Canine (General)

[sheplover]

We adopted a 2 year old male German Shepherd on Nov. 20. On the 29th I took him to vet to get Heartgard started & mentioned that the previous night, Max started "snarfy" breathing through the nose. Some mucus. Doc says probably just a respiratory thing due to the stress of 6 homes in 2 mos. Max was vaccinated for everything in June & again October 18. The next day, I called vet & let him know snotty nose was worse. Amoxicillin 5 days. No improvement. Back to vet today. Low fevers both visits. CBC shows increased white cells & lymphocytes. Doc says can't rule out distemper with a secondary bacterial resp thing. Today he started Max on SMZ TMP 960mg.

The snotty nose, trouble breathing through the nose is the only symptom so far. Going on 7 days.

[Daveyo]

Greetings- First of all the VET in diagnosing Distemper has it all wrong. To do it properly you need to follow this:

The very best test for rapidly diagnosing ACUTE distemper is to do what is called a bush 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. If present then Distemper If not then something else.

Diseases that mimic and is similar to Canine Distemper

Chastek's

Listeriosis

Tularemia

Histoplasmosis

Poisonings

Let me know the test results. After that we will cross the next bridge if needed.

I very much doubt your dog has Distemper. Based on low temp reading and high WBC and lymphocytes. Distemper cases have very high Temp reading of 104 to 106 deg F. WBC will be dropping down.

I suspect pneumonia here. You can test your dog yourself. Have the dog stand up and give it a couple of quick hard taps to the side of chest (both sides). If the dog coughs right after you stop, then the dog has pneumonia.

Baytril of 0.5cc and Penicillin G 1.0cc twice a day for 7 days should take care of the problem.

If not pneumonia, then ask the VET to give your dog a shot of Chloroamphenical injection once a day for 3 days. This antibiotic is very sensitive to infections and it will go straight to the source problem.

Worms in the heart can also cause this problem as well.

Why was your dog given two vaccination shots in such a short period of time???? If fully vaccinated you need to do only once a year along with Pneumodog and Rabies So I wonder????

Seems the VET here is shooting for the moon here trying to figure out what is wrong with your dog. I have previously mention several times of VETS giving the wrong diagnosis especially on Distemper. They either guess or way off base. These kind of VETS should cease and desist practicing.

I suggest you find another VET who knows what they are doing.

Keep us posted here and let me know some of the results.

[sheplover]

The double vaccinations were probably due the the fact that this was a rescued shepherd from a shelter. History would have been unknown.
Max is doing better yesterday & today. After emailing with the people I got him from, in the bay area, sounds like he had some mean case of kennel cough they are seeing down there. They mentioned that doxycycline was one of the only meds that was working on it. Although the SMZ TMP 960mg he's on now seems to be taking an effect.

Thanks so much for responding. The night I found this site, I was at my wit's end, scared of losing him. Didn't know if I should follow your distemper advice, or wait. But the symptoms I had researched really weren't adding up with distemper.

Looks like you try very hard to help save dogs & I appreciate that. :)

[Daveyo]

What was the result of his lungs???? Did you do the tap test????? Any x-rays??? Urine test??? Feces test???

You need to get these tests done to pin point the problem on your dog. GUESSING can be fatal!!!!!!

To put it simply - How would you feel that a Doctor in treating you and your illness says to you oh you probably have an upper respiratory infection take this medicine and you be fine. No tests nothing done.???????? Says to you we have a flu bug going around.

Later on when it gets worse on you, and then they do the X-ray they find you have pneumonia!!!!!!!. Pneumonia can kill you. It nailed James Brown and many others before him who got it.

Hmmmmmmmmm

Good to hear you rescued a dog. I hope it has a nice ending to you and your family.

Oh I knew it was not Distemper right from the beginning when I read it from your post. I also wanted you to know what other diseases that acts similar to Distemper and believe me it can confuse people.

Still the VETS method to determine Distemper really does worry me. That method is way off base. He should know better.