My name is Amberley Parker. My female catahoula puppy, Phantom, 16 weeks old given a “death sentence” by the vet today. He says she has distemper, and that treating it is costly and ineffective. She has a fever of 105, she is lethargic, depressed, has diarrhea and no appetite. She threw up once yesterday morning, and twice in the car this morning on the way to the vet. They gave her antinausea meds (metoclopramide), and antibiotics amoxycillin, and baytril. He said she will probably die, but if she is alive in 3 weeks, she’ll probably live, most likely with permanent neurological damage leaving her disabled. He seemed to really be pushing euthanizing her. She has had her first round of puppy vaccinations 9 days ago, including against distemper. Please tell me how to get her treated. I live in Fort Worth, Texas.
thank-you so much!
Amberley Parker
Feb. 10, 2011
Dear Ed,
Thank you so much for your fast response! I was able to contact the vet in Houston the same day you sent me the contact info. Phantom showed her first symptoms on Sunday morning, she was diagnosed on Monday morning, I found your site and wrote you as soon as we got home from the vet, and [Phantom was treated] Tuesday afternoon. It is now Thursday morning and Phantom is doing so well! Her fever is gone and she is eating and drinking on her own. She can walk again, and she’s no longer having labored breathing or vomiting or having diarrhea. We’re still treating with antibiotics for any secondary infections, but she is feeling fine. Thank you so much for your quick response and your information which I am sure has saved our sweet puppy’s life. I know we have to wait awhile to know for sure since symptoms can reappear later, but I know we caught it very early and acted fast! I’m telling everyone about your site.
Thank-you so much! I’ve attached a pic of phantom and you can use any of our correspondence or the photo in any way you like.
I just wanted to send you an “official” account of Basher’s story for your website! We feel that you provide a life saving resource and both my husband and myself are eternally grateful for the resources you provide.
So without further ado, here is Basher’s story. It’s long, so feel free to abridge it as you see fit.
My husband and I first fell in love with our Lab/Dachshund mix on March 20th, after seeing his photo on the shelter website the Tuesday before. He was a “special needs” pet, and ended up being featured as the Friday Pet of the Week on a local TV station, because his heartworm test had come up positive upon impound.
As we interacted him in the outdoor kennel, it became apparent that he was the dog for us: a perfect gentleman with both us and our 11 month old daughter. As we leashed him to walk him back to the holding kennel, he had a slight cough. “Kennel cough!”, I told my husband. It’s common in shelter pets and nothing to be alarmed at. We were told by shelter staff we could take our dog, now named Basher, home on Tuesday after his scheduled neutering. However, Tuesday morning came and the shelter called, letting us know they would not be neutering him because of his cough and his positive heartworm test. We were welcome to take him home, and they would provide us with a basic antitbiotic to help his cough and to clear his nasal discharge which was crusting over his nostrils. When my husband picked Basher up after work, a clinic employee explained it might be distemper and they’d been having signs of it in the shelter. They handed him a pamphlet about distemper and sent him and Basher on their way.
The second night was the night we suspected something more than kennel cough. His breathing became labored, and he was not eating. He was only holding water down for 20 minutes before coughing so heavily it was just white and foamy. We took him to our family vet on Thursday who prescribed a different antibiotic, an anti-nausea pill, and a pill to calm his stomach. He was also pumped full of IV fluids and had bloodwork done. Thursday night was an improvement, with him eating, but still coughing. He seemed to have a little more energy, but this was not to last, for Friday evening it was back to a lack of appetite, which made is impossible to medicate him, and now his nose was also completely crusted over with greenish-brown phlegm.
I talked with my co-worker on Saturday at the library where I work and she agreed with my worst fears that it might be distemper, but she said there was a forum on her Houston hometown newspaper that said there was an experimental serum that could cure dogs of distemper. A cure? I had to know more! An internet search led me to the Save Distemper Dogs website and I emailed a shot in the dark hoping for a cure for Bash. Within 30 minutes, I received an email back! Serum had just been made in Orlando! The moment I was off work, the whole family piled into the car to speed Basher towards a hopeful recovery.
When we arrived at the vet’s office, Basher was coughing white foamish liquid every 20-40 seconds and his nose was entirely crusted over with phlegm. Fortunately, he did not have any neurological signs, so he was eligible for the serum treatment. We were told we could pick him up in 24 hours, after the 3rd injection would be made.
24 hours later, we went to pick Basher up from the vet’s office. His coat was much shinier, and he was not coughing. The biggest difference came when we went to lift Basher into the SUV for the ride home. As we went to lift him in, he jumped right in! This would have been impossible for him 24 hours earlier!
The next week was a 180 turnaround for Bash. He stopped coughing entirely by day 5, and his appetite was ravenous since the day we brought him home, happily gobbling up the remainder of his antibiotics and medications that we had lovingly laced in the food! 🙂
It’s been 2 and a half weeks since his treatment and we have gotten to see the dog that Basher truly is – an energetic happy member of our family who lets my daughter pat him (as gently as a toddler can pat!) and loves to go for car rides to anywhere the family goes. 2 days ago, we took him to the dog park for the first time where he outran a 5 month old Staffordshire Terrier puppy, with nary a cough to be seen or heard!
Coming from what my husband and I felt sure was a death sentence of distemper, to the happy energetic dog he is now, we feel so blessed to have a long future with our wonderful family dog, Basher.
I’ve attached photos and a link to a YouTube video (that is grainy, stupid cell phone cameras!) of Basher’s progress. The only before photo is him lying down in the car with his nose crusties. That was the day we brought him home from the shelter. The other two are from April 6th, 10 days after his treatment. The video is also from the 6th.
Thank you for your email. I did read about you and Galen on the website of Kind Hearts in Action – it is an amazing story. In fact the website is such a comforter. When Muttu tested +ve, I really thought I’ll have to let her go as I thought there’s no cure and two vets told me so as well. I have lost a dog to Distemper when I was 7 and watched him suffer as there was no preventive vaccine available in that part of the country (East) back then. All those memories came rushing back and I did not want to see Muttu suffer as well.
I started surfing the Internet to see if there’s any cure – found your website and saw the youtube video. It is such a touching video and then this hope suddenly crept up inside me.
Finding the vaccine was such a challenge. I wasted more than 24 hours calling hundreds of places in the city – many people (Vets) even laughed when I explained why I wanted it, finally found a small pharmacy for poultry animals in a tiny corner of the city.
Finding a Donor was also a challenge, my vet convinced his friend to let his dog (Macho) donate blood. At first he was hesitant but since the Doc had saved Macho and at one time also Macho’s mother, the owner agreed. This was great because Macho is a healthy, vaccinated Mongrel and we didn’t have to waste time deworming and checking a stray dog for any harmful disease.
This whole ordeal has been such a learning experience – it is the first time any one has heard and seen a cure for Distemper work.
We are in the process of writing an article for the newspapers and actively starting an awareness campaign with a website, where we would like to write about Dr. Sears and the cure and our experience and then direct people to the website of Kinds Hearts in Action.
And here’s the story of Sundari, another dog in India, saved because of the help of Muttu’s owner, Kaveri Uthaiah: Sundari Survives.
The story is below, but these pictures tell the tale. First is Tigger, shortly after being adopted a few weeks ago.
Now, here is Tigger’s nose after he came down with distemper. This the classic, dry look of distemper with mucous.
Here is Tigger waking up from the anesthesia after his treatment.
And here is a closeup of Tigger’s nose later on. It’s much better.
Here is the account sent in from Haydee Crystal Acosta Bustamante on Dec. 15, 2009:
On NOV 14, 2009 we adopted two puppies (different litters) from the local humane society in el paso, tx (one 13 weeks the other 9 weeks old) .
On NOV 16, 2009 I took the 13 week old puppy to the vet because he looked terrible sick (yellow diarrhea, fever, loss of appetite) the vet prescribed antibiotics.
On NOV 24 we noticed our second puppy coughing and took both of them to another vet who prescribed antibiotics for both puppies.
On the 27 NOV after the 13 week old puppy started drooling and chewing gums we took him to a third vet who told us he had distemper and we had to put him to sleep. The vet told us that he had been exposed to distemper prior to arriving to the humane society of el paso… and that they propably didn’t realize he had it because it could live in a dogs buddy a week or two before showing any signs.
We came home sterilized the house for the second puppy and kept giving him antibiotics hoping he didn’t have it because he had received his 1st shots before we adopted him on NOV 11 and 3 days before being exposed to the 13 week old puppy.
On 11DEC09 we took the puppy for his followup and the vet said he had a high fever and swollen limp nodes and his nose was getting harder. Vet took a blood work and said he was 60% sure he had distemper too.
Later today we saw our second puppy now 12 weeks old have a seizure. (puppy clenched up on all four and his mouth began chewing uncontrollably and drooling for about 10-20 seconds..during this the puppy also defecated himself). looking back at it we believe the seizures began 3 days ago (once per day). We stayed up all night doing research online and found Ed Bond’s site about the treatment! We emailed everyone who we found with success stories or vets and a vet in Austin, Texas, responded to us the next day. She called and asked us if we could bring him in first thing Monday morning. She then called us back and said better yet bring him in tomorrow (Sunday Dec 13) the more we waited the worst the seizures and damage would get. We got our bags ready and drove from home (El Paso¸TX) to Austin Tx.. a 9 hour drive with a very sick puppy… who had 5 seizures on the way there. She saw him first thing in the morning, ran blood work and got him ready for the treatment.
The vet has seen 8 dogs with distemper from all over the US and so far has been able to save all but 2… When she saw Tigger she said that he was one of the healthiest dogs she had seen with the deadly virus… so she had high hopes for him… It’s now been almost 48 hrs (Which are the most crucial as the body is killing the virus) and he has been seizure and twitching free! We hope this will cure him forever so that he can be a living testament that the Newcastle Treatment is dependable and worth looking into by all vets!
The Staff and Vet of the Humane Society of El Paso – the shelter we adopted them both… have been very supportive and have committed to see Tigger until he is done with all of his booster shots. They feel horrible and helpless that we had to go through this… but again it was not their fault… most likely they received the 13 week old puppy already having distemper but since there were no obvious signs (fever, coughing etc..) we took him with us… 2days after the signs started. I hope this story continues to build awareness and validates that the Newcastle treatment could be the solution… We lost one puppy and were not going to lose Tigger without a fight!
Received May 25, 2009: Ed: This is Sammie’s story detailing his treatment to cure distemper.We adopted Sammie on April 21, 2009,
from Miami Animal Services. Only two days after we brought him home, he got very sick with what we thought was Kennel cough. When it got really bad, I took him to our Vet who diagnosed Distemper. He told us that we could treat the symptoms and that some dogs were able to survive. He said there was no cure for Distemper and if it got really bad with Neurologic problems, we would need to “put him down.’ I wasn’t willing to accept this and starting researching the Internet to see if there were any other options. That’s when I found Ed’s site and the Facebook site. By May 5th Sammie was having as many as eight seizures a day and I was getting really scared we wouldn’t be able to get him treated in time. With the help of Ed Bond and Pippit Carlington I was able to find a vet in Atlanta who was willing to perform the NDV body and spinal treatment for Sammie. This was done May 18, 2009, at his clinic in Atlanta. The next day we brought Sammie home to Miami. He will need to take medication for the seizures, possibly for the rest of his life, but we are also hopeful that he can out grow and repair the damage caused by the CDV. I have attached three pictures showing Sammie before the procedure and a picture taken Six days after his treatment. The third picture shows his head with the hair shaved off for the spinal injection. You can see from the after picture how well he is doing now. Sammie is on Phenobarbital for the seizures. We had some difficulty settling on the correct dosage but since our Vet made the last adjustment (May 21) he has been seizure free.
Ed, please feel free to post our story on your Web site.
Regards, Harold & Pamela Allen Kendall, Fl
UPDATE: (Received June 4, 2014) By the way, Sammie is one of the Distemper cure success stories. Last month we celebrated five years since he received the NDV spinal tap … He is now very healthy. — Harold Allen
