[kaly]

I have 5 dogs. I had 2 large boys, inherited 3 little rat terriers upon my moms Death. All were due on their shots varying 1 month to 8 months (I think, I couldn't find the health records on my moms dogs).
Anyway, as you know on the Texas Coast we just had IKE. About a week before, I found a stray on the side of the road, broght her home, got her in a rescue as me the foster, took her and got all her shots and was scheduled for spaying. The day after her shots, she comes down with diahrea and Kennel cough-took her back, they prescribbed amoxicillian. About 3 days later she had the green snots so I took her to a new vet, they put her on Doxycyclene (not sure if I spelled that right) and she even stayed at the vet for 3 days, because I had no power or water from the hurricane-couldn't adequately disenfect and it was so hot in my house. Okay, the day of the hurricane, I went by my brothers trailer park to see if they evacuated (they was also known for neglicting his dog-they fed her but thats about it) of course they did, but left the little dog outside, no shelter -shes old stiff from arthritis etc. I took her home with me. I didn't think she could handle 150 mph winds and floodning with no shelter-still worried about the exposure to Kennel cough/respiratory infection.
Any way the stray got better, but then, one by one, my others started getting the cough, with one getting that full blown upper respiratory infection with the green goo in her eyes, nose. She spent the night at the vet, because, still, I had no power. The others got over their cough and flu like symptoms in 3 days to a week. Yes the vet explained about distempter,etc. Blood work all showed to be pretty normal for what they all had. The last dog in my house to get it was my brothers dog-the little oldie. I took her to the vet, she put her on Doxy said to watch her and bring her back in 3-4 days if not better. We need to watch for pneumonia. 4 days laters, I did notice some improvement in the the movements and alertness, she even started to eat. But that night I just didn't like the sound of her breathing and how she felt (felt dehydrated). Also developed a twich in her hind legs (I thought was back pain) and she started crying out even after her medication and appeared to be too weak to walk. (this is something the other dogs never developed). I took her to the after hours Emer. clinic, vet immediately said Distember. But ran all the blood work, every thing still was relitively normal. By now she was looking pretty bad. He said the twitching and the barking out was neurological. By now I'm feeling pretty bad that I brought this old little dog to my home to save her from a hurricane just for her to catch this. Later that night we opted to put her to sleep, as her breathing was going into the in the final stages.
Now for my questions.
All the other dogs in my house caught some form of this, can they recatch it. How can she be the one to get distemper when the others were classified as kennel cough/upper respiratory and recovered quite well? If it was distemper, now that she is not there, should I worry about recontamiation? I want to immedieatly get my dogs current on vacines, however, this close to exposure will this weaken their immune system?
Even upon Angels death, the vet couldn't confirm Distemper, because she had so much other stuff going on from years of neglect (old age, bad teeth/gums, chronic ear infections, skin allergies-but she was heartworm free-Amazing) Is it possible that Angel just couldnt fight this upper respiratory because of these conditions? I'm just feeling so horrible. I'm broke (over $1,000 in that past thru weeks) plus just mentally drained from care taking and hurricane recouperation.

[Daveyo]

Greetings I am Daveyo

Just read your heart breaking story. Very valiant for you to rescue a dog from the hurricane and most noble too. I do applaud you for your courage in spite of terrible conditions and the suffering you endured.

To answer your questions:

Kennel Cough sort of simulates with near identical symptoms of Distemper. The difference is Kennel cough will not cause a high fever whereas Distemper will do in the near 106 degree range.

Next due to the weather conditions the exposed dog to the hurricane probably developed pneumonia during the storm crisis. No fault of your own. Due to the dogs horrible health prognosis as you have described yes a wonder it did not have heartworms and it already had a weak immune system over the course of time due to lack of good care.

Your not out of the woods yet until you get this disease back under control. If your dogs had distemper you will know within a few weeks as they deteriorate health wise. The goop in the eyes will be there, the nose will have mucus, and the breathing will be labourous, and the pads of the feet will swell and begin to harden up to a wood like state. After this comes the neurological stages beginning with the chewing of bubble gum in the air act, and then the dog goes down hill from that point to seizures eventually having full blown ODE which will kill it within a week or so time.

The VET trying to tell if your dogs have the disease or not is way off base. The proper way to determine if your dogs have Distemper and if it is ongoing it will show up still is the following along with a full CBC test. Here is the medical test protocol to tell if there is Distemper and it is full 100% accurate and you can find out in about 30 minutes and it is fast and cheap. The WBC taken from the blood test will tell me a few things along with the rest of the readings.

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 which are carmine red and para nuclear.

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 or Toxoplasmosis.


The best treatment for pneumonia is to give the animal Baytril of 0.5cc and penicillin G of 1.0cc mixed together and given intramuscularly twice a day every 12 hours for 7 days straight. Total of 14 shots. Do not get the dog wet at all during pneumonia OK.

If any of the dogs show the outward signs of Distemper symptoms it is conclusive itself. If the test that I gave you comes out positive, then find yourself some NDV and the nearest place is in Atlanta Georgia. You can contact Dr. Norwood there. You have to inject all the affected dogs with the body injection and the Dx is 0.1cc for every pound the dog weighs or every 0.45kg. If between the weights then add another 0.1cc. This has to be given direct to the blood vein of the dog via the syringe. Tools you will need is the NDV, the diluent, 2 syringes, a razor to shave the hair off a bit, and a rubber strap, along with some cotton balls and alcohol and some sterilizer after the puncture is made. You put the rubber strap on the upper thigh of the dogs leg prior to the injection, and on the front leg (either side). Then after you shave a small area between the paw wrist and the elbow part then twist the leg a bit to see the blood vein and then take the NDV in the syringe with the correct amount and insert the needle to the vein and pull back a bit to see if you draw blood into the syringe. If you see the blood, inject the NDV and when nearly done release the rubber strap and then get a cotton ball and when finish take out the syringe and needle and your done.

Cure in the body is within 24 hours and the disease is gone from the body.

The big part is the time factor involved if the dogs is infected with Distemper. If inside the 6 day window (the fever is the beginning of the time table frame) and they get the NDV, there will be no breach to the CSF. If more than 6 days since the start of the fever, then you have to do the NDV-CSF tap and this has to be done on the Foramen Magnum the bottom part base of the skull directly in line with the spinal cord. The amount is based on the size of the dog at time of the tap.

Please contact me here if your tests come out positive and then I will tell you how to save your dogs its life and it will be immuned for life against this disease.

In regards to the contamination part, any dog not vaccinated completely will catch this disease called Distemper because it is an airborne and contact disease. Kennel cough is basically what it is, and it takes about a good month to get the dogs well using strong antibiotics. NDV can be used to cure that dog in 24 hours if the animal cannot shake off Kennel cough and has a weak immune system.

Keep in mind NDV can only be used one time on the dog for the body and one time for the CSF. So make sure you know which dogs got the NDV and those who did not. If you give the NDV a second time to the same dog, severe complications of antibodies will result and you will have a host of problems. OK.. So it is a one time deal body wise and a one time deal CSF wise per dog.

NEVER VACCINATE ANY DOG THAT IS SICK. Heed to my warning here. Only vaccinate when healthy and having no problems. I understand your anxious to vaccinate, but if the dogs already have been vaccinated prior to the current situation your safe. The memory cells will protect your dog most likely for life. Really if you knew what the modified live vaccines contain you will not give it to your dog ever. Try antifreeze, aluminum, and cancer causing agents just to name some. Killed virus vaccine is much safer than modified by a long mile.

Keep posting and let me know how things develop.

Daveyo