“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 little-known vet 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 19 vets who have used NDV to treat distemper dogs. Of those, 11 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 61.7 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 1969. 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 1969 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 serum 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. Last year, 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 we have 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 19 veterinarians who have reported outcomes to Kind Hearts In Action, 519 dogs infected with the distemper virus have been treated with at least one of the NDV treatments. Of those, 366 survived (70.5 percent). Eleven 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 137 treated with NDV spinal taps of which 63 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.

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 724 distemper cases to the Save Dogs From Distemper project. Of these, 467 dogs with distemper were treated with an NDV treatment and 288 survived (61.7 percent survival rate).

This includes:

• 139 of 195 distemper dogs treated with serum that survived (71 percent).
• 67 of 100 distemper dogs treated with NDV as an IV injection that survived (67 percent)
• 82 of 172 dogs with neurologic distemper treated with the NDV spinal tap that survived. (48 percent)

There were also 257 cases that were not treated with NDV, of which 67 survived. (26 percent.) Also, 53 cases initially thought to be distemper were later diagnosed with a different disease. Of these, 40 dogs lived and 13 died. These were not included in the 724 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 25 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 61.7 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, possibly operating at the level of the RNAi system, 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
January 11, 2012

Copyright © 2012 Kind Hearts In Action Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

I have to say that one of the worst days of my life was September 7th 2011 when I found out that my dog Titan may have distemper due to the symptoms he was having.

I thought that it was some kind of cold that he would get thru since he is a strong dog that has never been sick, until I noticed a green/yellow discharge from his nose and more eye buggers than normal. We decided to take him to

Titan

the Vet and get some blood tests to see what was going on with him. Effectively, the morning of September 8th I was told that Titan had tested positive for distemper and that he would probably not make it.

My world, and heart broke into little pieces at the thought of my boy not even making it to his 3rd birthday, I could not give up and give into the doctor’s pessimistic view on Titan, and as hard headed as I am, I started researching more and more to understand the virus, then I came across the www.kindheartsinaction.com web page and almost immediately received a response to my desperate email providing me with some information on NDV vaccine and some contacts in Florida that can possibly have the NDV vaccine.

I quickly called and made an appointment with a vet in Orlando which is 4 hours from my house and then continued to look if there was anyone closer to me that I could receive a faster vaccine since the vet in Orlando only had space to see Titan until Friday night. I could not wait and finally came across a vet in Venice, Florida. I arrived that morning at his clinic and Titan was given the NDV vaccine intravenous, and was prescribed antibiotics to help fight the Distemper virus. Lucky for us titan had no neurological damage yet, and only had the first symptoms of distemper with the discharge, and a wild cough.

The next day I woke up Titan had taken a full 180 and was looking so much better and not coughing as much as before. He started running around chasing lizards, and climbing trees again, and on the second day he was totally over all of his symptoms and back to his normal self again.

I can’t thank you guys so much for saving my dog and giving me the information, hope, and motivation to fight for Titan. As of September 21 he was officially done with his antibiotics and doing great. I am so happy that there is no signs of damage to my boy and he can now live the normal and happy dog life that I have always wanted to give him, if there is anything I can say about this is, don’t give up when people tell you “NO” because when there is a will there is a way and I am living proof.

In conclusion please make sure that your dog has his distemper shot every year, I believe that with the NDV vaccine, antibiotics, God, and being there with my dog thru the whole time allowed him to see that it was worth fighting so he can be with his best friend till the end of days. Today December 09 2011, Titan is 200% and a healthy, happy boy.

Thank you again.

Regards Josh Zepeda and Titan

Miami, Florida

Tjoppie, before treatment for distemper

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

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

Dr. Nancy Kay is the author of Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life. Her writing was fueled by her desire to help people navigate the often overwhelming, confusing, and expensive world of veterinary medicine.

So what is the Speaking for Spot Gives Back Program?  Here’s how it works: When you purchase a copy of Speaking for Spot (www.speakingforspot.com/purchase.html), simply select Kind Hearts In Action (Save Dogs From Canine Distemper is a project of KHIA) from the pull down menu and we will automatically receive $6.00.  That’s 30% of the proceeds from the sale of each book!

Normally, Dr. Kay donates 20 percent of the book sales to animal-centered nonprofit organizations.  Through the end of the year, she’s upping the ante to 30 percent.  Speaking for Spot is an invaluable resource and will make a great gift, not only for yourself, but for your friends, relatives, groomers, veterinary staff, and anyone who shares their home and heart with a dog.

I have this book. It sits proudly on my shelf and is an excellent resource on canine medical issues. You’d be arming yourself with useful knowledge and helping our cause.

Ed Bond
Project director on canine distemper
Kind Hearts In Action

More about Speaking for Spot

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

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

On Oct. 20, I received this e-mail from Heather Hewitt, who lives in Houston.

“Hi Ed,
“I have been in contact with you about my puppies this past year – I know you must get tons of email. My daughter (7th grade) wants to try to raise some money to fight distemper/help with NDV research. She is going to bake dog treats, and put them in the reception area of [a] vet office (Houston, Tx). We will send donations to Kind Hearts In Action in a couple of weeks. May not be much, but just wanted you to know about this. Thanks!”

My reply:

“That’s wonderful! Thanks so much for letting me know. Tell your daughter I really appreciate how thoughtful she is. Every little bit helps us get closer to the goal of beating this disease. Sometimes the smallest donations means so much more than the big ones because they mean they come from a real effort or when someone really cares.”

On Oct. 31, I came back to my computer after my wife and I took our 7-year-old trick-or-treating. This message was waiting for me:

“Hi again,
“Sadie’s project raised $67.14.  We decided to top it off and just donated $100 online (instead of sending you an envelope full of cash)!  Thank you for all you do –”

Sure enough, there was a $100 donation through the Microgiving site in the name of Sadie Hewitt. Heather later sent me the pictures, above. That’s their dog, Snoopy, a distemper survivor who received two NDV spinal taps.

Of course, every donation from every one of you is important, but this one had such a special story that I had to share it. We adults get wrapped up in our causes and issues so much, but when a kid wants to get involved, that’s when you know you’re doing something worthwhile.

Thanks Sadie! Keep making the world a better place!

Ed Bond

Ed Bond

Copyright © 2011 Kind Hearts In Action Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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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.

What can I do to help?

Donate! Please go to our page on Project Carré. Watch the video and read the plan that we explain on that page. Ask your friends to read the page and pass it along. We need donations. We need people to spread the word to others who don’t know about canine distemper, to get them to donate. We also could use retired or active vets to join us and help our project succeed.

Ed Bond

Oct. 25, 2011

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

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