Received Sept. 1, 2011

13 week old Pitbull Pup with Distemper

My name is Chantel van Rensburg and I’m from Sasolburg, South Africa. My pitbull, Tjoppie, has been diagnosed with Distemper at 11 weeks. We got him on 8 weeks old the 29th of July 2011. I noticed that something was wrong as his eyes were red and he had a discharge from the nose as well as ‘pimples’ on his face and he had diarrhea. I took him to the vet immediately and I was told that he had Kennel Cough, so I they gave me anti-biotics and something to stop the diarrhea. It went well for three or four days and then it started all over again but worse. So I took him back to the vet and they gave other medicine to try. It went well for a week or so, but then I noticed that he was twitching in his one front leg, we first thought that he just get cold easily. But then on Sunday the 21st of August in the evening he was twitching all over his body and worsened during the night. I rushed him to the Bryanston Veterianary Hospital in Sandton Johannesburg, where he was submitted and diagnosed with Distemper and that’s when I was told that there is no cure or treatment. I couldn’t leave it at that and couldn’t believe that death was going to be my puppy’s fate. I took him home and gave him all the love, care and attention that I possibly could and where ever I could make his life easier, I did, even sitting up with him right through the night. It has now been two weeks and so far he has beaten the odds. The discharge from his eyes and nose has stopped, although his nose is still very dry and cracked. The dairrhea has also improved, but its not perfect. The twitching has worsened even more, to the point that it makes his life very uncomfortable, he’s crying and moaning all the time.

Does he have neurological distemper or is he now in that stage? Is there still hope for him? Can the virus still be treated? And if it still can be treated, is there a vet in South Africa that does the treatment, because I will travel to where ever he his. If there is any hope for my puppy, I want to give my pup the best or any chance there is. I have tried finding one by presenting them with your procedures on how to produce the serum, but no success, either they don’t have the guts to try it or just don’t have the passion and love for dogs to care enough to trey it.

PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!! I AM DESPERATE!!!!!

Kind Regards

Chantel van Rensburg

Today my pup is 6 months old and doing VERY WELL!!!!! 3 Days after the spinal tap he was a completely different puppy! His energy levels rose, his appetite grew, running around, being naughty and playfull like a healthy puppy should be. Although he still has the twitching, that is also improving as he is going for hydro therapy twice a week and he also gets a supplement called Muscle Dog to help build his muscle strength. His overall health is very good and haven’t had any more problems thus far, he is improving every day, I can honestly say that he or any of the symptoms of distemper HAVE NOT worsened at all!!!

I’ve included some before and after photos of him as well.

Sasolburg
South Africa

TJOPPIE’S story has been updated in the book “Save Dogs From Canine Distemper”:

Tjoppie, the South African dog treated with NDV serum in a spinal tap, lived for more than 5 years. Chantel’s husband Noel wrote me with an update: “Unfortunately Tjoppie passed away last year on the 25th of October 2016. We made the hard choice to put him to sleep as his symptoms flared up again and had just too many seizures a day and not recovering well after them. But he was almost 6 years old and if I had to do it again, I would. Thank you for everything.”