Hi everyone

I'm trying to find out if any of you have any experience of recovery from ataxia brought on by distemper. Francesca is 5 months old and she's had distemper for 5 weeks now. The incoordination in her back legs has got slowly worse until 2 weeks ago when it stabilized (she ended up mostly dragging her bum behind her and trying to hop). For the past two days she seems to have improved a bit (yesterday she took 5 steps towards me).

At the moment, I've started her on ttouch and the vet also suggested some hydrotherapy. I've also changed her diet to a combination of Eukanuba puppy & BARF (mostly just raw meat and grated veggies).

Any other suggestions that may help her get back on her feet faster?

Sorry have no experience of your problem and to be truefull have not met anyone who has in the UK since the 1950's. Which leads me to ask just how common is it in the UK now and have I just been luck not to have come across it. Remember loosing pup after pup to it when I was a child but not heard of it much during the last 30 years.

Hi Jackie

Thanks so much for your reply. I'm not sure about how common it is in the UK (I know of a woman who's lab had picked it up from foxes).
I am in South Africa. Unfortunately, there is no legislation here yet to enforce pet shops and breeders to vaccinate the pups. My vet believes that the mother was not vaccinated and therefore there were no antibodies passed on in the milk. By the time we got Francesca and vaccinated her she was already infected.

My vet sees quite a lot of cases here (mostly dogs picked up by the SPCA in townships and brought to the veterinary university hospital where he lectures), and he believes Francesca's case is truly unusual. He says it is pretty much unbelievable that she lasted 5 weeks (most dogs die within a week). Also my girl is eating like any healthy pup, plays etc - aside from the ataxia there is no other indication that she may be sick.

I suppose the same things that would help with the recovery of a dog with nerve damage caused by paralysis etc could be applied in her case.

It is not compulsory to vaccinate here but up till recently most people did, it is true that commercial kennels will not take un-vacated dogs in to board. Because in the past most dogs were done I think there is a good deal of antibodies still in the breeding stock but I suppose as more and more people stop vaccinating the less immunity there will be. Then as cases of death from infection increase there will be an increase in the number being vaccinated and the cycle will start again.

Would guess where you are it may be a case of lack of cash or perhaps people do not know of the danger or do not think of their dogs as we do, I don't know, you obviously feel about your pup as we do about our dogs but if the general population do not see them as part of the family they will not think it worth giving all pups the protection of vaccinating them.

South Africa has a big income gap. South Africans are huge animal lovers but in some areas money is a problem. Aside from the lack of money though, I think the problem here is the pet shops who try to maximize their profits and skip even the deworming. I suppose we've been very fortunate to be able to get Francesca the best possible care (as long as the credit card will go through ,and she has a chance, we have to keep trying with her).

You ask how common is distemper in the UK, well not very apparently but there has been an upsurge around the Yorkshire area just lately according to the local vet.  My boy was vaccinated AND up to date with his boosters.  He was only 5 and he started with the signs of distemper in September, I had him pts on Saturday 22nd November.  He rallied at one stage when the vet gave him a shot of anabolic steroids, followed by daily oral steroids, but it didn't last.  I am wondering if it was distemper actually, I'm minded to think it may have been a brain tumour.

Sorry to hear about your dog. Distemper is not common in UK dogs now but sadly, it is not as rare as people assume either.

For any one interested in Juliette de Bairacli Levy I`ve put a link below that tells a little about her & her life.
http://www.julietteoftheherbs.com/juliette.htm
:)

Christine, Spain.

Hey Sarah - I'm so sorry to hear about your boy (Sam, right?).

Yes it was Sam, he ended up having more seizures and went downhill very quickly despite rallying quite well for a week or so, it was v distressing, I really hope Francesca pulls through, she is obviously a plucky little thing.  Good luck to you.

Dear Christine and Sarah

I just wanted you two to know how well my little girl Francesca is doing. Since about last Thursday she's been getting up and WALKING! The other day she was fetching her toys for me. Every single day I notice something new that she is now able to do again. Last night she came on her own to the kitchen (across tiles) for her food.

She still drags her bum at times, walks a bit funny and falls over after a while but she's come through with flying colours. We still have a long way to go with her to get her 100%, but she's been doing so well, and so far she's beaten all the odds and exceeded everyone's expectations.

I really wanted to let you know how she's doing and thank you for all your support and advice.

Hi Christina, I have a herbal remedy I could write out for you if you want to try it?It`s by Juliette de Baraicli Levy written in the 30`s.
I`ll give you a little background on her,brought up in UK, she bred champion Afghans under the affix Turkuman, brought up in UK,is a qualified vet, a farmer, botanist, herbalist who travelled the world studying traditional herbal remedies & applied them in her work on people & all animals with great success. She wrote for Dog World, shooting times & farmers journal. The book I have on Distemper by her has many testimonials from well known people from farming & in the dog world, of the success rate of her cures. She had to go to court to prevent one of her books was being prevented from being published.

Christine, Spain.

Christine

That would be really great if you could let me know about it (email to cristina.botef@tasima.co.za ) Thank you so much. Do you think it may interfere with the Distemper Nosode she is on now? Really appreciate it.

Hi Christine, no I don`t think it will interfere with them.
I`ll start typing it out now but I`m just waiting on a phone call to go out so may not be able to finish it till later but will send it when it`s done.

Christine, Spain.

Thanks so much for your help. Take your time and finish your work first. :-)

Sent it about an hour ago Cristina, hope it helps :)

Christine, Spain.

Dear Christine and Sarah

I just wanted you two to know how well my little girl Francesca is doing. Since about last Thursday she's been getting up and WALKING! The other day she was fetching her toys for me. Every single day I notice something new that she is now able to do again. Last night she came on her own to the kitchen (across tiles) for her food.

She still drags her bum at times, walks a bit funny and falls over after a while but she's come through with flying colours. We still have a long way to go with her to get her 100%, but she's been doing so well, and so far she's beaten all the odds and exceeded everyone's expectations.

I really wanted to let you know how she's doing and thank you for all your support and advice.

I'm so glad she's making such good progress! That's wonderful!
:)

Hi there, I am so pleased for you, it is great to hear good news.  I am sure she will keep on improving too, she is a lucky little dog to get through this and to have you behind her all the way.
All the best
Sarah

Oh that`s lovely news Cristina, you must be thrilled :D Thanks for letting us know & hope it continues.

Christine, Spain.

Actually, Jackie has met someone with experience of distemper! One of our elkhounds, Seb, had a partially suppressed attack of distemper in the mid 1980s. He was fully vaccinated, but we were told that the pre-Nobivac vaccination which had been developed in response to the rise of parvo may have affected the distemper part of his innoculation and he went down with distemper at one year of age. I say it was suppressed, but he was a very, very sick dog, and he was given a fifty percent chance of survival. I remember him sat slumped silently against the kitchen door - his nose and pads had cracked and he just looked so awful. He wouldn't eat or drink tap water, only spring water from the springs in the hills above our house. My parents wanted to give him every chance of survival, and he did pull through eventually, but it was a long road to recovery, and he was out of the ring for the best part of a year. They never gave up on him. He eventually went on to win four CCs and three Reserve CCs and sired two Champions - we wonder what he might have achieved had he not been so ill. He lived to be thirteen.
My vet tells me that the disease can be cyclical, and that further lesser attacks can occur later on. One legacy of his illness was a slight chorea in one rear leg - not often there, but from time to time it would reoccur and his back leg would twitch, rather like a car with the motor left running. Perhaps this was the disease having another go. We were lucky, he never had fits or any of the other awful symptoms that can occur, just that slight "weakness" in the rear leg.
I hope everything continues to go well for you.