hi glad he is a little better,
i just wanted some advice of what the first signs were our collie is 13 and he has a long nose which is starting to go scaly, his nose runs alot and instead of lowering his body to the floor when he lays down he just sort of chucks himself. He will not lie in a bed as he seems to like the cold floor but he is getting sores on his elbows. He looks to have scaly bits under his jaw like on his chin could this be the start of it?
We took him to the vets a couple of months ago and spent £500 pounds on him for tests and no result as to what was up. First they thought he had a brain tumour, then they thought he might have had nasal tumours as his snout is so long but no answer. Any advice would be helpful
thanks

I may be able to point you in the direction of someone who can if you are interested, I cannot put details on the forum as 'it is by referal invitation only pm me if you are interested. Think they cover lupus
regards
sue

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They are your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion

Hi Sally,
I know what you are going through. Our 2 & 1/2 year old Silky/ toy poodle mix was lame in one leg 3 weeks ago. It changed to another leg & then another. He also had sores in both of his ears in the same spots & a bit of crusty patches on his jaws.
We took him in for x rays & his legs looked fine, no inflammation showing.
The vet prescribed metacam, an anti-inflammatory as she thought it might be the onset of arthritis.
Gave it to him for one week...no improvement...getting more lethargic, fevered, blood in stool. Took him in again & had blood work done. Tested for Lyme Disease, although none in this area at present. (We are in the city as well)
Put him in intensive care & she started IV & waited for Lyme results. They came back negative. He had a giardia worm in stool which accounted for blood, supposidly.
His white blood cells were up, his fever stayed up even though he had 2 rounds of antibiotics & a cortisone injection.
I, meanwhile am frantically searching the net for info & keep coming up with SLE for his symptoms.
On the 6th day we brought him home feeling a bit better with the diagnosis of immune mediated polyarthritis...by now he is put on prednisone.
She told me it may be SLE but as yet she is treating him for the arthritis.
From everything I have read, it all points to SLE....he has all of the symptoms,
He is not getting a lot better. His nose has not been affected yet but we noticed yesterday, that it is running clear fluid a bit.
The prednisone is awful...making him bloat, his heart is racing...I'm a mess.
This disease is so rare that it seems no vet is very knowledgable in it (as in humans as well, unfortunately.)
He won't eat his dog food so I've been cooking for him. He will eat people food.
Any help would be appreciated from anyone knowing more about this or having had dogs with this.
I can't seem to find out how long we may have Winston for, or what to expect as far as quality of life. We don't want to see him suffer, but we are not giving up on him either.

Hi all, so sorry that I haven't been able to post for a while, unfortunately we had to have Roger put to sleep at the beginning of August, he had been ill for 8 weeks and was not improving at all. His nose and ears had healed but he was still very lame and if we accidently missed his steroids in the evening he couldn't get off his bed until lunchtime. He went for his weekly check up and I mentioned to the vet that his breathing appeared to have become very laboured, and his heart was racing.

After a lengthy check up the vet agreed with me that it was time to call it a day, his quality of life was awful and I couldn't bear to see him suffering any longer, it was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make but I know it was for the best.

We scattered his ashes in the river on his favourite walk.

On the good news front... his life long pal Heidi, a 13yr old border collie cross was looking extremely miserable so we found her a new companion. He is 5 months old patterdale/jack russell cross rescued for our local lost dogs home. Todd has been with us now for 3 weeks and I can honestly say it was the best move to make, he's been a breath of fresh air, given Heidi a new lease of life and although he will never replace Roger (the best dog I have ever had) he has filled a hole and settled in with the whole family, including the 2 cats!

To any one else who has a dog they think might be suffering from lupus, please feel free to email me scairns@hotmail.co.uk and I will try to help. If only with help trying to diagnose the possibility that it might be lupus.

By the way, I'm sure the hyperium and callendular cream helped his nose and ears heal so thats worth trying.

Thank you to everyone who sent their best wishes and hopes for Roger, we all appreciate your concern.

Oh I am sad to hear that Sally. I know you had done your best for Roger. Run Free Roger

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Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or hump it. Piss on it and walk away

Oh Sally i'm so sorry , but you did what was best for him and you put Roger first for that I am sure he thanks you and watches over you and your family. It is amazing how a young pup can help our elderly pups get through tough times is'nt it. Good luck with the new addition. Thinking of you...Jill

so sorry to hear about Roger - he was a lucky boy to have you and he'll never be forgotten .. your new little boy sounds beautiful xx

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My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am

In a perfect world every dog would have a home and every home would have a dog[/color]

Oh Sally, I am so sorry to hear about Roger.
Little Winston has had a rough few days as well. He's ok one day & then terrible the next. His heart races a lot & he is exhausted all of the time. He drinks excessively & has to pee 2 to 3 times every night. We get up with him as he paces to go out.
It has been such a trying few weeks. I keep thinking a miracle might happen & he will recover but I think it's wishful thinking.
My email is isw@nbnet.nb.ca if anyone wants to talk or share info.

Thanks for all your kind thoughts and best wishes.

I just feel so sorry for anyone who has to go through what we did with poor Roger. *hugs to all of you*

On a lighter note... here is a pic of wee Todd, he's at the vets at the moment having a little op *cough-no-balls-cough* + a chip but I'm sure he'll soon be his bouncy self again

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Todd 5 months.jpg (79.6 KB, 3 views)