Auto Immune Disease

[Whippets Rule]

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Hi

If anyone has any experience of owning a dog with auto immune disease please could they offer some advice or point me in the right direction.?

My little dog Bryn is getting worse and currently he has been on anti biotics for over a month but his skin(currently his body is attacking his skin but sometimes it attacks other things)is getting worse and he's still breaking out in spots and weepy red sores all over.

He is very stressed at times and in fact rarely totally relaxed which is perfect for A. I .D

He has a large lick granuloma on his back leg which had healed but he attacked it again yesterday.

He's off to the vet again on Monday but i'd really like to hear from someone who has dealt with the disease first hand as an owner.

Thanks

 

[saraquele]

i cant offer any advice im afraid , just sending my best wishes to you both and hope things settle down :luck: :huggles:

 

[kirislin]

I am not sure but Patience on Whippet World has a whippet with some sort of disease, could be similar. Wendy (Chelynnah) knows her. Ask Wendy.

Linda

 

[alfyn]

I can't offer much advice either,other than making sure he's on a natural diet so at least his body isn't battling against toxins in food.

I've heard of excellent recovery rates in dogs who have been treated by an expert in hoeopathy.

Hope this helps :thumbsup: :luck:

 

[Whippets Rule]

Thank you..his diet is James Wellbeloved food as it is hypo allergenic and additive free no gluten etc etc as he suffers with a form of colitis..again related to the immune problem.

He hasn't had a single bout of colitis since being on this food which is over 18 months now and this is the longest he's ever gone which is good.

we have recently bought a D.A.P diffuser to try to help calm him...it seems to have worked a treat on our boxer who is scared of fireworks but Bryn seems as stressed as ever....he sometimes just goes and sits and stares at the wall or obsessively licks himself till he bleeds

 

[posh totty]

have you tried contacting ainsworths? they do all sorts of homopathic remedies etc and they may be able to point you in the direction of someone with 1st hand experience of the condition? :thumbsup:

good luck and best wishes :huggles: :luck:

 

[wild whippies]

Might be worth consulting your vet about rescue remedy I have a nervy whip that I've given it to when she's been a stress baby and found it helpful but would defo ask vet first about dosage and possible reactions due to the A.I.D.

I also have a non ped which has an inherant skin problem I've got the situation under a point of control where I can spot when he's going to have a break out (he gets pink patches like hives and sometimes eyes go red) I've been able to spot specific triggers in him now, these being flea bites when his flea control is reaching it's period of expiry, running through tall grass when pollen levels are high and the biggest factor seems to be food. If he gets to much of his basic feed he'll flare and if he manages to steal anything that isn't his basic feed he'll react to regardless of how small the amount may be. I think basically if his feed isn't kept to a minimum his body uses the excess to send his immunity on overdrive.

On top of this, he will also react if I leave him without a bath for more than 3 weeks, apparently this is because his body starts to react to the natural bacteria on his skin.

To cope when he starts to get the hives, I bath him in either a anti microbial shampoo (Hibiscrub) or a coal tar shampoo, I increase the amount of water to his feed but reduce the content of food itself. Bear in mind he's a racer and the attacks are always consistent with him stealing something or an increase in weight so what I'm trying to do is flush out whatevers started the attack whilst simultaneously depleting his bodys energy to attack itself.

As for feed, I give him a broth of mince, veg and rice and a small amount of racing kibble. I avoid pasta as someone told me it can effect absorption due to it's gluten content.

If I don't do any of this, he will develop lesions that are best described as a wet excma and they respond well to coal tar ointments but when he's got this far he has hairloss in the areas and looks terrible.

This is all I know about managing his skin problem, I'm hoping by writing everything down it may help you and others but also I'm keen to see any other advice as I don't think this has been discussed in detail before on here.

Wishing you the best of luck :luck:

Jac

 

[JAXASS14D]

I have been through all this over the last 11 years with my old Shiba bitch and her son who is 8 . I was back and forth at the vets every other week and was given long doses of antibiotics and Prednicare ( steroids ) to help with itchy , sore skin and many other problems like colitis . They had raw feet because they would chew and lick them for hours . The sides of their mouths were all cracked and sore . The little coat they had was dry and dull . They always had upset tummies and were sick a lot . It even affects the male's temperament.

I went through everything that I thought it might be and tried every kind of food on the market but with not much success until , one day , I read about food intolerances in dogs and thats when I finally got to the bottom of it . I put them on Naturediet chicken and rice meat dinner and they were like different dogs within a fortnight . Their coats started to grow in like I had never seen them before and the colitis stopped immediately . I stopped the steroid gradually and they were wonderful until Naturediet moved premises and their symptoms started again . I don't know what they had changed about their food but I had to put them on boiled rice and chicken till I found something else to feed them . At Driffield I spoke to the Laughing Dog people and told them all my problems and he told me that it is the preservatives in all these dog foods that cause the reactions I was describing and he said that it was a wide spread problem .The foods are sprayed with fat the make them more palettable for the dog and the preservative is used to stop the fat from going off .The food he sells is traditional baked wheat biscuit complete and I was very dubious at first but decided to take a bag and try it as I , like you , thought that the wheat would be a problem . They have now been eating it for 4 weeks and I am delighted at their progress . Infact they are wonderful on it .No sickness , no sore skin and very firm stools . Their coats are also comming in lovely and thick .

I do hope this helps you cos I know what you and your dog are going through .

If I can help you further please let me know

 

[Whippets Rule]

thank you for your input.

The james Wellbeloved food he is on is wheat free,wheat gluten free and free from artificial colours flavours and preservative.

he is doing really well on this food and to be honest i don't think his problems are diet related but rather just an escalation of the immune problem.

I am going to try some homeopathic treatment and a very nice lady is going to mix me some oils for him too.

 

[kirislin]

crossposting this from Trish on Whippet World

"I once had a cross-breed (Old English Sheepdog/Sheltie) who had dermatomyocitis which is an auto-immune disease (it was just like what you're describing). I was told it is primarily in Shelties/Collies, but ANY breed can have it. If this is the disease you're talking about, you can contact me at whippetmom@verizon.net I can tell you anything about it that I learned.

Trish Scanzello (Whippet Mom) & Niven, Nell and Nigel "

Linda

 

[Whippets Rule]

Thanks everyone for your help and kind comments.

Bryn went to see the vet tonight and he seems better today.

We have another two weeks of antibiotics (will have been seven weeks in total)and he has to have more steroid cream applied.The lick granuloma is definitely improving but mostly cos he can't lick it with the bucket on his head(buster collar thingy)

Am going to get some Rescue Remedy to try to calm him for a while because the vet said the other alternative is Diazepam which he had when he had the barbed wire accident and the resulting surgery, although i'd rather not put him back on the Diazepam again.

Some morons have been setting off fire works tonight and although Bryn never used to be scared of them,his stressed state at the moment is making them upset him.

I would like to find the moron setting off the fireworks and stick one where it hurts and light the ruddy thing :rant: while shouting it's not November the fifth you moron :rant:

Thanks again. xx

 

[wild whippies]

I know how you feel, just been out walking with mine and they're going off left, right and centre :angry: I'm lucky as mine seem to be bomb proof when it comes to fireworks including my nervy one.

I hope the rescue remedy works :luck: I remembered I'd come across a link for lick granuloma but it doesn't offer much as an alternative to medication other than acupuncture and behavioural therapy. Thought I'd add it anyway though as there is a few suggestions to management.

Good luck :luck:

Lick granuloma

 

[Strike Whippets]

Which James Wellbeloved food is he on ?? .......The Lamb and rice adult is the better one for him .......also as said Rescue Remedy and Aspen also from the Bach range will help loads ......3 drops on his food each meal, and 4 drops of each in his drinking water (its harmless to your other dog btw) .......Give it a week or so and you should see a much calmer, braver dog :luck: :luck: ......I have 2 with 2 different AI diseases ......email me if you'd like more info :thumbsup: ....Hannah

Rescue remedy and all ......

 

[Whippets Rule]

Thanks he's on the Ocean white fish and rice senior food.