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Report on effectiveness of NDV treatments

February 5, 2013 by 19 Comments
Statistics compiled by Kind Hearts In Action between December 2008 and February 2013.

“I’m sorry, but your dog has distemper. You should have him put to sleep.”

This is what dog owners around the world are told far too often. According to the experts, distemper is an incurable disease from which few dogs survive. Euthanasia is the frequent course of action.

But we’d like to show you some facts that we hope will give the experts a reason to think again. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dogs could be needlessly dying of this disease every year.

Since December 2008, Save Dogs From Canine Distemper, a project of Kind Hearts In Action, has been tracking the effectiveness of a treatment discovered by a veterinarian in Lancaster, California. Dr. Alson Sears could not get the veterinary community to listen to him when he first discovered NDV-induced serum in the late 1960s. But now, our numbers support – if not yet prove – Dr. Sears’ claim that distemper is curable.

We do not claim here that we have proven this cure, but we consider these treatments to be at least encouraging and worth further investigation.

We have received reports from 20 vets who have used NDV to treat distemper dogs. Of those, 12 vets used NDV-induced serum in the early stages of the disease, and in 86 percent of those cases, the distemper dog survived. Dog caregivers — owners, fosters and rescuers — tell us that 62.6 percent of distemper dogs were saved by one of the treatments developed by Dr. Sears using NDV — Newcastle Disease Vaccine.

These numbers were compiled from e-mails from dog caregivers and from a survey of vets using the NDV treatments. These statistics support our primary conclusion that if dogs can be treated within four to six days of the onset of symptoms, the majority of these animals can be saved. Our conclusion is also supported by a study conducted in Korea in 2003, which is included below. However, the survival rate also relies on getting a fast diagnosis, on having a supply of serum available, and in successfully treating the dog for the opportunistic diseases — such as pneumonia — that usually accompanies distemper.

History

Dr. Alson Sears, a veterinarian in the desert community of Lancaster, Calif., discovered how to use Newcastle Disease Vaccine (NDV) as a treatment for canine distemper in the late 1960s/early 1970s . The basic principle of the treatment is to use the NDV as an inducer to prompt a reaction in the dog’s immune system that can create a material to kill the distemper virus. The protocol for making the serum is available here.

Dr. Sears reports treating more than 600 dogs for canine distemper during his years as a practicing vet. He says that dogs infected with the distemper virus treated before going through the sixth day of showing symptoms had a survival rate in the high 90s. Dr. Sears was not able to get his discovery published. He retired in 2006.

However, his treatment had been made available on the Internet since May 2000 [http://www.edbond.com/distemper.html], and some vets have followed his treatments and theories with success. Today, the NDV treatments include the NDV-induced serum, the NDV as an IV injection to the body and the NDV spinal tap, which is for dogs in the neurologic stage of distemper.

With a treatment that had been discovered in late 60s/early 70s and available on the Internet for nearly 12 years, the question has often been raised about why more conclusive information has not been published before now.

This is because:

  1. After his discovery, Dr. Sears ran into overwhelming disbelief about his treatments. “Son, that’s impossible. Sit down,” he was told when he tried to explain his discovery at a veterinary conference. This was a discouraging experience for him.
  2. He lacked the resources and ability to get his work published. When he contacted major universities about his discovery in the 1970s, he was told he would have to pay $500,000 to have a research project conducted. As a simple, clinical vet trying to meet the expenses of running his clinic, he had no way of paying so much. So, he remained quiet about his discovery for decades.
  3. While his treatments were posted on a website in May 2000, the Save Dogs From Distemper project did not get started until December 2008. Our early efforts focused on reaching out to dog owners and vets. In 2011, our efforts to prove Dr. Sears’ theories coalesced into a plan known as Project Carré. We believe Project Carré will answer many of the criticisms about these treatments when it is concluded. In the meantime, we have compiled these preliminary statistics.

How this report was compiled

The data for the report comes from two sources:

  1. Veterinarians using NDV
  2. Dog owners, caregivers or rescue groups.

Every case reported to us has been included in our statistics. We are not selective in compiling our information.

Kind Hearts In Action contacted veterinarians using NDV with either a mailed survey, through the Internet and e-mail and sometimes by phone. They were asked:

  • Do you use NDV to treat canine distemper?
  • Do you use NDV serum?
  • How many dogs have you treated with NDV serum?
  • How many of those dogs survived?
  • Do you use NDV in an IV?
  • How many dogs have you treated with NDV in IV?
  • How many of those dogs survived?
  • Have you used the NDV spinal tap?
  • How many dogs have you treated with the NDV spinal tap?
  • How many of those dogs survived?

For this survey, the diagnosis of distemper relied on the judgment of each vet. Very often, the dog owners did not want to pay the additional expense of a lab test. So, the vets would make the diagnosis based on their experience, the apparent symptoms and in the context of whether they were in the midst of a distemper outbreak. The reports from owners and dog caregivers was largely tracked by e-mail.

Because the means of diagnosis is inconsistent, we do not claim that these numbers prove canine distemper can be cured. Our work to prove the effectiveness of these treatments is not done. But we gathered these numbers as an attempt to give a sample of what is happening around the world. We hardly think that all distemper cases are being reported to us, and very often we are told that the cases we do know of are just a handful of examples out of a population where dogs are dying in overwhelming numbers.

Very often, much of the resistance about Dr. Sears’ theories comes from the conclusion that vaccination alone has the problem of distemper under control. While vaccination is essential to fighting this disease and we strongly encourage all dogs to be vaccinated, the numbers of cases that have been reported to us show that distemper is still a problem. Shelter outbreaks, exposure from wild animals and unvaccinated puppies allow the disease to continue.

It would be useful if a U.S. or international agency took on the role of compiling reliable statistics on how many dogs are dying of distemper. The veterinary community may not even fully realize how big the problem of distemper is.

Still, we feel these numbers at least show that there is hope, and our plan is to gather the kind of detailed, consistent data that will stand up to scientific review as part of Project Carré. If this treatment can be published and accepted in a veterinary journal, we believe the lives of countless dogs can be saved.

Any vets who have information about dogs they have treated with NDV-induced serum are asked to e-mail Ed Bond at ed.bond.new.york@gmail.com. These statistics will be updated routinely as we receive further reports.

Report on outcomes from veterinarians

According to 20 veterinarians who have reported outcomes to Kind Hearts In Action, 522 dogs infected with the distemper virus have been treated with at least one of the NDV treatments. Of those, 368 survived (70.5 percent). Twelve of these vets reported treating 225 cases with the NDV-induced serum of which 194 survived, for a survival rate of 86 percent.

It is important to note that 150 of these dogs were treated in 2010 with NDV-induced serum by a Houston area vet as part of Project Hope. They report that of the 150 dogs that were treated with NDV-induced serum, 90 percent survived – 135 dogs. Combining these numbers with the efforts of other vets, Project Hope reports saving nearly 200 dogs from canine distemper.

The other cases include 157 dogs that were treated with NDV as an IV injection, of which 109 survived and 140 treated with NDV spinal taps of which 65 survived. Two of the surviving dogs treated with NDV as IV in Puerto Rico were also treated with NDV-induced serum.

Here is a report on a dog treated with the NDV spinal tap by a vet in Alberta, Canada.

In one of the spinal tap cases, a vet in South Africa injected the NDV-induced serum in the spinal canal — instead of the straight NDV vaccine — and that dog was reported to be doing well.

Vets who had reported on the effectiveness of the treatments were from Florida, Texas, California, Virginia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Mexico, South Africa and the Philippines. One vet in the Los Angeles area reported treating five dogs with NDV as IV, but did not learn the outcomes of those cases. Another vet in Southern Florida reports having used NDV on distemper dogs 27 times since 2009, but did not have the reports on outcomes available. These cases where the outcomes were unknown have not been added to the totals from the vets.

Report from Korea

A study on the effectiveness of the NDV-induced serum was also conducted in Korea in 2003. According to Dr. Kim Hee-Young, DVM, MS, PhD, the senior researcher for the Korea Animal Blood Bank, that was when he discovered the website about Dr. Sears’ treatment. He reports:

“In 2003, 102 dogs (from 12 vets) were diagnosed by ELISA as Distemper infection. Of them, the 54 dogs (52 %) were recovered completely on the check-up 6 weeks after the Sears treatment. In Korea, the success rate of conventional treatment in cases confirmed as Distemper (ELISA) was usually lower than 8 %.”

Dr. Sears’ serum has been available on the inventory of the Korea Animal Blood Bank since 2004.
 [http://board-1.blueweb.co.kr/board.cgi?id=vet20&bname=news&unum=14&action=view]

Dr. Kim Hee-Young writes:

“We have used Sears plasma (serum) in Distemper cases and found it works wonderful. … But, cases more than 5 days after symptoms or with neurological symptoms did not show any improvements. Some of the vets reported deterioration after injection. Thus, we don’t recommend to use it in cases which had shown distemper symptoms more than 4 days.”

Report on outcomes from dog caregivers

Since December 2008, dog caregivers — owners, fosters and rescuers — have reported the outcomes of 827 distemper cases to the Save Dogs From Distemper project. Of these, 536 dogs with distemper were treated with an NDV treatment and 337 survived (62.8 percent survival rate).

This includes:

  • 170 of 227 distemper dogs treated with serum that survived (74.8 percent).
  • 75 of 109 distemper dogs treated with NDV as an IV injection that survived (68.8 percent)
  • 92 of 200 dogs with neurologic distemper treated with the NDV spinal tap that survived. (46 percent)

There were also 291 cases that were not treated with NDV, of which 69 survived. (23.7 percent.) Also, 64 cases initially thought to be distemper were later diagnosed with a different disease. Of these, 51 dogs lived and 13 died. These were not included in the 827 cases listed above.

On Nov. 8, 2011, a dog owner from Monterrey, Mexico, reported that her puppy died shortly after being treated with NDV-induced serum. She wrote that before the NDV-serum treatment, another vet had also treated the puppy with a variety of treatments including Zylexis. After the death, the vet told the owner, “It was a shock MAYBE because of the serum mixed with the Zylexis.” Zylexis, which is used to boost the immune system of horses, is not part of Dr. Sears’ protocols.

Additional photos, videos and owner testimonials of dogs successfully treated for canine distemper are available at http://kindheartsinaction.com/

If you have additional reports to share with us, please e-mail ed.bond.new.york@gmail.com and we will update these numbers as we receive them.

Conclusions

If anything, the numbers above show that distemper can be a treatable and survivable disease. Even without using NDV, about 23 percent of dogs can survive the initial infection of distemper. However, those dogs that do survive without treatment often have done so through the extraordinary efforts of the owner or caregiver. Such dogs often survive with neurologic problems, damage to teeth, organs and other issues. But these dogs are also at risk to continuing and advancing neurologic problems that may lead to death later on.

The timely use of NDV can greatly increase the odds of survival and limit the damaging effects of the distemper virus. According to caregivers, the overall survival rate for dogs treated with one of the NDV treatments is 62.8 percent. According to vets, the overall survival rate is 70.5 percent, but that climbs to 86 percent when considering only those cases treated with the NDV serum before the onset of neural problems.

Our position continues to be that treating with the NDV serum before the dog goes through the sixth day of symptoms is the most advantageous way of treating distemper. The report from Korea recommends treating within four days of symptoms, and that also seems to be a reasonable goal. The sooner a dog can be treated, the better.

As to why these treatments work, our theory is that the NDV causes a reaction within a dog’s immune system that produces a previously unknown material or group of interacting materials, that is able to neutralize the invading virus. However, finding the answer would require extensive scientific research.

The IV injection of NDV does exist as an option for treating distemper if the NDV-induced serum is not available. The NDV vaccine can be acquired and given to a sick dog as an IV injection very quickly. So, many dogs have been saved that way, and it spares the dog owner from an agonizing delay as they would have to persuade a vet to make the NDV-induced serum with a donor dog.

However, the problem with giving the sick dog a straight injection of the NDV is that recovery relies on the animal’s immune system being strong enough to create the needed response to fight the distemper virus.

NDV as an IV injection may save a dog or puppy:

  • If the immune system is intact.
  • If it is older than 12 weeks.
  • If it is not a pure breed known to not have a response to NDV. This should not be the primary way to treat dogs, but might be used if the NDV-induced serum is not available.

If the dog’s immune system is strong enough, this material can be made from the NDV injection and save the animal. If the immune system is too damaged to respond or if the dog is of a breed that does not make the needed response, the straight NDV IV injection will not save the dog.

According to Dr. Sears, breeds that do not have the needed response to NDV include:

  • German shepherds
  • poodles
  • Irish setters
  • Gordon setters
  • English bulldogs
  • Shar Peis.

For puppies younger than 12 weeks, the best option to save them is to use the NDV-induced serum before the neurologic stage of the disease.

It has been with vets who already have the serum on hand that the most success has been seen. The timely diagnosis of distemper in dogs is also critical in saving lives. This is why Dr. Sears came up with a quick and reliable test for distemper by checking the cells of the bladder in what is called a Brush Border Smear.

Dr. Sears was able to save dogs at a rate in the high 90s because he was able to quickly identify distemper cases and treat the dogs before the narrow window of opportunity closed. Similarly, the vet in Houston was able to save a large majority of dogs because of the ability to treat dogs quickly with a readily available source of serum.

However, the use of the serum does not guarantee that a dog will be saved. Distemper often opens up other opportunistic infections such as pneumonia. Vets and caregivers have reported that even though they saw distemper symptoms reverse after NDV treatment, the dog died of pneumonia, another disease or medical problem. Dr. Sears has written a protocol of recommended treatments to give dogs an improved chance of survival.

As to the NDV spinal tap, it does offer some hope for the owner of a distemper dog that has gone into the neurologic stage of the disease. However, the chances of survival are less than 50 percent. For some of these dogs with neurologic distemper, they were saved because the caregivers put in extraordinary effort and intensive nursing care in addition to the NDV spinal tap. So, it exists as a way that can save some dogs. Here are some additional notes from Dr. Sears on measures to take after the NDV spinal tap.

Further information is available at http://kindheartsinaction.com/

We invite any reasonable, skeptical inquiries into this report.

Ed Bond
ed.bond.new.york@gmail.com
Kind Hearts In Action
Feb. 16, 2013

Copyright © 2013 Kind Hearts In Action Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Filed Under: Canine Distemper, effective Tagged With: , ,

Mater gets to be a puppy again

February 21, 2012 by 1 Comment

Here is Mater today. You wouldn't know that Mater had been a couple of days from being put down to avoid the misery of distemper.

This is Mater.

Mater already has an interesting tale to tell at the tender age of 6 months, but only because of Kind Hearts in Action, we are able to show the above picture just two weeks after he was diagnosed with canine distemper.

We picked up Mater from the local animal shelter already malnourished with little hair on his ears due to a fungus.  Except for a missed case of some worms, we figured it wouldn’t

Here's Mater when we picked him up from the shelter. We were happy to find him. My son named him on the way to the shelter even before we saw him.

take much to bring this pup around and make him a part of the family.  He made a quick impression.  He bonded immediately with us and his older brother, a pound mutt we have had for 12 years now.

A week after we brought Mater home, I noticed that he was developing a dry cough.  Our initial thought was kennel cough that was picked up before he left the shelter.  We let it go for a couple of days before I took Mater to our usual vet.  He expected it to also be kennel cough and prescribed some antibiotics and anti-cough medicine to take over the next 2 weeks.  One thing he did mention that I didn’t pay much attention to was that it could be distemper.  I probably should have listened a little more intently, but he didn’t seem to emphasize it too much.

I went away that weekend for a business trip.  On the day before I came back, my wife mentioned that Mater wasn’t really eating much anymore, was very lethargic, and looked even skinnier than before!  I told her to get him some soft food, as his throat was probably sore from his coughing spells.  He was probably tired from the medicine he was taking.  We hoped.

Upon returning from my trip, just a week after the coughing had started, I started fearing the worst- distemper.  Mater rarely left his kennel, would only eat a few mouthfuls of food, and had lost over 10% of his already low body weight.  I knew that I needed to see the vet the next day.

Driving to the vet, I wasn’t sure that I would even be able to bring Mater home.  He didn’t want to move much and only perked up to go outside for his breaks.  The vet didn’t have to look for long before telling me that Mater had distemper.  He could run tests, but he had seen this enough times to see the symptoms- crusting nose, gunky eyes, non-productive coughing, loss of weight, sensitivity to light, and so on.  There would be no saving Mater if this was true, but just in case it wasn’t distemper, I was given a different antibiotic to treat the developing pneumonia free of charge.  I could tell the vet felt sorry for what we were about to go through.

I went home pissed off!  This dog had endeared himself to us.  His personality was perfect, he had had only one “accident” in the house even while deathly sick although this was the first house he had lived in, and he was a fighter.  I had to find some videos of other dogs that went through distemper to see just how bad it would get so I would know how soon to put Mater down.  The first few videos were terrible.  I could tell that I would have to take Mater back to the vet in just a couple of days just so he could avoid the attack on his nervous system.  He had already had the respiratory symptoms for about 8 days at this point so he didn’t have much longer until twitches and seizures would set in.  The last video I looked at piqued my interest; it was of a pair of dogs that were taken to a vet in New Mexico for treatment of distemper.  One of the dogs lived, one died.

With visions of an overnight drive to New Mexico already racing through my mind, I watched the movie clip to see a seemingly easy procedure done to save a dog that had distemper.  Fortunately for Mater and me, there was a website address at the end of the video that saved me the drive- kindheartsinaction.com.

It was already late in the afternoon so I quickly skimmed what I could to see if this was a legitimate website.  If my vet said that there is no cure, then there is no cure.  This had to be some type of scam.  Against my better judgment, I emailed Mr. Ed Bond for some info on any local vets.  An email came back within minutes with the name of a local vet.  Yep, a scam, but I was dealing with a dying puppy.  I decided to call the vet.

The lady on the other end of the phone seemed patient enough with me when I asked her about treatment for distemper.  She, in fact, talked about it like it wasn’t necessarily a big deal.  I tactfully brought in my final question, “How much?”

I laughed at the answer!  Not because of the high cost but at the ridiculously low cost.  I jumped at the first available appointment the following afternoon.  My hope was that Mater would make it through the night and wouldn’t develop any symptoms that would show that the virus had entered his nervous system.

Mater did make it through the night and to the vet’s office.  The vet explained what I had already read through on the website.  Mater would need 3 serum injections, 12 hours apart, and some more penicillin for the respiratory infection.  Mater’s white blood cell was in the normal range, a good sign.  I told you he was a fighter.

At home, we waited for my wife to come home from work.  She thought that Mater already looked livelier although it would take 24-36 hours to get back to normal.  Mater’s next serum shot would have to be done by us in the middle of the night.  To make a long story short, we visited an urgent care clinic at 4 in the morning where a nurse offered to inject Mater out of the kindness of his heart, as we weren’t the best at getting just under the skin.  Even better would be the next injection where I was the only one around.  I got lucky and it went right in.

My wife arrived home from work a couple of hours after the last serum injection.  With nervous anticipation, she called out Mater’s name.  Joy rang out as Mater ran around the corner towards her already on a fast path to recovery.  This was the same day I had originally set aside to put Mater down after the last visit to my regular vet when I was told that there was nothing that could be done.

It has been less than two weeks since Mater received his treatment.  He is back to being a puppy- chasing the ball, chewing on my slippers, wagging his tail by the door when he needs to go outside.  I bet Mater feels fortunate to be here.  I know we feel fortunate to have Mater here and to be able to spread the word that there is a treatment for distemper.

Craig Blackburn
Feb. 20, 2012

Mater's first bath, the day after we picked him up.

Filed Under: Canine Distemper, Saved Dogs Tagged With: ,

Three puppies saved in Colorado

December 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Ptarmigan & Annie Oakley

Received Aug. 12, 2011

My name is Laurie. My boyfriend and I adopted two puppies from Texas that have been exposed to distemper. We are located in Vail, Co. The puppies have been coughing and sneezing for almost 3 weeks now (since we received them). Our little male puppy (6ish months, maybe a lab/Dane mix??) woke up this morning with a cracking nose And coughing up mucus. He also threw up his food after a car ride-could be car sickness or an upset stomach from clavamox or a distemper symptom. They both previously have had a clear liquid coming out of their nose but nothing more than a watery nose that dogs get. They had a little bit of eye discharge but that has since stopped. Their poop was runny but they are on probiotics that seem to be helping. They have not had seizures. They had their 1st round of shots..we are torn about getting their next set with them showing symptoms?? Our little girl puppy is better than the male. She is a 4ish month old pug mix. They both still act like happy, playful pups. Not lethargic. We rescued them because they were about to be put down. We don’t have much money but want to do everything we can to help them survive and have a life they deserve.  …  They have not been diagnosed but did spend their trip to co  with an distemper infected puppy that passed away this week. Thanks so much for your help!!

Laurie Lilley
Vail, Colorado

Received Dec. 4, 2011

We treated 3 puppies with the NDV treatments.

We fist gave all 3 of them the straight vaccine, then when the serum came we treated them all with the serum.
After 3 weeks, 2 of the puppies started showing neurological signs (after seeming almost 100% cured) so we immediately did the spinal tap on both and gave each of the puppies(all 3) another round of the serum.  This week, we gave one of the puppies that had the neurological distemper another round of the serum (his nose is drying out again).

All 3 of the puppies are alive and well, thanks to the NDV treatments.  Though we are still waiting on pins and needles, they all are acting like healthy little pups without a worry in the world.

Both puppies that had the spinal tap have remaining twitches, however, after receiving the procedures the rapid progression ceased in both.

We soo greatly appreciate all your hard work in getting this treatment out there.  Our pups are finally living a life they deserve.  If it isn’t bad enough that they were all strays in a kill shelter hours away from death, they came down with an “hopeless” virus when they finally had been saved from the needle and given a chance to live.  You helped make believers out of 4 people that just wanted to save some lives from euthanasia, and 4 vets that were 100% skeptical of the treatments we were asking them to preform.

We thank you!! As do our children, Ptarmigan, Annie Oakley, & Sully.

Laurie Lilley
Vail, Colorado

Filed Under: Canine Distemper, Saved Dogs Tagged With: ,

Mojave survives neurologic distemper

November 9, 2011 by 1 Comment

I adopted Mojave (Moe) in June 2011 from a Border Collie Breed Rescue program. Moe was found wandering in the Mojave Desert and breed rescue picked him up from a shelter in that area. Moe was covered with foxtails, not neutered, and apparently had never been vaccinated for distemper as a puppy. He subsequently received all of his immunizations (including distemper) upon being picked up by the rescue folks. However, Moe was unfortunately exposed to distemper in the shelter where he stayed initially.

About 10 days after I adopted Moe, he came down with double pneumonia and a collapsed lung. My vet was hoping that this was not a complication from distemper, but we had no way of knowing that at the time. Moe’s infection cleared up after several weeks of intensive antibiotics, IV hydration, and breathing treatments.

Approximately a week after Moe recovered from the pneumonia he began to have tremors in his hind legs. We went back to his primary vet who suspected that these symptoms were distemper related. A blood test was drawn, but the

Moe and Shasta

results were not to be available for several weeks. At that point we saw a neurologist who confirmed the diagnosis of distemper based on Moe’s symptoms. She videoed him for teaching purposes since distemper is not common in adult dogs and basically told us to go home and say our goodbyes to Moe. I found that unacceptable!

Fortunately around the same time one of women from rescue told me about the Newcastle serum vaccine. She told me at 8 in the morning and at 11 am the same day Moe and I drove to see Dr. Slaton at Westlake Village Animal Hospital. Dr. Slaton is awesome! He spent time talking to me on the phone while I was making the 400 mile drive and explained the spinal tap infusion treatment in great detail. When we arrive Moe was checked in and scheduled to have the infusion the next morning. All went well, we drove home three days later and now the Moe dog you see in the videos is our recovering warrior dog!

Conventional veterinarian medicine does not accept this treatment as valid. I wish more doctors did because the Newcastle vaccine discovered by Dr. Sears does work if administered in time. Mojave is living proof of this!

Pam Nabors
Nov. 9, 2011

Filed Under: Canine Distemper, Saved Dogs Tagged With: , ,

Why I care about canine distemper

November 1, 2011 by 1 Comment

I care about this disease because:

1) We lost two puppies in a row to distemper.

2) The next year, another dog of ours, Galen, also came down with distemper, but was SAVED because of the NDV-induced serum discovered by Dr. Al Sears.

3) Even though this serum has saved dogs AROUND THE WORLD, it has not yet been accepted as a treatment by the veterinary profession.

4) Until this treatment is accepted, dogs will NEEDLESSLY DIE of this disease.

We need donations to fund our effort to prove these treatments can work. If you can donate, please do. If you cannot, please SHARE!

Please send our videos and website to your friends or anyone who cares about dogs.

For more information, go here: http://www.kindheartsinaction.com/project-carre.

It all depends on you.

Thank you,

Ed Bond
Kind Hearts In Action

Filed Under: Canine Distemper Tagged With: , ,

Please tell a friend about canine distemper

October 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Thanks so much to everyone who has helped Project Carré.

Our current Microgiving fundraiser, which has added $940 to our total so far, will be wrapping up Nov. 3, and we need help getting out the word to people who have not dealt with this disease. While we’ve raised more than $3,000 in the battle against canine distemper, we still need at least $2,000 more just to get started.

So many people who have helped know about distemper firsthand.

You know what it’s like to watch as a beloved, furry member of the family gets these flu-like symptoms, then later starts twitching in a leg, shuddering in the head and eventually starts having seizures. Along the way, the pads of the feet get hard. Walking becomes difficult. The nose, already stuffed with mucous, dries and cracks. All the joy in being a dog falls away. It is no wonder so many vets will recommend euthanasia as a kindness to these animals.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Dogs can be returned to health: running, playing, hunting animals in the woods, smelling, living life to its fullest. I’ve seen it happen with my own dog, and people from all over the world have written to me about their success stories.

We’ve got pictures, videos and owners accounts to show this.

However, this remains a little-understood disease.

For most owners, distemper is just one of many diseases that their pet gets an inoculation for during a routine vet visit. Distemper is just a remote hypothetical to them, and they need someone who knows about this disease first hand to explain what it is and why it is so important that a cure be approved.

I’ve put together a Q&A that you might show to your friends and contacts or that you might use to talk about distemper and why a cure is needed. You can find it here.

Please share this with your friends, or send them direct to the page on Project Carré.

Bear in mind just how unique our cause is. How many nonprofits do you know of fighting a disease, trying to find a cure?

We are a cause fighting a disease and we ALREADY have a cure. All that remains is to prove that it works.

With one smart, focused effort — backed by enough donations — we can put an end to this.

Dogs will no longer have to die of canine distemper.

Thanks,

Ed Bond

 

Copyright © 2011 Kind Hearts In Action Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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Filed Under: Canine Distemper Tagged With: , ,

Q&A on distemper

October 25, 2011 by 1 Comment

Questions and answers for people who have not experienced canine distemper. These are based on questions I’ve been asked over the years. Post your own questions as a comment.

So, canine distemper, that’s like rabies, right?

Wrong.

Rabies and distemper are separate diseases caused by different viruses.

“Rabies is spread by infected saliva that enters the body through a bite or broken skin. The virus travels from the wound to the brain, where it causes swelling, or inflammation. This inflammation leads to symptoms of the disease. Most rabies deaths occur in children.” [PubMed Health.]

Distemper is often spread through the aerosol discharge from the nose of an infected animal. It does not transmit from dog to human the way that rabies does. It also does not increase the anxiety, stress and aggressiveness of the victim. Both diseases include seizures among their symptoms, but while rabies is a threat to humans, canine distemper only attacks dogs. The distemper virus affects every system and every organ of the dog. The symptoms of the early stages of distemper include a gunky/runny nose, dry eyes, dry/cracking nose, dry/cracking pads of feet, vomiting and diarrhea and fever. In the latter stage, the virus attacks the nervous system, causing seizures. However, the disease does not attack every dog the same way. So, symptoms don’t come in the same order.

I heard the only way you can be sure it’s distemper is when you see seizures.

No, there are ways to tell. And you don’t want to wait that long. That’s the stage where it is hardest to save the animal’s life. One way to diagnose distemper is by checking the cells of the bladder through what is called a Brush Border Smear. There is also a new lab test that can tell the difference between antibodies from an active infection rather than from a vaccination.

What’s it like to have canine distemper?

I recently asked Dr. Al Sears this question, and this is what he had to say:

“Have you ever had the flu? You’re dizzy. You sit up, and you get dizzy. You’ve got diarrhea. You’re vomiting. You can’t eat. You can’t drink anything. You’ve got a fever. You’re sweating. You’re laying there in bed, just wishing you could die. How does that feel? The difference for dogs is the majority of them go on to stop breathing. When you have a real bad case of the flu, you almost wish that would happen. That’s basically how I’m sure how those dogs feel. I’m sure in an acute case, they wish they were dead. I’m sure the majority of them go on to die, but that’s only because of organ failure. God, it affects every organ of the body practically. …  Your eyes are all full of mucous. You can’t see. Are those dogs comfortable? No they’re miserable. They’re in severe pain and they don’t like what’s going on. They’re hurting. …  You can have hardpad, which makes it almost impossible for the dog to walk. Consider somebody shaving off all the skin on the base of your foot and then ask you to walk across the room. You can’t do it. Think about the dog that gets bad teeth, loses all the enamel on their teeth …  Or the ones that lose their ability to make tears, so they can’t even blink. These are all secondary problems that occur.”

Why worry about canine distemper? I thought there was a vaccine to take care of that.

There is a vaccine that can prevent the disease, first developed in 1950, but the disease continues. Without an accepted treatment, unvaccinated dogs still get sick and die. There are hotspots of distemper all over the world. In the U.S., it is most common in the South and West. It keeps spreading because of outbreaks in shelters, hitting stray dogs and puppies. Contact with wildlife also spreads the disease. But nobody seems to be keeping statistics on the disease, so no one really knows how big a problem there is. But we’ve received thousands of e-mails from hundreds of people begging for help from around the world. We’ve maintained a page on stats that we have tracked through our site.

Why should I care if strays and shelter dogs get distemper?

Because you, or someone you love or someone in your community, may someday fall in love with a stray or a shelter dog. It happens. [That's what happened with me.] People bring home a dog that seems healthy, fall in love with it, and the children in the home get attached, all before the first symptoms hit. Eventually, a vet may make the diagnosis of distemper, and it hits with the finality of a death sentence. But then, owners are told that a few dogs might survive. This gives a false sense of hope, and they struggle to save their pet with the accepted protocols — antibiotics, fluids and supportive therapy — but to no avail. The animal dies after the family has gone through hell — and a lot of money — to save their pet. We believe they could have been spared the pain, misery and financial expense with an early diagnosis and a vet who had a ready supply of NDV-induced serum.

I don’t hear about distemper in my community. So, it’s not a problem here.

Distemper can crop up literally anywhere. For example, it is not very common in the Northeast. But in the past three years, we have received requests for help on distemper cases in Buffalo, Syracuse, Scranton, Pa., New Jersey and the New York City area. Unfortunately, vets in the Northeast have been very reluctant to try the NDV treatments, and we have yet to save a dog in the Northeast. Eventually, it can come to your town.

I thought only puppies get distemper

No, it can hit any unvaccinated dog, at any age.

I read on the Internet that there is no cure, and no absolutely no proof that NDV can cure dogs of distemper.

It’s accurate to say the treatment has not been proven. But all we are asking for is a chance to prove that it does work. This is a new way to fight disease. When Edward Jenner injected cowpox into an 8-year-old boy in 1796, he had no guarantee that it would save him from smallpox. When it did, it opened up new possibilities in fighting disease. Alexander Fleming did the same thing in 1928 when he discovered penicillin when his lab samples were accidentally contaminated with mold. Dr. Sears’ protocol may have unlocked a new weapon against a disease, even though we don’t know what it is or how it works, yet.

Ed Bond

Oct. 25, 2011

Have more questions on distemper? Please post in the comments below, and we’ll answer them here.

Copyright © 2011 Kind Hearts In Action Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Filed Under: Canine Distemper Tagged With: , ,

Millie’s Story

August 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment

UPDATE: Sept. 20, 2011

“As fate would have it and as we all very well know, distemper is a cruel and many times deceiving disease. Such was the case with Millie. Millie crossed the Rainbow Bridge today. After making what for all practical purposes was a full recovery and after having gone 14 days post treatment with no symptoms, the neurological aspect of the virus reared its ugly head and it was simply more than she could overcome. I want to thank Ed for always being there with words of encouragement and for his endless support and dedication in helping get the word out that there is hope. I would also like to thank Dr H. for his help in giving verbal guidance to my vet with Millie’s initial treatment and lastly to Dr. S. for being willing to go “outside the box”. Your compassion is greatly appreciated. Even though Millie’s journey didn’t have the outcome we had all wanted, I have no doubt that under the right circumstances, this treatment is a means of survival for many dogs who would otherwise not have a chance and I would not hesitate to do it over again if the need arose. Please, to anyone reading this, if your vet even remotely suspects your dog has distemper, ask him/her to administer the NDV vaccine while waiting for lab results. Timing is so crucial in catching the virus before neurological systems occur. If treated prior to it breaking the blood brain barrier, the chances of survival are very good. Again, thank you to everyone who has silently been following Mille’s story and saying prayers. My vet and I learned a lot thru this little angel and I know it is thru this knowledge gained and with her loss, we will be able to save many lives in the future.”
Mary Randolph

Millie, three days prior to the onset of the seizures.

Millie, a rat terrier in East Texas.

Here’s Mary’s account of Millie’s case, as received on Aug. 31, 2011:

I want to start out by thanking my vet and his wonderful staff. If it weren’t for him being willing to go out on that limb and try something he had never heard of before, I know Millie would have become just another casualty of this horrible disease.
7/25: Millie (12 week old Rat Terrier) brought into the pound and given a 7/1 vaccination.
7/30: Adopted and brought home to East Texas with no apparent symptoms of any illness whatsoever. She is active and alert with typical puppy behavior. Got home and took temp. just for safe measures, 101.4. Appetite off and on.
8/1: First trip to the vet for checkup. Everything checks out good. Usual puppy parasites present. Received another vaccination with worm treatment.
8/3: Wet sounding cough develops.
8/5: trip to the vet for cough. Vet says worst case scenario is distemper. Lungs clear, eye/nose clear. No fever. Started on Doxacycline and vitamins. Given an antihistamine/antibiotic

MIllie gets breathing treatment for respiratory infection.

injection and within 24 hours all symptoms are gone. Millie starts eating like a horse and is thriving. Growing and very, very active. Everything is rocking along until the seizures start.
8/18: Up all night with Millie having seizures every 45 min to an hour. She would start pacing then shortly there after stop and start salivating terribly with the “chewing gum” action. This would last 10 to 15 seconds followed by a couple minutes of extreme excitement. Afterwards, she would be hungry, eat well then crash until another seizure was about to start.
8/19: 7:30 at the vets. Millie was administered 2.5ml of Valium. Vet is fairly certain we are dealing with distemper. Still no eye/nose discharge, no cough and no fever. Blood work shows definite viral infection but does not confirm distemper. Sample sent to Texas A/M for confirmation. In the meantime she is placed on Phenobarbital for the seizures and a second antibiotic is added, Chpc, 1ml 3 x day. I also start her on 500mg of Vitamin C to help her immune system and 81mg of aspirin every 36 hours. Seizures completely stop. She is extremely slow but continues to eat well. She is kept quiet and in a non-stimulating environment thru the weekend. Having had dogs all my life and spending 15 years showing Goldens, I just refused to accept the fact that my new puppy was going to become another victim of this cruel disease. After spending hours on the computer Sunday (Aug. 21) afternoon, I came across “kindheartsinaction” and immediately sent Ed Bond an email. Within just a few minutes, he responded back with the names of two vets in Texas.
8/22: Contacted vet in Houston to find out more information. After discovering that what Millie needed was the spinal tap injection along with the IV injection of just the straight vaccine, I immediately contacted my vet and he was willing to give it a try. I purchased the vaccine and had it shipped directly to my vet. This is also the first day that Millie started showing signs of the respiratory phase with the matted eyes and nasal discharge.
[Click here for a PDF of the lab report on Millie's distemper diagnosis.]
8/23: This is where I have to take a moment and say “thank you” to the vet in Houston. Had it not been for his willingness to help my vet do an evaluation of Millie to see if she was even a candidate for the procedure, help in the preparation of the vaccine, calculate the right dosage and actually share his insight as to how he would handle the procedure, my vet said he would not have been able to perform it. Millie was administered the IV injection sometime around noon. Sometime around 3:00, the spinal tap procedure was started and went just as planned. No problems or complications. She was kept overnight for observation purposes.
8/24: Millie experienced a mild twitching of her lip Wednesday morning before coming home. She rested comfortably but was extremely weak. However, she never lost her appetite and continued to drink as well. At this point, the Chpc was increased to 1ml 3 times a day and the phenabarb was decreased to 1/2ml (15mg) twice a day. Gentimycin eye drops were started 3/day. She was still receiving Doxacycline once a day along with the multi vitamin. That evening, the coughing had increased and there was just a huge amount of clear phlegm that she would sometimes cough up and out or cough up and swallow. At this point we are 24 hours post treatment and I’m already beginning to notice the eye/nasal discharge is subsiding. And there have been no seizures. My concern at this time was the phlegm and keeping her lungs cleared. We placed a humidifier next to her crate to help keep the nasal passages moist and open. She coughed all night.
8/25: Millie is having difficulty walking but she is trying really hard. Cough seems to be getting a tick worse along with the amount of phlegm but it remains clear. Eyes and nose have no discharge. She is still eating but refuses to drink which is so important so hubby, who stayed home with Millie to tend to her, starts pushing water. We continue the Vitamin C and baby aspirin regimen. The congestion appears to be getting worse although it remains in the upper respiratory tract and has not moved down into her lungs as of yet. Knowing that if this were a child with this sort of upper respiratory distress, breathing treatments would be being administered so a nebulizer was rented with a peds mask. At the direction of my vet, we administered 1ml of the Chpc antibiotic along with 4 drops of the Gentimycin drops and did breathing treatments twice a day starting the second night, post treatment. After just one treatment, we saw a significant improvement.
8/26: Significant improvement in her walking today. She continues to eat well but still is reluctant to drink so we continue to push the water. She has yet to have a bowel movement so that is now becoming a concern however, that was short lived. She is still moving slow but better. The coughing is starting to slack off but the congestion is still there. She is still eating well but in the afternoon, throws up and it is mostly just phlegm with a little food. She is put back strictly on the Science Diet AD critical care food and that remedies the problem. Several tiny meals a day we found works best during these early days of recovery.
8/27: Breathing treatments continue. By Saturday evening she is feeling much better and actually wants to play a little bit.
8/28: 6 days post treatment. NO SYMPTOMS OF ANY KIND! Congestion is totally gone. Lungs and upper respiratory system sound clear. She continues to get stronger with each passing day. Still a long, long way to go but I am becoming comfortable with the fact that I think this is one little dog this disease won’t claim. She continues to get her antibiotics, vitamins and baby aspirin. Although her demeanor is changing somewhat as she is becoming a bit standoffish but I would suspect a lot of that is contributed to what all she has been thru and the fact that we are constantly administering meds to her via syringe and she is just tired of it.
8/29: Millie continues to get stronger and stronger. Eating and drinking great. She does however, seems to act confused or bewildered at times. We are hoping that this is just a lingering affect from the neuro aspect of the disease and with time, will subside.
8/31: Things are rocking right along. We are now 7 days post-treatment with no symptoms showing what so ever. We increased the Phenobarbital last night to slightly over 1/2ml (15mg) and this seems to have helped her bewilderment tendencies. What a blessing Ed has been thorough out this process. He has been there 24/7 to answer even the most trite question. And Dr. Sears, thank you for never giving up. If it weren’t for you, there is no doubt Millie and the countless others before her would have become yet victims of this horrible disease.

– Mary Randolph

East Texas

Copyright © 2011 Kind Hearts In Action Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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Getting help with the costs of veterinary care

August 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

At Kind Hearts In Action, we’ve fought canine distemper more with information than with money.

Through this website and via e-mails, we’ve been a resource on the NDV treatments. But we don’t have the financial resources to help owners pay for these treatments. This has been heartbreaking because so many times we hear about people who wanted to try the NDV treatments,  but they didn’t have means to pay for them.

Long-term, our strategy is about proving that distemper dogs can be saved by using the NDV-induced serum before the sixth day of symptoms. Not only will this spare dogs the painful and hard-to-treat neurologic stage of the disease, but it should be much more affordable for the dog owners.

But in the meantime, dog owners often face staggering vet bills because very often they do not find out about the NDV treatments until they have already paid hundreds of dollars to vets for the standard course of treatments. There was a very good post on the Speaking for Spot blog today about the high costs of veterinary treatment that you might want to check out here.

Up to now, our advice on how to pay for climbing vet bills has been limited to suggesting a Chip-in or using CareCredit. But now we have another tool to suggest.

Microgiving.com is a crowd funding website that lets people set up projects to collect money for a variety of reasons, from paying an unexpected vet or medical bill to starting a business or funding an independent movie. The concept of microgiving is related to the concept of microloans championed by Muhammad Yunus, who won the Nobel Prize in 2006.  But these are not loans, but small gifts of $5, $10 or $20 or more that together can add up to the meeting the need of your project. Microgiving takes small percentage of what is raised.

One of the things that works about the site is that it connects people in need with the people who can help.

Kind Hearts In Action has a partnership arrangement with Microgiving, so if you do use the site, it can help us too. Soon, we also plan to use Microgiving to help raise funds for Project Carré.

So, check out their site and see if it could help you raise the money you need to pay emergency vet bills or other needs that you have. Please feel free to post comments here about how the Microgiving experience went for you.

Ed Bond
project director on canine distemper
Kind Hearts In Action

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Some of the San Antonio dogs saved with serum

July 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment

We received word this morning of 12 dogs who were treated with serum last week in San Antonio: 2 pups, 4 dogs and 6 very young pups. All were saved.

Here’s some pictures, sent in by Elizabeth Nelson, who writes: “All had coughs and nasal discharge. We didn’t wait for them to get worse. They are all doing well now. Piper is the girl in the top picture. Her 6 puppies were sick too and all got serum and are doing well. The message is don’t wait so see if the dog gets worse so the serum has the best chance of working.”

Piper

Kiefer

Maddie

Bodie. This little guy was a bit worse - even spent a few days at the clinic, and he's a ok as you can see!

Filed Under: Saved Dogs Tagged With: ,
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