[KIMBERRRR]

Hi. I adopted a puppy from a rescue organization on Monday January 28. He had diarrhea, but the foster person told me she had just switched his food and that was the reason. The next day, it was worse, very watery and he didn't want to eat. By Wednesday, we were worried and called our vet, who had us bring him in immediately. He was dehydrated (they gave him fluids) and sent him home with bland food diet and Albon. The next day, my 7 year old Maltese wouldn't eat, we took her in, they gave her Albon as well and some anti-nausea medications. That night, puppy was extraordinarily lethargic so we rushed him into emergency hours, he was dehydrated again, completely water stools, not eating or drinking. They hospitalized him for two days. When we got him back on Sunday morning, we got him to eat boiled chicken and rice and drink, still watery stools with a few drops of blood in it at the end (vet said this was due to too much straining), but became a happy pup, bounding around (was on Metronidazole and meds to settle his tummy). My older dog began eating and was fine.

This past Wednesday he woke up breathing hard with snot coming out of his nose, took him to the vet, they immediately thought it was distemper They took blood and said they would let us know in three days. He has always had a normal temperature. They put him on Clavamox and he still has the cold symptoms, but only coughs and seems sickly late at night. During the day he is happy bounding pup. He is eating us out of house and home and drinking normally. He has a small amount of discharge coming from his eye (like the amount you get when you wake up with crusty stuff in your eye), and his stools have hardened. He also has a bit of dandruff, but not hardening of the pads and no neurological symptoms. The other puppies in his litter all have the same symptoms and are in the same stage as he is (they halted adoptions when ours got sick). Friday, the vet had me bring him back in to get more blood.

Rescue organization called the shelters that their puppies have come from and been in contact with and there have not been any reports of distemper

Do you think this is truly distemper? Is the blood test going to be accurate (he was given parvo/distemper booster before we adopted him. If he doesn't have distemper and we give him the NDV will it harm him (could I just do it to be on the safe side without making matters worse)? Is the bladder swab test 100% accurate or is there a test that is accurate? What do you think my window is for administering NDV at this point? Any suggestions or help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. We love our little guy and have already thrown $1200 into him at this point, but would be willing to do almost anything to save his life.

Thanks.

[Daveyo]

To Kimberrrrrrr


Listen to me. Please do the bladder smear test and it is as follows: It is 100% accurate. The NDV will not hurt the dog as long as it is given only once to the body and only once to the CSF. Also NDV is not expensive at all.

The very best test for rapidly diagnosing ACUTE distemper is to do what is called a brush border smear of the cells of the inside lining of the bladder. These cells ALWAYS have inclusions. So, easy to collect, easy to stain (quick dip) and instantly diagnosed with inclusions in these cells.

Any 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 present then Distemper. If negative then either kennel cough or respiratory Herpes.


If this confirms Distemper then do the following below here.

Find yourself some NDV fast at some Poultry agriculture store, and hit the phone book to locate the nearest place. If they ask you why, tell them you need it for your Chickens. Get the LaSorta strain.

Weigh your dog and the dosage is 0.1cc for every pound on that dog. If between add another 0.1cc to it. Each vial holds up to 3.0cc filled with sterile solution. The NDV will be in freeze dried form. Once you have calculated the dogs weight, get the necessary vial and get two extra ones in case you need to do the CSF Tap. Based on what you said the Distemper virus already breached the blood brain barrier and it is now inside the CNS. You will definitely have to do the tap as well. Once you have this then find the blood vein on the front leg of both dogs and insert the needle into the blood vein and draw the plunger back to make sure you see the blood and then inject. Once this is done, the dog will be cured in the body from this disease in between 12-48 hours. On the CSF that NDV will begin stopping the progression after 36 hours. On the CSF you need to have the VET qualified in doing the CSF and this VET should give 0.1cc of NDV and 0.2cc of saline to not leave any NDV in the needle hub. This is also posted here under this forum topic. Scroll down and you will see something like For Any Confirmed Cases of Distemper.

The body will be cured of Distemper, and the CNS will stop the progression of further damage caused by the virus itself.

Please find the posts here telling you and the VET of how exactly what you need to do and how to go about it.

Oh when the VET does the CSF tap, make sure he does it at the Foramen Magnum the bottom base part of the dogs skull (cerebral cranial cavity) on the spinal cord. No place else. Also give antishock meds prior to doing this tap. If not the dog will go into phenolic shock and will need to be treated for such. With anti-shock meds he or she will be OK.

Let me know when you have the Bladder smear test results. Also do not give any more blood out from both of your dogs. Period. What you need to do is have a blood test done and find out the WBC count. The little blood in the stool might indicate something so make sure your VET does the PARVO test which is the Elisia test kits. They should have them. Make sure you check for that too.

Your dog has Pneumonia no doubt. You need to have baytril of 0.5cc and penicillin G of 1.0cc both given simutanously. Put both in the same syringe. Must do for 7 days twice a day every 12 hours. If it is the upper respiratory illness, this should cure it. MAKE SURE you get that bladder smear test done to find out if it is Distemper or not. MOST IMPORTANT. Don't waste any time on it.

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