Canine Distemper

[eacinpa]

I have been trying to get as much info as I can, hopefully someone could be of help for me.

I took my dog to the vet quite a few times over the past couple of weeks because of her extremely bad cough. It started back in December, I took her to the vet and I was told she had Bronchitis. So I treated her as they told me and she never got better. So, I took her to another vet, who told me she had kennel cough. So, I treated her as they told me with 100 mg doxycycline for two weeks and she seemed like she was getting better, then got just as bad, so I took her back and the vet gave me ciproflocacin 250 mg and we just started this yesterday. I also had to get her eyes checked because they are extremely red and some clear discharge coming from them, she has trouble keeping them all the way open and scratches them so he gave me an ointment, vetropolycin and said she has eye allergies. I read that symptoms of distemper are coughing and the red eyes, among other symptoms which she doesnt have. She still has an appetite and no vomiting or anything else, but she is just very mellow and sleeps all day and I dont want this to be distemper and my vet not even consider it. She also has not had her last distemper shot yet. We cant give it to her until she is better either. Thanks for any help. Hopefully I am just looking into things too much. I also noticed her shedding more. Losing more hair than usual. Dont know how any of this can be related if it is or not. Thanks!!

[Daveyo]

Hi this is Daveyo

Just read your story here. Your dog does not have Distemper It more likely has respiratory herpes.

I want you to do a couple of things of which one of them you can do yourself. Have the dog stand on all 4 legs and you tap somewhat hard a couple of quick times on both sides of that dogs chest. If that dog coughs after you tap somewhat hard quick taps on that chest it has Pneumonia. If this happens, you need to give the dog Baytril and Penicillen G for 7 days. If this does not happen then the dog has a form called Kennel cough or Respiratory Herpes. The fastest way to cure this problem (if it is Herpes) is with NDV believe it or not. Newcastles Disease Virus Vaccine. It actually cures both problems in one time. You merely have to follow the weight protocol as given same for if they had Distemper I have posted this on this site.

The other thing I want you to do is have the VET do two things for confirmation. One is an X-ray of the chest area to see if there is something inside that dog, and this can also confirm Pneumonia as well, and the other is to take a blood culture test to find out what disease it is having at present time. You can also put a little pressure below the adams part of the dogs throat to see if it coughs. If it does, suspect something is lodged in the passage way. That is why I am asking you to get that X-ray done. You need to do a few process of eliminations to get the right diagnosis. OK

The coughing you have mention strongly relates to Kennel Cough, and until you do those two things with the Vet, and of your self test on that dog, do not do the NDV until you report back to me here.

If it is confirmed it has Pneumonia, the prescription is Baytril of 0.5cc mixed with Penicillin G 1.0cc in same syringe intramuscular in the rear, for 7 days twice a day. This will cure that problem but nothing else. Just so you understand this part.

Now Kennel Cough and Respiratory Herpes is almost exactly the same symptoms but with a difference here. Kennel Cough can be taken care of via Antibiotics for the most part but also with NDV, but Respiratory Herpes needs NDV to cure that problem. That is the difference here.

If it is Respiratory Herpes, after the body shot is given the dog is cured in 48 hours or less.

If it is Kennel Cough it will need for first week heavy doses of Antibiotics (Standard) because it is considered an upper respiratory infection which causes the cough same as you when you get sick with the cold, and you have a sore raspy throat you will cough from time to time. You know this part right??? Same thing on the dog. Kennel Cough is part of the cold virus itself but of a different strain. Herpes is also of the same area but this too is a different strain and extremely very hard to eliminate and under normal circumstances this can take months. NDV wipes this out in a matter of hours on both of these problems and not months.

One other thing I need to tell you is once you use NDV into the body part of your dog, that is all you can do, JUST ONE TIME APPLICATION. You do not do it the second time at all. If you do that you will cause an immune cascade problem to that dog. So remember it is a one time deal. After that no more. The other part is you have some good news. If that dog gets the NDV via the body injection it is also protected against Distemper for LIFE. Canine Distemper cannot function or work at all or infect any dog that has NDV in its system since the body changes from C-4 cells to C-4 25 cells which is a different ballgame.

So do what I have suggested here and wait on the NDV until you tell me the test results from you and from your VET including the report of the X-ray findings as well. Once you tell me this, then we will go from there. Sound good??

By the way how many vaccinations shots has the dog had???? If you have done 2 of them prior to it being sick, then don't worry so much. It will only need a booster a year after the last shot and then once every 3 years.

Take care