I adopted my third dog (a 4 month old puppy) from the humane society around a month ago. Since he was adopted thru the Humane Society I recieved free vet care at a local vet. After treating coccidia and what was thought to be kennel cough with 2 different rounds of antibiotics, they stated they thought it was distemper and that he needed to be put down. They did however offer one last round of a different antibiotic to give him one last chance. * it's important to mention here that they did no xrays, blood work, or another fecal sample to make sure the coccida was gone, they did however want to do blood work and xrays on another dog i brought in who got kennel cough from this puppy. But of course i have to pay out of pocket for my other dog* anyway i took him to my vet who hospitialized him (he still had coccidia among other problems, this doc also suspected distemper but was willing to try to help, not to just dismiss him) for 2 days and then home we went. Everything was going well until this past saturday when he started refusing food again. So he is now back in the hospital and we are trying a hollistic approach that has shown some success with distemper in the past. Has anyone else experienced distemper in a loved pet? I feel as though if this doesnt work i may be forced to decided to let him go.

Oh wanna I am so sorry for your tragedy. I am not much help, I have not experienced it, but from my understanding it can be a very long and expensive process to try and save their life. I pray you can succeed in this. Have a frank discussion with your vets about this to figure out what to do.

Has the veterinarian offered the test for distemper?

He recieved his temper vaccination when i adopted him so any test now will come out positive since he has the antibodies. If he doesnt respond to the hollistic treatment the vet will do a test to see how far along the distemper is. The results however can take up to 7 days to get back.