A Treatment for Distemper

Save Dogs From Canine Distemper

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How Galen was saved

• This vet's treatment can save dogs in the early stages of canine distemper, but because of his fear of reactions within veterinarian community, he kept his discovery quiet for almost three decades. The common belief among vets is that there is no effective treatment for canine distemper. However, Dr. Alson Sears may have stumbled into one of those fortunate accidents of science where a breakthrough can happen.

Tug

Selkie

Shadow

Galen
BEFORE
and
AFTER
the cure

Note: This story chronicles the three times that Amy and I battled canine distemper from February 1996 to February 1997. After I published this story here on the Internet in May 2000, Dr. Alson Sears felt compelled to publish the details of his canine distemper treatment. Admittedly, my story here is only lightly edited.

By ED BOND

   Let me tell you how we named our dogs.
   Tug was a throwaway dog, an eight-week old shepherd-mix pup with fur ravaged by mange. As Amy and I walked her around the block, I would spin the leash in front of her. She would catch it and, well, tug back. Tug
   We got her a year ago in February. She left us that March.
   Selkie was a black lab, with some shepherd, a messy eater with a nose perpetually coated with her previous meal. She was named out of hope, from an ancient Gaelic mythical creature of the sea with an insecure relationship with man. The hope was that she would not leave us.
   We had rescued her in mid-May. She left in mid-June.
   By the time we found Shadow, in October, we were mentally exhausted, too drained for a creative name. But she shadowed us around the house, so we applied that verb to her. An Australian Cattle Dog - again with some shepherd - she is muscular and high strung, taken to barking at 1 a.m. Either Amy or I drag ourselves out of bed, and if we have the patience, close our hands to her head, make eye contact and as calmly as possible say, ``No barking.''
       Galen's first act with us - this February - was to put his chin on Amy's thigh, followed by one front paw, then another. His name means calm in Gaelic, but later we would learn his demeanor was part fraud, he was already weary from battling an old enemy of ours.
   In a year, we fought that enemy four times, and became too familiar with his attack, the silence, deception and betrayal.
   Thirty years ago, this enemy was as common as fleas. Today, vets tell us how unlucky we were to have faced it so often. Most vets never even see it.
   The tally, so far: two dead, one survived and one never attacked.
   Now let me tell you how we fought canine distemper.

Ed Bond's home page

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