# Distemper. What can be done.Symptoms and possible cure



## diana_D (Jan 27, 2008)

or the ones who hear about such dreadful cases, perhaps should inform vets about this: 

http://forum.animalhealthchannel.co...er_living-with_f1005/puppy_t42005.html#p89599


http://www.edbond.com/antidistemper.html 

The treatment was developed by doctor Sears, it is not an official one by the way. 



* These are the symptoms: DISTEMPER*
NOT ALL SYMPTOMS OCCUR AT THE SAME TIME!
 
• The Respiratory System 
• Purulent discharges from nose 
• Coughing
• Difficulty breathing 
• Pneumonia
• The Gastrointestinal tract 
• Diarrhoea - may contain blood
• Vomiting 
• In young animals that survive normal enamel of the teeth may be affected producing a pitted surface
• The Central Nervous System 
• Depression (often severe)
• Fits or seizures
• Muscular twitches and tonic-clonic contractions - uncontrollable muscle contractions
• Other signs include : 
• High body temperature 
• Purulent discharges from the eyes and conjunctivitis
• Dry eye (keratits sicca)
• Inappetance
• Dehydration
• Thickening of the foot pads in recovered dogs (called hyperkeratosis or "hard pad")
• Pustules on the skin 
• Canine distemper virus antigen has been found in the joints of dogs afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis but the origin (vaccine or natural infection) and significance of this finding is not known.
• Weight loss 

Remember that not all signs appear at first. It may start with a mild cough. 
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Doctor Sears' treatment:
Alson W. Sears DVM copyright 1999

Anti-Distemper Serum

1. The following protocol is for the production of anti-Distemper serum.
2. This serum is used S.Q. for the elimination of Distemper virus in acutely infected dogs.
3. Early treatment is recommended. Less than 4 days of illness.
4. Treat for bacterial pneumonia for at least seven days!
5. Recovery of acute Distemper Disease is usually within 12 to 48 hours.
6. This is species specific but, can be induced and used in any other species that are susceptible to distemper or related diseases.

Procedures for making serum
1. Dog- use an 8-12 month old mixed breed dog 60-100 lbs, young and healthy.
2. Do full lab work up to eliminate all possible health problems.
3. Vaccinate against all local diseases.
4. Do not use breeds or individuals known to have immune deficiency problems.
5. Make up Newcastle virus vaccine 1000 dose vial. (Use only 10 cc of diluent. Discard balance.) La Sota strain. This virus is your cell immunity inducer.
6. Place IV Catheter in dog.
7. Inject 2-3cc of Newcastle virus I.V. (shock may occur. Treat with I.V fluids accordingly) (Do Not use Corticosteroids)
9. Induction of Anti-Distemper serum may only be done once on any dog. The second time around only antibodies to Newcastle¹s disease is produced.
8. Timing is essential. Take blood 11-12 hours post injection (11-12 hrs post injection= Anti-viral factors=Very effective against Distemper Virus in VIVO.)
9. All procedures must be sterile. 11-12 hours post injection anesthetize donor dog.
10. Place Jugular catheter.
11. Start I.V fluids.
12. Withdraw blood and inject into 10cc blood vials [sterile no additive vials] and allow the blood to clot.
13. Centrifuge immediately after clotting for clear serum. Do not allow RBC¹s to lyse.
14. Remove serum and place into sterile bottles.
15. Place serum bottles in baggies and store in refrigerator. Bottles of serum can be stored for up to five years in a refrigerator.
16. Cryo-precipitates may form after refrigeration. Mixing causes clouding. This is not harmful.
17. May be filtered out with a .02micron filter. Keep sterile.

Distemper types
1. Young un-vaccinated dogs, usually from pounds. Dogs with all the recognizable symptoms i.e. pneumonia, catarrh, fever, diarrhea, collapse, inclusions in bladder. Elevated antidistemper IgG, IgM .
2. Mild nondescript diseases shows transient signs often not recognized in early stages, quick recovery, can be confused with kennel cough. The secondary symptoms appear later. I.E. chorea, demyelination, hard pad, nasal symptoms, pneumonia, ocular symptoms K/S and old dog encephalitis.
3. New Form of Distemper. Relatively rare- adult dog fully vaccinated multiple times breaks with some symptoms of distemper, the exposure factor unknown-possible wild species exposure. May be new strain of distemper.
4. Vaccine induced type- no pneumonia, no inclusions in body, seizures, and inclusions in brain. No other pathology found upon autopsy. Elisa tests for Distemper antibody of CSF (+), No inclusions in the bladder, no inclusions in conjunctiva. Do not use Distemper / Parvo combination Vaccines. Some dogs suffer from distemper inclusion encephalitis. No treatment that I know of available. Treatment Rx For types 1-2-3. Give lcc per 10pounds plus 1 cc per animal. Three treatments every twelve hours subcutaneously for 3 total treatments. For example 20 lb dog 2 cc + 1 cc Give 3 cc each treatment.
Give antibiotics for one week to control secondary symptoms of pneumonia. I have had best results with 2 separate antibiotics simultaneously. Give fluids to control shock on initial presentation. In desperate circumstances, in the absence of available serum, Newcastles¹s vaccine can be injected IV, directly into sick dogs. If they are not already severally compromised by the distemper virus they can respond and recover from distemper. Results Complete cessation of all symptoms of distemper in 12-48 hours. Except for secondary bacterial pneumonia which must be treated for at least 7 days.
Opinion:
It has been my observation that animals treated early do not have secondary neurologic symptoms. I would recommend all dogs suspected of distemper have full white cell count, lab work. Run antidistemper antibody IgG, IgM to confirm distemper. An additional test to confirm distemper, do a brush border slide of the bladder transitional epithelium. Stain with Dif-Quick. About 90% of the bladder cells will be positive for inclusions in the early stages of distemper. Rarely inclusions can be seen in the red cells. I have never seen inclusions in the conjunctiva. An IFA test of the conjunctiva to test for inclusions is available. I have no experience with this test. It is best to initiate all the tests and then give serum. Wait for the test results after treating. If wrong no adverse reactions if right you are ahead of the game for stopping the virus. Dogs can be treated later in the disease, after 4 to 6 days, but the serum will not undo viral damage that has already taken place. It is therefore best to treat in the early stages, or with the first acute symptoms. Dogs already showing neurologic effects of the distemper virus cannot be helped. 

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Remember that dogs will sometimes refuse to drink/ eat so fluids are extremely important. Giving water/ tea/soup with a syringe (no needle) helps a lot. Intravenous fluids are a must. 
Feed the dog with home made food: boiled chicken and carrot, cheese with no salt at all, yogurt. No dog food, they cannot chew it as they are too weak. 


*There is also a test kit available, try to buy the parvo and distemper test kits prior to getting a new family member. *

Also, keep in mind that Emma first displayed kennel cough symptoms. She was coughing (a dry, hacking cough) and then her eyes and nose had clean discharge. I read that the virus that brings kennel cough also opens the gate for parvo, distemper and other dreadful diseases.

Also there is a treatment we tried, but it was too late. It's called *CANGLOB DHLaPPi.*

http://www.dyntec.cz/index.php?dokument=65


it's pure anti bodies against distemper and it can be effective if distemper is detected right away.

Hope this can save lives.


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## TheHooch (May 9, 2007)

Great psot!


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## diana_D (Jan 27, 2008)

I only wish I knew this stuff about 40 days ago. I could have saved her. But I learned it the hardest possible way. We were lied by the vets we saw. They first told is it's kennel cough, then pneumonia without performing tests. I kept demanding for them. I discovered the truth a few hours before she crossed the bridge: the test kit was available, anyone can do the test, it's like a pregnancy test (except you collect stuff from under the eyelid). Also, Canglob was available all the time at a hospital I didn't know. They could have told me where to buy it from. But they were all only after big $$$ and didn't care about saving her life.


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## TheHooch (May 9, 2007)

So sorry about your little girl. It is a hard lesson to learn but so greatful you are sharing your experience with everyone else. You are never to old or never to long ni the breed to learn new things.


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## diana_D (Jan 27, 2008)

two breeders actually told me something, I first thought it sounded like they were crazy" YOU are going to be your baby's best vet!" Now I know they are absolutely right! We all need to learn a lot, as most emergences happen at night when most vet hospitals are closed. Besides if we use our common sense, we can diagnose them correctly ( I know I had questions that proved me right and vets totally wrong). I suggest we all do research on different emergency situations (including diseases) and post here, so everyone can read and learn.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

If you stay on this board long enough - it is amazing the things you learn. I came on here a lot more knowlegable than the average pet owner, and still every time I log in, I learn something new.

Does it seem like distemper is making a comeback? I know my parents lost their first dog to it in the 1960's. I never heard of a dog having it until the past 6 months. There have been a couple of new puppy owners that joined this board with a sick puppy.


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

Does anyone remember the other pup who passed from distemper recently. My heart broke when I read this post. I thought the owner was Male, but I can be wrong. Diane-D, I'm so sorry...


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

Six years ago my golden girl KayCee had a severe reaction to her 2ed set of annuals and even tho he was almost sure it was the lepto, my vet said no more shots for her except law required rabies. BUT 3 years ago there was a bad outbreak of distermper here--he was seeing more cases in a month that he usually did in a year or more. Since it had been 3 years since her last distemper vax, I decided to get KayCee a distemper vax only. i gabve her bnenadryl and took her in first thing. She was given the injection and held in iCU all day just to be on the safe side--at h=no charge to me. She was fine.

I got msh Setter pup, Beauty for my 11th birthday June '56. She died of distemper in Nov. '56. About 4 years later, just under 4 years, i lost my 2ed English Settter, Rascal at about age 3 to distemper. Both had had vax, but got distemper anyway. my vet now tells me that back then the vax was not all that great and in many cases actually brough the disease on. it is a nasty disease and heart breaking to watch the dogs so sick.


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