangerous to dogs, along with Parvo. Parvo can be cured using antibiotics and fluids and Tamiflu. If the dog gets both Distemper and Parvo at the same time - Mortality is 100%. Absolute a death sentence.

So follow my instructions and do that test most importantly. You don't want to play games with Distemper. Hope it is negative, and if it is positive then move quickly to stop the disease as fast as you can. Time is most important against Distemper. The sooner you stop it the less problems and after effects of the disease.

Once you do this and if your lucky it is not Distemper get the dog cured of the other diseases as soon as possible. THEN VACCINATE THEM ONCE THEY ARE HEALTHY. Do not vaccinate if sick.

Good luck.