Kind Hearts In ActionHere is the treatment for Old Dog Encephalitis, the neurologic form of canine distemper.
Here is a video in which Dr. Sears describes how to perform the spinal tap used in this treatment.
If you need help finding a vet who can perform this treatment, please contact Ed Bond at ed.bond.new.york@gmail.com.
If you are in the Philippines, you should check out this blog.
And everyone is always welcome to read our FAQ.
I adopted a small female Rat Terrier from a high kill shelter in Florida. She was found as a stray Jan. 17th and I put a hold on her Jan. 22nd. She was very laid back it the cage and when I visited with her in the viewing room. She was probably sick already.
I brought her home on Jan. 25th, a Monday morning and this is her story. I am positive she had distemper and that the NDV serum given to her by a vet in Cooper City on the 29th absolutely SAVED her life. No distemper test was done because my vet felt it would not really show she had distemper because she was given a distemper shot when she was in the shelter.
Cough started the day after she came home. Took her to my vet, thinking it was kennel cough. He gave her antiobiotics and some dog food that hopefully would get her to eat. He mentioned there had been another instance of dog he had to put down because it got so sick with distemper and said, perhaps, she could have distemper. He said to keep a close eye on her over the weekend. She got worse over the weekend and I researched symptoms of distemper. She started with pitting on her teeth, sick look in eyes, slightly runny eyes, cough, lethargic, 103+ temp for days, not eating (I fed her with syringe – chicken, vitamin and water mix about every 3 hours, lost 1 1/2 lb).. Luckily she had not started any twitching or seizures and I was lucky enough to find the Save Distemper Dogs website and sent them an e-mail right away. They responded within an hour. This was the day I had taken her back to the vet on Mon. morning, Feb. 1st, and he gave her different antiobiotics and said it was out of our hands at this point. I really felt and knew she was going to die if I didn’t do something drastic. Save Distemper Dogs e-mailed me back and gave me the vet closest to me who gives the NDV shot. It was a horrible windy rainy day and the vet and his assistant came out to my car to give her the shot since they didn’t want her in their office. Mimi started eating on her own by that Thursday, her fever broke and she started to recover. I have had dogs for 25+ years and I am convinced she would have gotten much sicker and deteriorated if I hadn’t taken her for the shot. I am so glad there are people out there like Dr. Sears who are not afraid to research and get the word out on saving distemper dogs. And Mimi thanks him too!!
Helena Nesbitt
Posted Feb. 10, 2010
Here’s the story my local newspaper published on Jan. 23, 2012
http://www.galaxgazette.com/content/cure-deadly-canine-disease Galax (Va.) Gazette Nov. 24, 2011
Four Paws magazine did a story on the NDV treatments. November 2011
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/officials-vets-report-many-more-dogs-with-distemper-628037.html (4/27/2010)
[story refers to NDV protocols as an experimental treatment.]
Spanish language publication in the Dominican Republic interviewed Dr. Sears. 9/30/2010
http://www.petsmagazine.com.do/
SAD UPDATE 2/10/2010: Dixie had a relapse. Dr. Sears suspected some sort of other infection triggered this new attack, but Dixie died Feb. 10, 2010. With this sad case comes a reminder that no medical treatment can offer a 100 percent guarantee of recovery. There are unaccounted factors, and the length of time that passes before treatment is a major issue. Dogs treated with NDV-induced serum within six days of the onset of symptoms show a recovery rate in the high 90s.
1/23/2010: Here’s the story from Dimas De Moya of the Dominican Republic, who sent in photos and video after his 7-month-old pug, Dixie, was treated for canine distemper and is making a recovery.
Received January 23, 2010:
“Well, long story short, my wife and I had to leave town to visit her aunt. We left Dixie in a dog’s caring center (which we regret until this day) to make the trip. The next day after she arrives to our home she started vomiting, that was the first sign something was wrong. We took her to one vet who said she got a parasite on her stomach. They gave her meds and the next day she was ok. Suddenly three or four days later I notice some salivate on her mouth, but didn’t quite know what it was until I saw her having a seizure. I look it up on google and came across with Distemper, I took her to another vet and describe the symptoms and he made a distemper test. Sadly it came positive.
“Look further and discover your page…. The rest is what we are living day by day, praying for her recovery and supporting her every step of the way.
“The treatment was done on Monday the 18th. She seems to be having good progress, yesterday she presented more coordinated, standing alone and today we noticed her eating even more than the past days. Hopefully she’s on her way to recover from Distemper, only time will tell.”
“Attached is a video of her eating after the procedure was done. She’s a fighter since day one, we do hope she wins this fight thanks to the procedure and our love and caring.”
Here are some photos of Dixie before and after treatment
If a dog is older than 12 weeks and does not have an immune system already compromised by another disease, a shot of the Newcastle Disease Vaccine may be enough to create the response needed to fight distemper. However, the dog should not be in the neurologic stage [seizures], and the shot should be given before the dog has gone through six days of symptoms. However, some pure-bred dogs do not make the needed response, and these include German Shepherd, Poodles, Irish Setters, Gordon Setters, English Bulldogs and Shar Peis. These would need to be treated with the serum.
Here are Dr. Sears’ notes on using Newcastle Disease Vaccine, as a simple intravenous shot to the body of a dog in the pre-seizure stage of canine distemper: This is made with 6 cc of diluent into a bottle of 1000 virus particles. The dosage is 0.2 cc of mixture per 10 pounds of dog. Give the injection twice over 24 hours as factor induced is short lived. This is the inducer. If treating ODE [post seizures] the dose is 1/2 cc of same into the foramen magnum
As to the injection site: “There are three veins available in the dog. Cephalic in the front leg. Popliteal in the hind leg and the Jugular in the neck. Any works well.”
Note: Some vets have reported dogs going into shock following the intravenous NDV injection. However, they have been able to manage this with fluids and epinephrine. Others have said they give the shot over a 15-minute period to avoid shock.
You might be able to find the Newcastle Disease Vaccine in an agricultural supply store. But there are sources online.
Jeffers Livestock is where you can order NDV (LaSota strain) online. Make sure you order this one which does not combine any other vaccines with it:
Poulvac® Newcastle B
Newcastle Disease(LaSota Strain)(MLV)
(Fort Dodge) Vaccine
F7-JD Poulvac® Newcastle LaSota
$3.97
http://www.jefferslivestock.com/
The above company is in Dothan, Alabama.
Here are some numbers for them:
Toll Free:1-800-JEFFERS or 1-800-533-3377
Local:1-334-793-6257
Fax:1-334-793-5179
Email: customerservice@jefferspet.com
The Newcastle Disease Vaccine can also be ordered through this Web site:
Dante was found on the streets of Hancock Park in the Los Angeles area three weeks ago wandering with a female Husky. He was adopted from the shelter along with the Husky as a bonded pair. From the time he came out of the shelter he was being treated for kennel cough. The kennel cough was getting worse and the family took him to the vet, and the vet diagnosed Dante with distemper. The family had been considering euthanasia until Kind Hearts In Action and Under the Porch came forward to get Dante to a vet willing to try Dr. Sears’ distemper treatments.
Dante is now at the vet awaiting treatment, but donations are needed to pay his vet bills. Donations can be made through Paypal at the Under The Porch Web site at http://undertheporch.wordpress.com/ or through Kind Hearts In Action at https://kindheartsinaction.com/
We also need funds to pay for the creation of Dr. Sears’ serum to save dogs in Southern California.
Please help,
Ed Bond
From Karen Bond: Dante didn’t make it – he passed away in the night after the last bed check at midnite and before the 6 am rounds. He appeared to have gone in his sleep not all twisted from a siezure . The vet techs had all spend time with him petting and talking to him and trying to make him comfortable. It was just too late for him … Sorry guys, we tried … We will save the next one is what we have to hope.
This is from Dr. Sears’ lecture in October 2009. It’s a very useful clip for any vets who are using the spinal tap. To order the DVD go here.
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!
