[caridad]

After the death of my Rottweiler from a rare disease, I was given a 2 month old Rotti female. She was almost immediately sick and spent more time with the vet than with me. She was put to sleep. The vet helped me locate another, a male of 6 weeks. We paid for this one and he was supposedly from a reliable breeder. The person who brought him to the vet called 2 days ago to say that he had placed Max in with his dog for a short period before going to the vet. His dog was put to sleep on Sat, suffering from distemper He called the vet, I talked with her and she came to my home yesterday to inject Max with a "preventative". He will receive it every other day for 6 injections. I don't know what is in it. Something from Mexico City.

I have read the posts here and am very interested in those posted by Daveyo. Right now Max is fine, but I remember how our little Sami was "fine" for one day and then went down hill quickly. I am encouraged that the contact with the infected dog took place 18 days ago. This puppy is now almost 9 weeks old. From what I read, he may be close to being a very lucky pup, having no symptoms for such a long time after contact with an infected dog. He will have a blood test tomorrow along with his injection.

Should he be "positive", or when he shows the symptoms, I want to do everything I can to save him. Daveyo mentioned injecting Newcastle Disease Virus - LaSota Strain, or NDV. I wonder if this is available in central Mexico. Is it widely used in veterinary medicine? I would appreciate any more info.

Re infection - I know that this is highly contagious, but is it always contagious? Are there puppies who may be close to an infected dog and not get infected? There seems to be an epidemic here in Guanajuato. But our other dog who has been vaccinated is only taking stronger vitamins and the vet doesn't seem to be concerned about her susceptibility. We'll see...

Thank you for any info.

[Daveyo]

Ok listen to me carefully. Vaccinate the puppy with full combo right now. Its maternal antibodies is going to drop by end of this coming week. Do it now to avoid it getting the distemper virus. If you do the blood test please test it for distemper antibodies before you do the vaccination. That puppy should have just barely enough maternal antibodies to fight it off. After you draw some out, then vaccinate immediately OK

Yes you can get the Newcastles in Central Mexico. Go to the Agriculture Center or store that takes care of Livestock. It is not expensive. If they require a prescription, then get one right away from the Doctor. Agriculture doctors use this vaccine and most vets not understand what this stuff can do and they usually are ignorant of its potential to cure even MS in people. Been trying to tell the experts for the past 30 years and they still deny that this is not possible. Distemper virus is the same virus that is in MS in people and its is also called MEASLES. Ali and the kid from Back to the Future have the MS disease. Takes 25 years for it to show up in humans. In dogs it takes 4 days to show up.

The preventive from Mexico City is crap. Trust me. Vaccine combo prevents and protects the dogs from getting the disease. If the dog has it you have to use Newcastle's immediately. If the secondary signs are showing like hard pad, goop in the eyes still do the Newcastles immediately. Cure is between 12-48 hours for the body only, not on the nervous system. After that wait 3-4 days and then do a blood test to check for the White Blood Cell count. It has to be at least 9.5 or higher for the dog to have some protection against diseases. Then do a Cerebral Spinal tap and then take the sample about 4 more days after your blood test. Then check that spinal fluid for distemper antibodies. If it comes positive, you have to do the cerebral spinal tap again ASAP and inject the NDV into the dog. Dosage is 0.1 to 0.2 of NDV. What you have to do is extract a bit more spinal fluid like 0.5 and discard 0.2, mix the NDV with saline solution and make sure it gets back inside the spinal canal. Remember what you take out must be the exact same putting in. Go either way you will kill the dog, and hopefully the vet know this much. Treat for shock with IV, because the dog will go into shock almost immediately after this injection. In about an hour, if the shock is treated properly then you can take the dog home once it stands up. The cure of distemper in the spinal canal and cerebral fluid will take 12 hours, and any prior damage the dog suffered will be repaired on its own.

Yes it is highly contagious in fact this virus is airborne and can travel 20 miles and still infect dogs not protected in this range. Also the house will be contagious for max 2 months unless you bleach the floors and clean everything the dog has handled including its toys and your clothes as well. Laundry soap does the job but dry it in sunlight. Sunlight kills the virus on the clothes.

Like I said and my Doc said, we want to cure dogs, not be like the other doctors who simply stand back and watch them die.

go figure.