He told us how he was not recognized yet by the "established" vet community, but how he had been shipping his serum all over the country and even the world, especially to distemper-epidemic countries like Indonesia with good results & feedback.  He showed us some more cases, with pictures.  They were remarkable.

He told us that he is also using it on cats now too.  He showed us one cat who he had treated over the weekend, who was also going home today too, with a full recovery.  It was truly amazing.  My boyfriend and I, being writers, offered to help him by writing about him, but he was humble.  He said he was working on getting his website up and that he would publish the protocol for other vets so they could help their patients with it too, and perhaps then he would agree to do a story.

We plied him with more questioned, curious to know what this miracle serum was.  He said it was related to interferon, but that he had discovered it quite by "serendipity."  He had been working with interferon but had accidently somehow changed part of the protocol and the dog he had been treating got better!  He tried it again and again with the same result!  When he tried to tell some of his colleagues about it, they were not receptive to his accidental discovery.

He decided to back off from trying to convince others, and rather, just keep treating the animals that came to him and let the success stories speak for themselves.  He said maybe he would publish his story once he retired.

He said it pained him greatly to hear all the harsh criticism.  He has been a conventional, by-the-book vet for many, many years.  What really bothered him was that most of his staunchest critics were those who hadn't even bothered to come out and see what he was doing!  I thought of the rescue skeptic who was so quick to judge without knowing ANYTHING about his work, and I could only imagine the hostility he had faced, being the actual vet in question. He decided to stop trying to convince people of his discoveries and just keep quietly and kindly treating his patients.

We plied him with more questions.  He said that he didn't know exactly why it worked or how it worked, but he thinks it works by boosting the dogs' natural immunities or antibodies into fighting the virus and keeping it locked within the cell wall, not necessarily killing it, but at least stopping it dead in its tracks from doing any further damage.

He said that any damage that had already been done was irreversible, and that's why it's important to catch it in its early stages.

He did say that there was a new strain of distemper that was even affecting adult vaccinated dogs.  He has seen this new strain coming out of the foothills, brought in by coyotes, and it is quite deadly.  (Perhaps that's why it could not save my rescue friend's pups, who did have a different strain?)

However it works, and whatever it is, we are eternally grateful to Dr. Sears.  We thanked him profusely for saving little Dot and he said he was happy he could save her.

And the cost? $30 for each night's board, plus $100 for the emergency/after hours visit, so the total was about $200.  A small price to pay for such an incredible turnaround.  Certainly less than we had spent on poor little Eskimoty just on the preliminary tests and antibiotics alone, and a far cry from the thousands that intensive care would have cost!

And Besides staying after hours again, generously answering all our worried questions, Dr. Sears was even nice enough to give us some antibiotic ointment for Dots lip and some other medicine for my other dogs, free of charge.

I say, it takes a certain kind of person - and a certain kind of vet - to extend himself so generously to so many for such little pay and such little recognition.

We left the office believers.  Little Dot was a living miracle of joy sitting between us in the car.  We stopped to get her some of her favorite hamburger patties again and she ate TWO!  We were elated and felt blessed by her rapid recovery as we drove home.  But still, in the back of my mind...the dreaded thought...what if the seizures came?

Once home, she was so happy to be back that she made a beeline for our bed (the smart little girl remembered exactly where it was) and would not leave until the next morning...

Her appetite still was not normal.  She turned her nose up at kibble, canned food, gourmet frozen dog food, and would only eat the sauteed ground beef or roast chicken I hand fed to her.  We were still a little worried - what if the serum did not really work?  What if she's not really cured? What if it is only temporary?  I emailed Ed: How long has it been?  He assured me that it has now been 3 years and Galen has still not had a seizure or a relapse. I emailed again: Is Shadow still ok? Have any other dogs gotten it? The answer was encouragingly, no.

Then we realized, Dot was spoiled silly!  She showed interest in whatever WE were eating!  Cottage cheese, soup, fruit, bread, whatever we had.  She was so smart that she knew she had me wrapped around her spotted little paw! All she had to do was refuse to eat and I'd bring out the big guns - sauteed/buttered beef or roasted chicken with garlic!  I made a concerted effort to try and wean her back to dog food so she could be a dog again....

We celebrated the day she ate her first bowl of kibble! (Oddly enough, after trying the expensive kibble, as well as the "junk food" kibble, it was a free packet of Science Diet from Dr. Sears that did the trick!)

The adopter that had been originally interested in taking her changed his mind and decided he did not want a distemper dog.  By this time though, we had fallen so hopelessly in love with her that it was actually a relief that we did not have to say goodbye to her - and that we would be more to her than just a foster home.

She joined our brood and is now a healthy, happy member of our little family. (And of course, with Lulu and Lorca witnessing all the pampering going on, we naturally had to give them the same...) Needless to say, with our household in upheaval, both good and bad, it has been quite an interesting four weeks since our first experience with Eskimoty!

Through these past two weeks, Dot has only gotten better and better with each day.  She runs so fast and quick, she is even more like a rabbit to us.  She can jump 5 feet up onto our loftbed, with springy ease!

She is so incredibly smart that you only have to teach her something once or twice and she gets the hang of it.  She even seems to have a "sixth sense," anticipating things before I even have a chance to ask her...

She is coming out of her scared little shell too every day (we think she was abused by her previous owner, as she is quite head-shy and once when my boyfriend lifted his boot to clean it, she shied away as if she thought he was going to kick her!!)

She follows me around a la Mary-Had-A-Little-Lamb, and she's so protective of me that she stays vigilant under my chair at my desk and barks at strangers who enter with her protective "big dog" bark.  She's scared of the cats however, who pretty much rule the house and are still getting used to the idea of having a DOG (gasp) in the house!  (Lorca is unfortunately NOT cat friendly, so they have had to learn the hard way that dogs are the enemy...)

She got a summer buzzcut yesterday, as the August heat in the valley was a bit much for her....and now she's even MORE bouncy and energetic, looking and acting just like a puppy!

It has now been two weeks since the whole ordeal happened with her.  There are still some remnants of the distemper - her once soft and pliant calico colored footpads were ravaged, dry and rough, but even they are clearing up and softening a little!  Other than that, you would never know that this cute little angel of a dog had ever been in danger!

THANK YOU, so much, Dr. Sears! Thank you Ed Bond, and Terri Haase, for putting this important information out there for others to find and hopefully, save their animals too.

Love & Guts,

Teresa