Carmella DeCesare...NOT!

It's Carmella the first puppy to beat Distemper in the US. Out of curiosity I decided to do a Google search to see how many times my Carmella came up, and to my disappointment found page after page devoted to the same sex industry star. It was as if her promoters bought the entire fist 20 pages on Google! ***Well, psyche!*** Every once in awhile the little guy prevails.

I thought, "No wonder Etsy seems to be the only place through which people are finding my blog!" With such a monopoly I was hard-pressed to find any other Carmellas. There were maybe 2 others that I could find links to (and I had to search for quite a long time).

However, one thing that was encouraging was that when I searched Giftbearer and Etsy other bloggers' features of my shop and my blog came up fairly often because of the 90 Day Challenge I started last year around the holidays. Those blogs that featured me continue to come up on Google with my name or blog referenced long after the original post, so maybe the key to getting the word out is for multiple bloggers to write about Carmella in their blogs as well.

A year ago I had theorized that such an approach would work to boost Google ratings and not only did it turn out that I was right, but the long-term effect was even more positive than I'd anticipated! The one post on each participant they blogged about had residual visibility again and again!

So if you feel like you just can't compete with the paid Google position folks, don't dispair. There is more than one way to skin a cat...(and sometimes it's with a dog, hee, hee). If any of you are interested in trying this experiment blogging about Carmella I would be very interested to see how it turns out and to report in my blog what kind of impact we have. Here's one more way the community can come together to help Carmella. Maybe we'll attract some dog-lovers from a variety of other places in addition to Etsy.

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

Reviews of Home Remedies for Mange

If you have a dog who you think may have Mange or are planning on adopting one from a shelter (places that are often full of this disease), you may want to read this information and keep it handy.

I want to thank several recent viewers for their recent suggestions on complimenteary medical treatments for Carmella. I took a long look the other night at what's out there in the way of home remedies and found some useful information I'd like to pass along.

One cream to treat the itching I was given a link to mixed both natural herbs and Hydrocortisone together. The natural ingredients would be no problem for Carmella but the Hydrocortisone is steroid-based and my reading suggests that any steroid could weaken her immune system in the long-term. Also this cream did not claim to actually kill the mites. I was particularly interested in remedies that do and in how they work.

There were several remedies out there that looked quite promising, some of which had pages and pages of positive reports. I've included the safest and (as far as I can tell) the most effective in this post, although there are some comparisons mentioned with agents that I would not recommend putting on your dog (such as Pyrethrum or Pine Sol).

One is a combination of Hydrogen Peroxide and Borax called Ted's Mange Cure.

Here is the exact formula below for any of you who might need it for your dogs now or in the future. (Re-printed from this site http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/dog_mange_cure.html with slight correction for grammar and clarity. The originator is from Thailand);

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TED'S MANGE CURE:

Ted from Bangkok, Thailand writes, "The best cure for dog mange is to mix a 1% hydrogen peroxide solution with water and add borax. Dissolve thoroughly. Wash the dog with it once a week. Do NOT WASH THE solution left on the dog with ANY WATER. Do not wipe the dog dry. The solution will take effect on mange. The treatment period should not be longer than a month or two. The dog will probably not be resistant as the treatment is painless. This has worked well for me."

More Exact Measurements (excerpted from various emails on our Reader Question & Answer Section)

Ted replies, "A definitive recipe is add 1-2 tablespoon of borax per 500 cc of 1% hydrogen peroxide solution. To make a 3% hydrogen peroxide to 1%, roughly get one part of 3% H2O2 plus two parts of water. Then apply them on the dog. Wash with this solution daily, no rinsing. If it doesn't go away, I have found mites, or mange to have a large "beehive" hidden somewhere. In which case, quarantine the dog in a small area that is 100% sterile."

"Approximate measurements are 1 bottle of 500 of 3% H2O2, plus 1000 of the cc of water, plus heaping 3 tablespoons of borax. Stir until most of borax is dissolved. The borax is past the point of saturation here so you will see some borax around. Technically the concentration is around 1.5% H2O2, and this is a bit stronger because by the time we finish with it, the H2O2 gets reacted with other things, and by the time we used it is is usually ends up near a 1% solution anyway."

"You need to get put as much borax until it no longer dissolves in a pail of water and forms a precipitate. This is a saturated solution of borax. Add H2O2 to about 1% concentration to a pail of water. Soak the entire dog, several times. Keep the dog wet for some time. The borax will destroy the eggs from laying under the skin which causes the mange. Get some solution and spray or use this to wipe all floors so the dog will not get re infected. Repeat this every week when bathing.

This is not a perfect cure, but my dog now no longer has mange. My dog was completely cured. You can try other chemicals such as sodium perborate, which is more convenient since you don't need to add the hydrogen peroxide."

"The solution (borax or preferably sodium perborate) is to be applied AFTER the shampooing and rinsing. The sodium perborate should remain on the dog after the bath. You will not rinse this at all. It must remain on the dog throughout the day so that it will act continuously on the bugs."

"However, I do recommend a less toxic form of borax, which is sodium perborate if you can find one. The secret is that borax (plus hydrogen peroxide) will work better then most other remedies I have tried, this includes mineral oil, neem oil (no, neem oil does not kill the mange as effectively as sodium perborate) I have tried it in my "mange colonies", and commercial brands to kill insects don't work. Hydrogen peroxide DOES NOT KILL mange, I USED IT SIMPLY USED IT AS A CATALYST for ordinary borax in case you cannot obtain sodium perborate. Mineral oils simply prevent oxygen from reaching mange, but that didn't stop it. I have tried naphta, bentonite clays, DMSO, potassium permanganate, light fluid, etc. They all worked temporarily, and it just came back. I must make a strong statement that the formula (borax+h2o2 or sodium perborate) works bests and it is broad spectrum. You can use it to control mange, mites, fleas, and lyme disease (initiated by those crawly insects).

I have actually compared side to side with neem oil, mineral oil, apple cider vinegar and others here in Bangkok and this is the most wide spectrum cure I have found. Borax prevents denaturation of DNA/RNA in dogs and I currently use this as life extension for dogs. For example a ribose sugar, deoxyribose sugar, and various sugar that causes accelerated aging in dogs can be slowed down with supplementation of dogs indirectly when you do the borax wash. "

"Prepare peroxide 1% solution, add 2-3 tablespoon of borax to that cup. Stir and wait for a couple of minutes for the borax to dissolve. The formula doesn't require an exact science. The importance is to add enough borax until the solution is no longer soluble and well past saturation."

"...The reason why it is not working is YOU CANNOT RINSE THE DOG OF borax and peroxide solution with any shampoo or water. After bathing the dog, keep the dog that way, no drying no rinsing. This is why the dog has not improved. Also BORAX is added DIRECTLY to the 1% hydrogen peroxide solution and no water is added separately, otherwise the solution is too weak."

TED'S UPDATE7/12/2006: "I have reviewed all the dog's mange treatments both by my own tests and by many contributors. It appears that many people have trouble obtaining materials, such as sodium perborate hydrate, so I revised the remedy to hydrogen peroxide plus borax solution applied only once or so every week. The solution of sodium perborate hydrate is very much similar when borax and hydrogen peroxide is added. Some have either substituted hydrogen peroxide with benzoyl peroxide.

The problem about benzoyl peroxide is the upper limit by which you can use it without effect the dog as it is somewhat more toxic if given beyond a 10% concentration. 5% is usually a safe concentration. Benzoyl peroxide because of its toxicity is somewhat of an insecticide, while hydrogen peroxide is not, what it is in the original formulation is that it is a penetrant allowing the borax to go through the skin. Now some did not like hydrogen peroxide due to its limited supplies, so they make use of apple cider vinegar. For me a regular vinegar will do. Both a vinegar and hydrogen peroxide has two similarities. It is both a penetrant and when added with a safe insecticidal material such as borax, which has an toxicity on LD 50 equivalent to that of salt, this is the preferred method. However, one should not use boric acid since there are reported deaths associated with boric acid but not borax.

Boric acid is not recommended for use as it is much more toxic than borax. Borax's toxicity is about 3000 mg/kg, which is the equivalent toxicity to about that of salt. (check wikipedia). The idea is to make a solution of borax so that the solution can cover the entire body and penetrate through the skin of the dog to kill the demodex mites, for example. To use a spot treatment by pure powder will take an infinitely long time as it does not get to it through the dog's skin.

In some cases, people have tried neem oil, mineral oil. Both of these have similar effectiveness, but in different ways. Neem oil prevents the Demodex fleas from laying eggs by modifying their hormones, while mineral oils are moderately toxic only to the demodex eggs, not necessarily killing them. However, both are very limited based on my tests in really killing the insect. You see, borax will both kill the eggs, modifying the hormones and their eggs by drying them all at once. The weakness of borax is limited solubility and limited penetration of the skin which you need either vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, benzoyl peroxide (toxic), MSM or DMSO solution. Ideally 10% DMSO should be preferred.

Pine Sol has limited insecticidal effectiveness, being a contact insecticidal, and does not provide lasting killing power once it has evaporated and does not kill living fleas, but it does kill their eggs somewhat. Only a fairly concentrated solution works and it does not prevent re-laying of stray eggs by the dog. In other words, the use of neem oil, mineral oil, benzoyl peroxide, and vaseline will not prevent the recurring of mange since eggs are not just on the dog, but can be anywhere in the house. Therefore re-infection is at issue. The one magic that borax has over its neighbors is that the borax powder that the dogs leaves in the house will kill the eggs even after the dogs no longer has mange and re-infection is therefore next to impossible. However, borax has limited effect on killing the larger mites and fleas, but not mange.

I found that adding 1/8 teaspoon per liter of water of borax added to the dog's water will cause the larger fleas to dry up and die at the same time. My dog for some reason likes to eat something like more than 1 gram of the sodium perborate crystals whenever he feels sick and the fleas just die off. The borax modifies the dog's blood and kills the mange inside out. This is why borax, i.e., sodium perborate, is required for mange, but not anything else due to preventive re-infection of the mange by the powder of the borax that destroys the eggs where the dog sleeps and where it walks around throughout the house.

VASELINE: The problem about using vaseline as an insecticide is that it has limited killing of eggs, but its weakness is that it is not a penetrant, and therefore the frequency of applications will take at least once every other day. Additionally, the hair of the dog will prevent proper application.
Some have went so far as to not use a solution of borax with hydrogen peroxide as a rinse then followed likely, perhaps a borax powder after bath. On the argument of being effective only as a spot treatment. Since dogs do not have sweat glands, not using a rinse will prevent the borax from absorbing into the skin to kill the mange under its skin. So this is not going to work. You need both borax as an insecticide, the water as the solution which to spread it to the skin surface, and a reliable penetrant to get it through the skin, such as vinegar, msm, DMSO, or even hydrogen peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide is both a penetrant and insecticide, but at higher concentration is somewhat toxic for dogs and as a result you are pretty much limited by the maximum concentration not to exceed beyond 5% being a preferred safety. I would prefer to limit myself at 3%.
I therefore suggest, not to get you lost in the woods, is that whatever formulation you use, always stick with borax and borax derivatives, such as sodium perborate monohydrate being the main insecticidal chemicals for the dog.

Pyrethrum is o.k. but in very low concentration of about 0.1% - 0.2% to prevent skin irritation for the dogs near the skin infection areas. The second mix you need is always the penetrant and the third formulation is appropriate dilutions in water. To provide lasting killing effect, non of these chemicals should generally be non-volatile insecticidal mixtures, which unfortunately most recommended are, with exception of perhaps borax and bentonite. Bentonite causes eggs to dry, so they can be used also, but they have no insecticidal mixture as borax and borax can performs both killing the insect, modifying the hormones to prevent egg laying, becomes a stomach poison for the insect, and at the same time causes their eggs to dry up.

I therefore will remain very flexible about what penetrants you use including hydrogen peroxide, benzoyl peroxide (limited concentration), and vinegar. It must be noted that when formulating any mange it must be noted that they must be non-volatile and the chemicals should cause microscopic residues around the house so that re infection of mange is prevented, including mites and fleas.

I think this wraps up the basic theory and application of mange treatment, and hopefully other people will make a more effective formulations in the future at least equal or better than the original formula I have proposed. Just want to tell you that there are many ways you can treat mange, but the issue is one of toxicity, re infection, toxic levels, which portion kills it and how, and which is the penetrant (which is the key to it all).

Penetrant is important, the chemical must reach the target demodex under the skin. Usually hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, DMSO, and MSM will do that. It must be reminded again that borax, to work most effectively, must be prepared with the penetrant as a solution without washing it off, followed by a small amount of borax powder to be applied if you wish.

Other applications other than this such as using as purely powder form is NOT going to work."

500 cc = 1 pint or 16 ounces.

1000 cc = 1 quart or 32 ounces.

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I also found another remedy using lemon. The principle of both these remedies is the same; to dry out the Mange mites so that they could no longer live in her skin.

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Topical Lemon Solution

3 Lemons/Qt. of boiling water
(or fresh, organic lemon juice)

Thinly slice 3 lemons and add to 1 quart boiling water
Let steep overnight
Strain and store in refrigerator
Pour or spray on dog’s patchy areas 2 X/day

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Lavender

10-15 drops high quality Lavender essential oil
½ oz. Almond or Jojoba oil

Apply twice/day to affected areas

Diet: Feed 100% grain free raw, whole food diet with addition of a good quality fish-body/wild salmon oil EFA and natural Vitamin E. Give 100 IU Vit E for every 1,000 mg of Salmon Oil.

If the animal is severely disabled/ill, or new to a raw diet, add a high quality digestive enzyme and probiotic supplement. If they are too ill to tolerate a raw diet, then feed a home-prepared cooked diet using fresh foods until they can tolerate raw. As much as possible, feed only pastured, organic, and grass-finished meats.

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For maintenence I found that these supplements were recommended to prevent Mange overgrowth once it is treated:

* Zinc, in the form of either raw, ground pumpkin seeds or chelated Zinc tablet, 10 to 30 milligrams/day


* Vitamin C, 250-1000mgs twice/day


* 100 to 400 IU of Vitamin E daily (discontinue use before surgery)


* ½ to 3 teaspoons of Lecithin/day
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Carmella's mange actually began drying up 2 days after she'd had the dip at the vet's and some of the scabbiness and dead skin began flaking off. I wondered whether I could give her a bath with her regular shampoo to wash away the excess debris. I called Dr. Norwood's office and spoke with Gwen who was answeing the phone and she told me that I should hold off on giving her any baths in between these treatment as it could water down the effectiveness of the dip.

It occurred to me that I better wait before tring the Borax and Hydrogen Peroxide because they recommend basically bathing the dog in it, so in the meantime I'm trying the lemon, just dabbing it on with a soaked paper towel. That shouldn't water down the effectiveness of the dip and hopefully it will help heal her faster.


Last night I found a really good deal at DickBlick.com for the cold-pressed Arches 140 Lb. watercolor paper block to start my Carmella series on. The pages are 12 X 16", so these paintings are going to be pretty substantial. They'll be a good size to put on a bedroom or livingroom wall. I can hardly wait to get started!

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

Return To The Big Dipper

This morning came early. I turned off my alarm clock and stumbled out of bed, got dressed and ready to take Carmella to the vet. My ride was here at exactly 8:00 am and we arrived at 8:05. The male vet tech seemed as if he'd just woken up himself, and blinked under the flourescent lights above the receptionist desk. The office seemed unusually quiet that time of morning and he came in to check Carmella in, then went to the back to tell someone that she was here. After a few more minutes in the waitingroom one of the twins emerged. It was Jocelyn. Vivienne who took me over there (and whose dog and two cats also go to that clinic) always gets the two of them mixed up. They really do look pretty much identical.

Jocelyn made small talk with us and a man came out with a 13 year old Maltese that didn't look a day over 6 or 7. When we commented on how young the dog looked he said, "Yes, it's the special food, and nutrients, and the doctor."

As we were called back I saw a man come out from one of the rooms with a tiny black and white puppy which was not much bigger than a soda can. I asked what kind it was and he told me it was a Bulldog, but its nose was a little longer than you usually see in a purebred bulldog. I commented that its nose was longer than most and that it was very cute, and the guy said, "It will probably tighten up when he gets older."

I thought he better hope it doesn't "tighten up" because he may be talking about hundreds or thousands of dollars in nasal surgery later on. Besides I generally think Bulldogs are ugly creatures that must have been created by man because God would never create such a thing, however the redeeming feature with this little fellow is that he didn't look much like a bulldog. Maybe he looked like a pitbull, but thankfully he did not have the appearance that somebody crammed its poor nose halfway into its head.

As Carmella and I went back into the room, Gail, the female vet tech came in and got her. I told her what had been happening with her mange increasing and the bacterial infection on her stomach not being impacted at all by the week of antibiotics. I also asked her to remind the vet that she would need something for the itching as well. Carmella was getting pretty raw already and I didn't want these areas to turn into wounds as well. That would add another problem on top of the one she already has, and I figured it's better to be safe than sorry.

"We don't normally give anything for itching", Gail said. "The dip should reduce the itching to some extent."

I reiterated that we really should not take any chances and that she shouldn't have to suffer over the course of the next 2 months if she doesn't have to. Gail semed to evade the request and then Vivienne asked her whether she could catch mange from the dog. Gail told her no, that only Sarcoptic Mange was contagious. She tended to go on about it longer than necessary, then produced a hand-out sheet. Vivienne didn't want it, and I already had one.

However, the one piece of information I did not already know but suspected was that dogs with this kind of reddish fur and light pigment are more susceptible to Mange, and so are white dogs with pink pigment. I'm thinking it must be that Melanin has some protective properties against the Mange mite. I'll have to see what studies I can find on that and on why.

We had some time to kill so we went to Borders, then to Marshall's across the same strip mall. I didn't find anything worth buying at either store, but looked through almost all the jewelry-making books and magazines, noticing how the tutorials in each were like songs on a CD; some good ones mixed with others I hated.

It was a foggy, misty day and somewhat cold out. Even after having breakfast and being out for a few hours I felt as though my brain was still asleep. My nose is still getting stuffed every so often and I think I'm still not fully well yet. I guess jewelry-making will have to wait a little longer.

Next on the agenda are the two seed pods waiting to be worked on once I'm back to normal again, with just a few minor things left to do; mainly assembly and putting the patina on them. There's a cool little feature I've added to the design that I think people will love, (but I'll keep that a surprise until I unveil them).

After we returned to the vet's office we spoke to the same vet tech again and she said Carmella was doing well but that they did decide to give her something for her itching because she didn't fully realize how much she was digging at herself until they looked at her closely. Dr. Norwood never came out to talk to us himself, but she told us that Carmella was probably genetically predisposed to mange and that it was autoimmune.

I asked whether there was anything that could help improve her immune system and she said that maybe fish oil possibly, and that whatever was good for the immune system in humans would probably work in dogs although not much research had been done in that area. She said that I was probably more knowledgeable about that than they were. They didn't know what to expect in a dog who'd survived Distemper.

I told her that I did remember from my reading on human immune issues that Magnesium was one thing that would help strengthen one's immune system. Apparently Pet Tabs do contain that, so I added that to the other stuff they were giving me.

Dr. Brantley should also know which things have that effect in dogs. I'll see if I can get him to resopond back now that she's had the procedure and this is something in his area of expertise. If we can manage to improve her immune function maybe that will prevent her from getting any more medical issues which are autoimmune.

Today's visit cost about $160.00, and there is more to come, so keep those donations coming, buy jewelry, or buy an ad on my blog. Carmella is going to need your help for awhile before she's home free. My natural gas bill is ridiculous this month and a possible cut-off looms on the horizon if the gas company is not satisfied with whatever arrangement I can come up with, but I also want to pay off as much on Carmella's vet bill as I can.

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

Fulton County Animal Services

Knee-Deep in it

Last night Channel 5's Randy Travis of Fox news reported that Fulton County Animal Services (the same shelter where I got Carmella) was dumping feral cats in White County (near Cleveland, GA.)

Former Shelter Director, Jeri Alexander apparently was the one who authorized the abandonment of the animals. Fox 5 received an affidavit from a priest Ms. Alexander had consulted with her plans containing the details. The reason she gave him was that they would stand a better chance left out in the country, possibly picked up by farmers and used as "mousers" than they would if they had to be euthanized.

As far as I know none other than these two options were even considered. One would ask "Why did they not call other shelters if they were filled to capacity, or even ask local TV stations to feature the cats the way shelters like PAWS Atlanta often does?"

The answer to that question is particularly disturbing. Randy Travis reported that when questioned the shelter could not produce any evidence that these cats had been vaccinated (especially not for Rabies).

Those of you who've been reading this blog diligently might remember that there were irregularities in Carmella's adoption records such as no weight ever recorded throughout her entire 2 month stay, and lack of evidence that she had any more than one Distemper combo vaccine and a rabies shot. Also, the employee conducting the adoption never gave me a rabies tag or certificate to send in to the county showing she'd been vaccinated for rabies and when asked claimed to have no idea what I was talking about.

Carmella soon after brought home from shelter
(notice her ribs were showing)


In addition several vet checks had been signed off on as "normal" although Carmella was showing symptoms including being extremely underweight.

Carmella when very ill one week home from shelter
(notice how cloudy her eyes were, almost as if she had cataracts)

I remember sensing a cover-up at that time and the thought crossed my mind that what I was witnessing may be just the tip of the iceburgh.

The news story yesterday reported that there were 10-15 cats released that they could prove, but that 100 cats were still unaccounted for. The shelter had no explanation for what happened to those.

So far there has not been any talk of charges filed against the animal shelter or regulatory action taken. I hope there will be some follow-up on this. Now might be the right time for me to contact the news station about my experience. I didn't receive a response initially, but now with these recent developments the news media may be more interested in what happened to Carmella.

http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

Where the Rubber Meets the Road; Will He or Won't He?

That still remains the million dollar question. With the developments of the past few days I figured I better have a plan in case Carmella started getting significantly worse over the weekend. Dr. Norwood was there until 12:00 yesterday but there were power outages that slowed up an already busy day. There was a french bulldog with a pink harness looking google-eyed and tired, a woman with a miniature poodle, a family with a tiny Chihuaua puppy, an American Staffordshire, and a giant brindle Cain Corso (sp?) that looks like a huge mastiff with a head bigger than mine and only 9 months old waiting in the waiting room between 10:00 and 12:00. I was glad to have left Carmella at home as there was barely enough room for everybody.

At the end of the half-day I went in to speak with Dr. Norwood about Carmella's neuro symptoms and he seemed concerned but a sort of helplessness seemed to be seeping into his consciousness rather than the new urgency spurring him to leap into action, but a slow drain as though he were an hourglass with the bottom cut out and sand was escaping willy-nilly and out of control. I asked if he'd gotten my messages the day before and he said yes, but it appeared he only got the part about Carmella needing her antibiotics. They still had not been delivered at his office yet. As far as the neuro symptoms, it did not look like he was aware of that from the look on his face until that moment. He looked suddenly as though he might faint when I described the jerking/tremors she was having. Clearly he knew that time was ticking and that we may not have much more time before it became an emergency.

I asked him to please call Dr. Johnson and tell him so that maybe he could get on this early in the week, and he meekly said "Well, I can't make him do it", squirming perceptibly. He seemed intimidated by the man. He said he'd call him on Monday and "ask him what he wants to do", as though his opinion was insignificant to a man of that stature. Board certified or not, he's still a man, and human-I hope. Carmella's life had to be worth the uncomfortableness of asserting himself, and if Dr. Johnson was going to take offense to that well then maybe he was not the right one for the job. After all, Dr. Norwood is the treating physician and so why wouldn't he have a personal interest in Carmella's recovery? I stated that he needed to impress upon him that every day he waits that virus grows in Carmella's brain and her chances of a full recovery without permanent damage get slimmer. Dr. Norwood nodded but looked almost embarrassed as though he were standing before God himself and didn't want to appear irreverent in any way to this doctor he felt outranked him.

There comes a time when one must risk being unpopular in order to do the right thing and if there was any time Carmella and I needed him to advocate for her very life with every ounce of courage he had in him it was then.

It made me sad and enraged at the same time that this specialist held the power of life and death over this defenseless puppy just because he could, and that the one man who might have some influence with him was starting to visibly cave.

We concluded that if an emergency should happen and her neurological symptoms got worse I should take her over there where Dr. Johnson works instead of the Dekalb Emergency Vet Clinic because with this one being a facility for specialists it was likely Dr. Johnson would be on call even if he was not there.

Dr. Norwood suggested also trying a holistic vet's office that is known to be made up of all women who practice both traditional medicine and holistic methods, thinking they might be more open-minded than Dr. Johnson. I hope they also have the experience in doing spinal taps.

When I came back into the waiting room my friend asked me what he said when I came out. This is the one who is less reliable and I could already see the wheels turning as to how she was going to get out of this one. She told me that Sunday was out of the question because that's the day she spends with her husband, and that she didn't want to drive all the way over to the Dunwoody area, couldn't J do it (my other close friend) and on and on...

I felt as though I was totally on my own if anything happened, as I don't have a car, so it seemed as though it was a pile of mishaps waiting to come tumbling down. She proceded to think of every negative scenario she could and tell it to me as I just got sadder by the minute. This was particularly hurtful given the fact that I am the type of friend that if someone needed a kidney and I was a match I'd give it. I don't care how inconvenient it might be to do it. If a friend needed it then that would happen because I'd MAKE IT HAPPEN.

On the way home I just burst into tears. This could not be happening. The solution was really very simple. Why were these people being so obstinate and not cooperating to make this happen. There really is no such thing as dumb luck. It all really comes down to each person in the chain of events doing their part to ensure that things turn out. When they don't, things don't. When they do, it works. I went home yesterday feeling like a bicycle with half a wheel, teetering on the edge of disaster.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse I got online to promote my Saturday Night Special Sale while Carmella slept in her bed next to my computer chair, and as I was posting the internet went out. Although I had promoted in many threads on Etsy before it went out I worried that somebody might convo me about a revised invoice and that because I couldn't get online I'd miss sales. I had increased the discount until midnight to 20% from the 10% it had been the previous week. I called AT+T and found out on their recording that there was an area-wide outage and they did not think it would be fixed until 5:00 AM. My heart sank. I went to bed and slept fitfully, then woke up with my nose stuffed and body aching. I really didn't want to get up at all except that Carmella needed to be fed and walked.

This morning after a hot shower I logged onto Etsy expectantly hoping to find that I had in fact sold something just to see the same number of shop items I had before and no convos from buyers. That pretty much answered my question as to whether the price made any difference. Apparently it doesn't. All this just added insult to injury. I guess a discount only works if they want it to begin with. Barring that, it doesn't give a seller much to work with.

Carmella went through some rough periods including a coughing fit in which it sounded almost like her lung cracked, and more of the tremors. I held her in my arms and sang that song "You Are So Beautiful", the one by Joe Cocker, until it passed. That seemed to calm her and she looked straight at me like she understood what it meant. That has now become her theme song.

It may have been God that intervened, because Carmella amazingly seemed to stabilize! Although she still has the tremors/myoclonic jerking in her right shoulder and leg, it does not seem to have gotten any worse and it is not constant. I remembered learning at some point that sleep could be stabilizing to conserve resources in the absence of the right help until that help could be found, so I've been encouraging Carmella to sleep as much as possible. She does have the neuro symptoms more consistently during sleep, but her breathing is less labored and she appears to be maintaining. Well good. It looks like we made it through the weekend. When awake she seems to be more like a normal puppy, wanting to chew on things, investigating the various rooms of the house, barking furiously at dogs and people outside my computer room window, and chasing bugs that come out under the security light when I take her out on a leash to go to the bathroom. She just loves the taste of the crab apples that are scattered all over the driveway and grabs and eats those with the speed and precision of a striking rattlesnake swallowing a mouse. Her tremors don't slow her down in those two persuits. I was amazed at the burst of energy she had tonight, and afterwards she came inside and plopped down in her bed. In just a few minutes she was out like a light.

Scary New Developments

This is going to be a short update because I need to get back in to the other room and make sure Carmella is not going downhill.

Today I noticed more unsteadiness in her gait and balance problems, and although she is stil lively and overall acting like a normal puppy, when I checked on her tonight after a coughing fit she began having tremors and what appears to be myoclonic jerking. It started in the right shoulder and then expanded to her right front leg.

I tried to get a message to Dr. Norwood earlier about the balance problems because Daveyo told me that she is probably developing early signs of paralysis. There is one particular secretary that really should not be working there and she failed to ask the vet whether Carmella's medication came in and did not go in and tell him the situation was getting more urgent either so that he could call Dr. Johnson about her increasing neuro symptoms. She just pasively waited for him to get out of his other appointments. Then after calling 3 times it was 6:00 pm and they were closed. I never heard from the doctor. Luckily they are open until 12:00 noon tomorrow and I'm going to ride in with a friend who is taking her dog there for her yearly check-up. I intend to get some action one way or another. I'm worried that I may have to rush her to the neuro vet over the weekend and plop her on his table and say, "Do the NDV into her spinal area now!" and by golly, if that happens he better not argue with me! I'm not sure if that place is open 24 hours or not, but I do know they do emergency medicine, so they probably at least have late hours and weekend hours.

More news tomorrow.

The First Signs Of Improvement!

You are not going to want to miss this update! Carmella showed her first noticeable signs of improvement in only two days after the administration of the Newcastle's Virus Vaccine protocol!

I spoke with the vet tech this morning and he informed me that the deteriorating pads of her feet were markedly better! The office is only open half a day on Saturday but I was dying to find out how she was doing, and this news really lets me know that I'm on the right track.

If anyone assumes Distemper is hopeless then you might just have to revise your thinking because this works!

Now all we have to do is find a neuro vet to deliver the Newcastle's Disease Vaccine to the Central Nervous System to get rid of any remaining virus in that area, and finish up the twice a day antibiotic injections for her pneumonia.

Dr. Sears is due back from his trip to California tomorrow, and I hope, will make phone contact with Dr. Norwood on Monday.

Dr. Norwood is going to try to get a committment from a vet at a practice he knows about on the other side of town and I hope the way will be paved for us to finish the neuro part of this as early in the week as possible.

The longer these consults take to agree to do the procedure the more she runs the risk of neurologicasl disease-progression, as the serum given by IV does not cross the blood-brain barrier.

Think of the brain and spinal chord as a sealed chamber. Distemper accessed that space via the lungs, but it appears it doesn't work the other way around when treating the body.

It is neurological disease-progression that eventually kills the dog in late stage distemper. That's why it is so vitally important that this second part of the protocol be done as soon as we can get it scheduled. The vet doing it must be skilled in doing spinal taps because the delivery of the substance is done through an LP needle at the base of the skull in an area dangerously close to the spinal chord. If that spinal chord is nicked it can result in paralysis or worse.

Carmella will be placed under general anesthesia, and some spinal fluid will be withdrawn to be analyzed for the level of virus found in it, then the Newcastle Vaccine substance is injected via the same route. This should rid her of any remaining virus threatening her Central Nervous System. She could have seizures or temporary paralysis afterwards, not as a reaction to the procedure, but a delayed reaction to whatever the virus has already done. She will need to be watched closely during the following days and given supportive care until she is stable. Once she is over that crucial period the danger will have passed and she can focus on regaining any function, strength, and weight she lost over the course of the disease while it was active.

The literature says she may have a few quirky things over a 30 day period after this procedure and then any fluctuations should settle down, then at around 50 days she will start to make gains. Her rehabilitation could take up to a year to become complete.

Be sure to check out the handcrafted jewelry in my online shop. For a full week receive 10% off on your purchases. Doing so will help pay down the bills that are piling up for Carmella's medical care. Instead of sending your money to a shelter why not help a dog directly and get a piece of wearable art in return that you will treasure for years to come. http://giftbearer.etsy.com/

Tears of Joy
(from the Carmella Collection)

Too often it is the owner who ends up cleaning up the mess the shelter created when it failed to give adequate booster vaccinations to young puppies like Carmella. I can almost guarantee you that no shelter is going to go to these lengths once the damage has been done. You can be a part of the solution while you buy quality art jewelry you can be proud of.

Cascading Pea Sprouts
(From the Carmella Collection)

Today's Search for a Neuro Vet

So far we have not had any luck finding a neurological vet or someone with experience doing spinal taps to do this procedure. A friend of mine had given me several names and I started with her own vet first.

It turned out he and Dr. Norwood new each other, but instead of being excited at learning of a possible new cure this guy was wary right off the bat. He immediately said he was afraid of liability (from whom I wonder when Carmella would die for sure if she does not have it). If he's worried about liability he should be more worried about his failure to act killing her than the treatment. It really burns me up when people think it's better to allow some living thing to die needlessly than to lift a finger and give it much better odds of living and even being completely fixed up. This guy just doesn't get the risk/benefit concept at all.

He said he'd have to "read up on it" yet he barely listened to take down the researcher's e-mail address and some of the sites that went into greater detail about what this entails. Instead, he promptly told me he was going to call my vet and talk to him, and it appeared that he went fear-mongering to try to dissuade him from helping. It didn't work though and I got a call from Dr. Norwood telling me that he would still work with us and that we'd persue other doctors. That was a relief.

Then no more than 5 or 10 minutes later this other guy called back and in a very edgy tone informed me that this was "experimental", the dog's prognosis because of her diagnosis is "poor", and that he couldn't do it. I told him that it was precisely the fact that her prognosis is poor that made this a good move because this is the only shot we have to save the dog, otherwise it is a 100% certainty that she WILL DIE sooner or later if the virus in the Central Nervous System is left untreated. I guess that was OK with him but it wasn't OK with me. I mean come on! Isn't any doctor's duty to preserve life? Letting a dog die when there is something you can do about it is downright cruel, especially the kind of horrible death a dog with Distemper has.

This other vet (I will call him Dr. T because I don't want to print his name here) seemed personally angry and offended that Dr. Norwood was not going to be deterred from this and he said nastily, "Dr. Norwood is going way out on a limb to do as much as he has so far, so I sure hope you appreciate it!"

I said "Yes, I sure do! He's great!" That only seemed to make him more pissed. Needless to say we did not stay on the phone much longer and he told me again that he couldn't do it, and I said OK and that was the end of that. I wondered why Dr. T felt compelled to try to sabotage this effort rather than just say no and walk away if he personally didn't want to help. Was he in bed with some drug company that manufactured maintenence meds for dogs dying of Distemper, or did he feel some sort of twisted sense of indignation that anyone would spend so much time and money on saving a dog when he felt he'd been neglected in his lifetime and didn't have people come through for him. Whatever it was it was a very strange reaction and no help, to say the least.

I am running on fumes right now, chronically sleep-deprived, unable to really rest until I know this has been completed and that Carmella is on the mend. My sleep at night is fitful and I wake up feeling as if I may as well have just stayed up and never gone to bed.

Today I decided to go ahead and start a week-long sale in my Etsy store giving any buyer who purchases between today; Saturday, July 26th, and Friday, August 1st a 10% discount. I don't normally believe in sales, but in this circumstance if it will bring in some badly needed income I'm willing to do it. Carmella's life is worth it. In case you don't already have it the URL is

http://giftbearer.etsy.com/

As of yet we have still not heard from Dr. Sears. He is thought to be filling in for a vet in California but we aren't sure where. Daveyo has tried to send an urgent message to him but he seems to be out of computer contact wherever he is.

I am going to try to locate him by calling his old practice in Lancaster. Maybe somebody there still keeps in touch with him.

With all the legwork I've been doing there must be someone who will come through for us soon and step up to the plate. This last part is relatively simple if the right players cooperate to set things up. As I've always said; "With love and action all things are possible." Good luck comes when everyone pulls together toward a common goal to be part of the solution.

Half The Battle Won!

This morning we waited expectantly for the serum to be delivered to the vet and when it came in he administered it by I.V. Carmella came through that part with flying colors!

Dr. Norwood called me around 2:00 pm to give me an update on her condition and said she was eating and drinking and was showing no ill effects. Yay!

When I asked if he was about to do the other shot into the Central Nervous System he told me at that moment that he had never done a spinal tap of any kind, only observed one and that he didn't feel qualified to do that part. My jaw dropped. Until that point I thought he was ready to do the whole thing and I said, "Well if she's got the virus there too then how are we going to get rid of it all if the serum given in the body can't cross the blood-brain barrier?" He admitted that posed a problem but seemed terrified at the thought that he might kill her in the process if there was one wrong move with that needle.

As nice as he is, nevertheless, I wondered why he waited until then to tell me this. We could have called around a week ago to find a vet who had done spinal taps before when we realized this would probably need to be done in order to achieve a full cure and prevent neurological disease-progression in brain and spinal canal.

Last night I kept waking up startled, then going back to sleep, just to jolt awake again. This is a tricky procedure and a vet does really have to know his stuff to pull it off. One lady on a Distemper forum told me that her vet in Indonesia had no choice but to do it herself because the closest vet who was really qualified was 18 hours away by land and then about 12 more hours by plane. The statistics say that the chances of ending up with a dead dog are 99% on a vet's first try, and this woman was lucky that her vet fell into that 1% of successes, having no experience.

I was somewhat exhasperated when my vet balked at the last minute like that but felt that if he was really that unsure of himself it would be best for another vet to do that part. I just wish he'd told me this in the beginning so we could have had one arranged to give the CNS shot within 48 hours of the shot for her body.

After checking to see whether this would be disasterous I finally got word from one of my contacts that the time-frame between the two parts may not be near as crucial as the time-frame for giving the first shot. The figure I got was that the spinal tap injection should be done 48-72 hours later. I guess if I can't arrange for it to be done until Monday it won't ruin anything. I just don't have an answer yet as to what the maximum time would be safe to wait.

First I called UGA College of Veterinary Medicine and they weren't too helpful, telling me to have my vet call the Referral Coordinator and then they would make an appointment (no idea how soon that would be or whether they'd do the procedure if I miraculously found a ride down there). "No way" I thought. "We don't have that kind of time to be messing around with a bunch of beaurocracy at a time like this, then to possibly have to convince a vet on the spur of the moment I knew nothing about that she needs this and that it will save her life if he didn't know it already". I knew that if I found somebody to drive me and a sick dog all the way to Athens, Georgia and I got some arrogant clinic doctor who only wanted to believe Distemper is fatal 100% of the time and scoffed at this treatment, I was going to be hopping mad! Who even knows if they have the serum there anyhow or whether they'd have it in hand when I got there? I took down the number of the Coordinator, but turned my attention to any other options I could think of that did not involve going on what could be a wild goose chase.

Then an old friend popped into my mind from over 2 years ago who used to work as a manager for a mobil vaccination clinic that set up shop each weekend in pet supply stores. She was always calling vets to cover the various weekends and I remember she had about 9 of them who rotated. Most of them seemed like liberal types who really believed in making the health of the animal top priority, so I thought if anyone would do it she would likely have some names from there she could give me.

I e-mailed her and waited for a response. My heart sank when I received none. It began to grow dark and I thought she must be home by then, so I called, still finding her number inside my address book, and got an answering machine. I left as much information as I could hoping she was just in the bathroom or drying her hands before she could get to the phone and finally hung up, seeing as she didn't seem to be there. Then I went to my computer and started writing Daveyo to see if there was any word from Dr. Sears but nothing there either.

Then the phone rang again and it was someone from the shelter calling from my phone message yesterday when I had tried to reach them and couldn't. I told the woman that Carmella had distemper and she remembered her well (apparently she was a favorite of the staff) and was horrified when I told her the news. "I am so sorry", she said, "I guess sorry doesn't even cover it". I told her how my vet noticed in the records that she'd only had one Distemper vaccine while there and no boosters, and that he said a puppy as young as she was when they picked her up should have had them every 2-3 weeks to fully protect them, and how each vet check showed no weight documented and just said "normal", and how I was not told anything was wrong with her other than a slight scratched eye until after I'd signed all the papers and paid the adoption fee. Then I told her about the treatment she had to have to save her life and that now we were out on a limb until we could locate a vet to do the rest of it. She said she hoped I found one and said she would give the information to the shelter director. I gave her the links to the formula Dr. Sears had written on how to make the serum or get it pre-made, and to the forum on Distemper that was connected with Dr. Sears and Daveyo. She thanked me and I asked her whether she had another number where I could reach her if I needed to and she said they didn't have extensions. I told her that half the time they don't answer the phone or put it on hold or on a recording so that was not good. She did give me her e-mail address and she told me she'd look into getting treatment for her other dogs and that she would stay in touch.

I convoed a few people on Etsy while I waited to hear from any of the other people I'd contacted and then after I'd almost given up hope of hearing any news for the night the phone rang. It was Beverly on the other end (the one who worked for the mobil shot service). She sounded happy to hear from me and said she had just gotten home, that she was no longer working there, but that she did keep a husband and wife team of vets who used to work for the service as her personal vet for her dog. She told me that one of her two Pomeranians had died of congestive heart failure and so did her son's dog, Zephyr, but that she had both of her other dogs, although one was getting old and starting to develop dementia and was mostly blind.

Beverly came up with two other vets as well. I plan to go down the list tomorrow and see if any will or can do the rest of the job. I've gotten this puppy this far, so we might as well go the whole nine yards and get rid of every last remnant of this horrible and disfiguring disease.

Once this is all over the real recovery can begin. They tell me it could take a full year for everything to return to normal, but that at around 50 days improvement should be noticeable. As for the secondary pneumonia, that is being taken care of as we speak; two shots a day of a combination antibiotic, given intramuscularly. I know Carmella will feel alot better once she can really breathe again without all that junk in her lungs.

Well, tomorrow it's back to calling around. I hope we have that part resolved by the end of the day and can look toward the final leg of this endurance test and beyond. Carmella's life has really just begun.

All proceeds from my jewelry sales will be going to pay off Carmella's vet bills.
You can help Carmella in her recovery by purchasing from
http://Giftbearer.etsy.com

Carmella's Big Day!

Well the moment of truth has finally arrived. The vet called me this afternoon after I'd brought Carmella over there this morning, and told me he was finally able to find a vet supply company that had Newcastle Disease Vaccine, LaSota Strain. I had no idea that there would be any difficulty finding or buying it, but he encountered alot of barriers along the way. Some companies would only sell it in mass quantities that he could never use up in his own practice, and many other suppliers were actually out of stock.

After much searching he was able to locate one good source and they are going to overnight ship it to him to arrive tomorrow morning. It is arriving none too soon, as the rate of her decline is making this an emergency situation very fast.



Carmella didn't eat very well this morning, leaving half a can of dogfood sitting in her bowl, and still would only drink yogurt juice. Before taking a taxi to the vet's I gave her as much yogurt juice as I could, and took her outside to go to the bathroom. The cab company now charges $5.00 if you don't have your dog in a cage and $1.00 additional if it is caged. I put one of her pillows in there so that she would be comfortable, and she crawled right into it on her own.

Once at the vet's this morning I spoke with a man in the waiting room who was there to have his grey and white Schitzu groomed and we talked for awhile as we waited for the receptionist. He mentioned to me that his wife had once bought a dog from a pet shop that was sick and he insisted she take it back and get her money back although she was attached to it. She finally relented although she really didn't want to, and they did return her money. I told him that the shelter I got Carmella from had you sign a disclaimer, but that even if they hadn't I could never return her as if she was a defective product from a store. I picked her out from a long list of dogs I'd seen both online and at various shelters after several months of being extremely picky. When I found her, that was the dog I wanted, there was no doubt about it, and it would take a thousand armies to tear us apart. I found myself wanting to ask him if he would trade in his wife or his child for a new model the first time they got really sick. His story left me feeling very uneasy, as I knew it was a sign of the times. I looked at Carmella in her carrier and thought "No way would I ever do that to you". She looked back at me and I could tell she knew it too. This dog would follow me to hell and back and I am prepared to return the favor. If that made me a relic, I thought, then so be it. We are all going to be old and get sick one day, and I would hope that when that time comes all of us will have somebody by our side willing to do whatever is necessary, and I am a strong believer that we help create the world we will one day have to live in, so we'd best make it a compassionate one.




After about 15 minutes a nurse came out and called me to bring Carmella into a room. She asked me how she was doing and I filled her in on the sudden hardening of her pads last night and her reduction in apetite this morning. She had been the first one in that office I'd spoken with on the phone before the first visit and remembered my saying that Carmella looked like a Dingo, and she commented on that again, saying how extremely cute she was. I told her I hoped that Dr. Norwood had the serum and was ready to treat her because I was really worried with the developments of the night before that she would suffer neurological damage. Time was ticking away on my beautiful puppy's life, each minute lost, like a leaf of lettuce being peeled away, leaving a bare and vulnerable center which was her life force. The nurse looked at me from behind black-rimmed glasses and I thought I saw a slight tearing of her eyes, fleeting, but nevertheless very real and very human. I knew that she would take extra special care of my best buddy, as she saw in her what I do; that majestic spirit, that awe-inspiring presence like a tamed wild animal which made it impossible to resist her.

The nurse told me that Carmella was the first dog with Distemper they'd ever had in their practice and that she'd heard about it but had never seen if first-hand until now. She told me that some time ago several shelters had been shut down after an outbreak was reported on the news, but they seemed to be different ones than the one Carmella came from. Even so, it just goes to show that this disease clearly has not been eradicated in this country.

I wonder whether dogs are getting it from wild animals displaced by the destruction of the forest. I remember recently reading about a breed not yet recognized by the American Kennel Club called the Carolina Dog which is thought to be related to the Dingo and wonder now if maybe some Dingoes were released or got loose after having been brought over from Australia. If they'd mixed with domestic dogs then there is an off chance that Carmella could actually be mixed with Dingo, although how recently that would have been in the bloodline is a mystery to me. For that matter I guess someone with a taste for exotic pets could have brought one over recently (I hear you can order just about anything over the internet these days if you can get it cleared through customs), a dog like that could have bred with a domesticated dog. If one became a stray and was not current on their vaccines the puppies may not have inherited any immunity from the mother and contracted the disease or got it from the mother (already infected). Who knows? In any case it sounds plausible to me given the current state of our environment. If bears and wolves show up in suburbia why not Dingos or half-breed Dingos? One has to wonder where these diseases re-emerge from after they were assumed to be almost non-existant in the US nowadays.

After returning home I immediately got online and checked to see whether Dr. Sears had received the message and my vet's phone number to call him. but found out later from Dr. Norwood that he had still not called.

Upon speaking with my vet by phone we decided that Carmella should stay for 7 days in which time all the intensive treatment could be completed, she could be observed closely for any adverse effects, and have medical intervention close at hand just in case it should be needed. This made good sense since I don't have a car and there is only one person I know who could take me over there in the evenings after work, but nobody in the morning, as she will need 2 antibiotic shots a day to fully clear up the pneumonia after receiving the Newcastle's Disease Virus Vaccine I.V. and spinal tap procedure injecting the second dose into the Central nervous system to be sure all traces of Distemper virus are eradicated from brain and spinal chord.

The doctor advised me that because the serum he was using was bird-based rather than dog-based there could be some risks associated with that, but admitted he had really no way fast enough to find a donor dog in the time-frame Carmella would need, so we would have to proceed with the pre-made serum. At this point we have nothing to lose because left untreated she would surely die. I had hoped Dr. Sears would have been able to contact Dr. Norwood in time to send him the dog-based stuff, but with Carmella's recent disease-progression that one or two days might be too long to wait.

After our conversation on the phone, Dr. Norwood faxed me copies of Carmella's test results in case Dr. Sears got in contact with the guy working with him (Daveyo) before he called him.

Then I checked back with Daveyo on the two Distemper messageboards and found that he'd gotten back to me with some more instructions and information about what to expect in the days following the treatment, based on Carmella's current condition.

He said that it is very possible that after both initial shots Carmella might start having seizures or become paralyzed. The first 48 hours after the treatment the immune system goes through a storm, killing the Distemper virus. Soon after, a delayed reaction of the damage that was ensuing becomes fully apparent. This could take about 50 days to start resolving. He assured me that if she does suffer the paralysis it was easier to heal than if she had seizures and not to panic. This sounds very similar to what I was told about my own autoimmune disease protocol (the worstening before it gets better due to a Herxheimer reaction; temporary exascerbation of symptoms while the bacteria is flushed through the tissues and out of the body).

In this case we are dealing with a virus rather than bacteria, but I suspect the same thing is happening when shedding the virus as it's killed. It could be that the toxins released on Distemper's way out of the dog result in increased inflammation of the tissues and organs, and that accounts for the increase in symptoms indicative of which areas had been affected before eradication.

Since my vet has not done this before he told me he'd do his best and do everything in his power but that he couldn't guarantee anything.

I cannot say that I'm not worried, but Carmella's silent strength is part of what endeared me to her in the first place and it is that strength that will give her the ability to beat this virus. She knows that I'm not going to give up on her and that she's home and I'm not going anywhere.

If I have to work with her every day for the next year to get her functioning back to normal, I'm prepared to do that, but she may surprise us all and bounce back alot sooner.

There is something about her that doesn't quit, determined to live to see the day that she can jump into my arms (until she's too big), run, and play, and chew on her toys, chase a ball and bring it back, eat voraciously, and enjoy a long drink of water, to breathe in the warm summer air without coughing or congestion, to learn tricks, and go for long walks, basking in the sun, her reddish-brown fur healthy and glistening.

Carmella's Test Results

I just spoke with the vet, Dr. Norwood, on the phone and the word is that Carmella's two smears from conjunctiva and vagina showed no inclusion bodies of Distemper. Even so, that still does not difinitively rule it out, because her antibodies for it have actually increased. This is a paradox in that although she was vaccinated in May and that could account for the appearance of antibodies, the vet said that it is less likely because usually all antibodies associated with vaccination would probably have cleared by now. The question that continues to nag at my mind is "How could she even get Distemper if she was in fact vaccinated?"

Carmella resting on my knee

Based on the general dishonesty of the shelter she came from, their witholding of important information, and failure to document certain things, I find myself wondering if they "didn't and said they did". I certainly hope that is not the case.

I am supposed to bring her in on Wednesday in the morning so that the vet can do a culture of cells from the bladder which requires that she be sedated, so it may take a few hours, and then I'll pick her up in the evening. That test will take 3 days to get results back, but it is the most definitive test currently known to rule in or out Distemper.

Carmella doesn't seem to be getting worse at this point but she also seems to have reached a plateau. She continues to cough and have fluid in the lungs although she coughs less frequently.

She has spurts of energy, yet probably is not as energetic as she would be if she was completely free of disease. She is not near as responsive as she was the first day I saw her and although she will come when called, she often seems a little slow to respond and kind of spacey.

My vet e-mailed the expert, Dr. Sears in California, and is waiting for his response as to what to do next and when or if he should go ahead and treat her. The new treatment poses certain problems in that he found out he might need some additional equipment to mix up the Castleman's vaccine in the office. I am praying that there is a way for it to be done in the time-frame we need, if that is necessary. Waiting too long could result in irreversible neurological damage and at that point it would be too late.

This new development about the increased antibodies worries me, as it could mean the beginning of another stage in the disease, and this period of relative calm, just a short pause before a more menacing onslaught.

Meanwhile I am getting as much nutrition into her as possible, and I continue giving her all her medication on schedule, giving her lots of love, and rest.

I feel as if an ominous cloud is hanging over us, not willing to relinquish its stranglehold.

This vet is hanging in there with us, and I'm thankful for that. He seems to have taken this on as a personal battle, and maybe that will be our saving grace; all the difference between life and death.

I need to work on another pair of earrings today in the Carmella Collection. Putting one foot in front of the other. I continue to check my shop in hopes that the financial part of this will start to resolve.

http://giftbearer.etsy.com/