Hello, I'm kinda desperate about my puppy... short story, he's an adorable puppy who 'survived canine distemper'...
Long story:
We had a litter of four puppies, they were born at the first days of this year. Everything went well, until.. roughly two months ago. The pupies started having a weird diarrhea and appear sick. We took them to the local vet and he treated it as giardia and verminosis. In a few days they looked much beter, however, in less than a week all of them stopped eating and they started showing signs of the same problem again... one of the girls also developed rash-like (pustules) lesions on her belly region, along with 'snotty eyes' and anorexia. We took her to the vet again and he said it was the giardia coming back due to their immune system being weak, and he also precribed predinisolone for the girl as she had what he called 'scabies'...
Well, it only got worse. In five days she was having seizures by the morning and died after agonizing hours of trembling in what appeared like convulsions and finally coma followed by death. Apparently the prednisolone precipitated the neurological phase of the distemper we didn't knew she had.
The local vet saw her dying and was sure it was canine distemper despite the fact we have no means of doing bloodwork in the region... sadly in the same day I noticed two of the boys were having pustules on their bellies too... I promptly asked for help only to be told there's nothing to be done.. they had no neurologic signs of distemper at all, and still no vet would help me.
To be honest, we live in a very backwards, poor region of the world, so I can't really take them to a good vet and hospitals in my condition, even so I tried to take them to the vets around and all of them have been adamant that he has canine distemper and they won't take them in or help me as its highly contagious... some of them told me to just let they die.
Sadly, my reality, but I've been alone on this ordeal and basically nursing and keeping these dogs alive... its been a month since the little girl died, and I think I managed to 'cure' one of the boys, but the other one is not getting better. I need help.
To sum it up, in my long online research I found out about vitamin A antiviral properties and I have been injecting it for weeks on his hind legs which made him look much better, I also have been giving him oral thymomodulin to enhance his immunity, and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (Bractrim, antibiotics) to keep him out of secondary infections... its madness but I've been medicating him for basically two months. I'm sure he would be dead by now if I hadn't done this.
I feed him cooked meat and eggs and I'm making sure he's hydratated. He has little appetite these days.
Long short story, he was doing fine and apparently improving along with his brother, even thought he was a little thin. Until a week ago when I stoped injecting vitamin A (I thought he was free from distemper, we're not even sure anymore..). I also cut on the antibiotics five days ago... I was afraid to keep doing it, but he started having a fever and trembling if there were any wind. Yesterday I gave him antibiotics again and he improved a little, even so I see little hope of him surviving much longer if it continues like this... all of this medication, and his age... I don't know what to do!
I'm desperate for help. I know people would rather me get them to another veterinary, but I assure you, I tried. I'm doing what I can with my knowledge (I'm a biologist), but its beyond me now... I won't give up, but its becoming increasingly difficult to keep him alive. I'm scared of doing the wrong thing, but I'm completely alone...
This is a cry for help.
What would you do in my place? Is there anything I should look for helping him, any sort of medicine or food that could help? Should I go back to vitamin A injections?
My puppy's current data: He's 5 months with no race (mutt), with approximately 5 kg (underweight for his size). Right now he's thin and small next to his siblings, he's very fragile and has little energy, his eyes are 'snotty' and his belly has some old pustules but not as bad as it uses to be. The pustules look like 'pyoderma' lesions and he also has a weird smell.. he has trouble sleeping and feels cold all the time (I have to cover him up with a blanket)... he's getting worse everyday.
Long story:
We had a litter of four puppies, they were born at the first days of this year. Everything went well, until.. roughly two months ago. The pupies started having a weird diarrhea and appear sick. We took them to the local vet and he treated it as giardia and verminosis. In a few days they looked much beter, however, in less than a week all of them stopped eating and they started showing signs of the same problem again... one of the girls also developed rash-like (pustules) lesions on her belly region, along with 'snotty eyes' and anorexia. We took her to the vet again and he said it was the giardia coming back due to their immune system being weak, and he also precribed predinisolone for the girl as she had what he called 'scabies'...
Well, it only got worse. In five days she was having seizures by the morning and died after agonizing hours of trembling in what appeared like convulsions and finally coma followed by death. Apparently the prednisolone precipitated the neurological phase of the distemper we didn't knew she had.
The local vet saw her dying and was sure it was canine distemper despite the fact we have no means of doing bloodwork in the region... sadly in the same day I noticed two of the boys were having pustules on their bellies too... I promptly asked for help only to be told there's nothing to be done.. they had no neurologic signs of distemper at all, and still no vet would help me.
To be honest, we live in a very backwards, poor region of the world, so I can't really take them to a good vet and hospitals in my condition, even so I tried to take them to the vets around and all of them have been adamant that he has canine distemper and they won't take them in or help me as its highly contagious... some of them told me to just let they die.
Sadly, my reality, but I've been alone on this ordeal and basically nursing and keeping these dogs alive... its been a month since the little girl died, and I think I managed to 'cure' one of the boys, but the other one is not getting better. I need help.
To sum it up, in my long online research I found out about vitamin A antiviral properties and I have been injecting it for weeks on his hind legs which made him look much better, I also have been giving him oral thymomodulin to enhance his immunity, and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (Bractrim, antibiotics) to keep him out of secondary infections... its madness but I've been medicating him for basically two months. I'm sure he would be dead by now if I hadn't done this.
I feed him cooked meat and eggs and I'm making sure he's hydratated. He has little appetite these days.
Long short story, he was doing fine and apparently improving along with his brother, even thought he was a little thin. Until a week ago when I stoped injecting vitamin A (I thought he was free from distemper, we're not even sure anymore..). I also cut on the antibiotics five days ago... I was afraid to keep doing it, but he started having a fever and trembling if there were any wind. Yesterday I gave him antibiotics again and he improved a little, even so I see little hope of him surviving much longer if it continues like this... all of this medication, and his age... I don't know what to do!
I'm desperate for help. I know people would rather me get them to another veterinary, but I assure you, I tried. I'm doing what I can with my knowledge (I'm a biologist), but its beyond me now... I won't give up, but its becoming increasingly difficult to keep him alive. I'm scared of doing the wrong thing, but I'm completely alone...
This is a cry for help.
What would you do in my place? Is there anything I should look for helping him, any sort of medicine or food that could help? Should I go back to vitamin A injections?
My puppy's current data: He's 5 months with no race (mutt), with approximately 5 kg (underweight for his size). Right now he's thin and small next to his siblings, he's very fragile and has little energy, his eyes are 'snotty' and his belly has some old pustules but not as bad as it uses to be. The pustules look like 'pyoderma' lesions and he also has a weird smell.. he has trouble sleeping and feels cold all the time (I have to cover him up with a blanket)... he's getting worse everyday.