Friends I Need Advice and Encouragement - Page 1

Hello Friends,

As some of you know I have been busy with other obligations and have not had the luxury of spending a lot of time posting her lately. Funny how quickly circumstances can change your plans. I am posting because I need your help, again,..lol..:)

Anyway most of you know my male Ruger vom Mittelwest, aka Prince, but for those of you who do not, Prince is a 2 year old male, West German Showline. This past week while cleaning what I call Prince's dirty butt, I came upon some very concerning small narrow opening around Prince's rectum. He had not showed any signs of discomfort, but he has always had a very dirty bottom from the time he was a puppy. I normally would be cleaning it, but as of lately I decided that if it doesn't bother him then I won't let it bother me either....

This week I decided that it does bother me and went about cleaning it..That is when I found a problem. The nurse in me started assessing immediately and I decided that they reminded me of a fistula, but I was unaware of a condition that occured in dogs. To my dismay I Google for two days looking up AF perianal fistula also called anal furunculosis. By the time I got done reading all the information on the Internet and then the articles on the Pedigree Database I was very discouraged and frankly really depressed....

This evening we went to see our veterinarian to confirm what is going on with Prince and the veterinarian did confirm a diagnosis of AF. She said Prince is young to have this condition and the condition is complicated and there is really not a set treatment. Dogs all respond very differently to treatments and every case is individual. She appeared less negative then the things I read on the internet, but she is also a young veterinarian that does not have a lot of personal experience with this condition.....

We are going to treat it at this point with antibiotics and daily cleansing. The hope is that the fistulas will shrink and the antibiotics will prevent any secondary infections from setting in while they heal. He has three fistulas that the vet said appeared superficial at this time. After the ten days of antibiotics we will hope for improvement. If no improvement is noticed or anything worsens we will be going to Columbus Ohio to the Ohio State Veterinarian Hospital where they have specialists that understand the condition better and hopefully give us more options,

I am not big supporter on the over use of meds, vaccines, and radical treatments. Not saying I would not go this route if it was a last resort and I felt it was the right thing to do, but it will not be my first choice....

I am hoping that by posting this thread, I will get others who have had this condition affect their dog, give me some encouragment, advice, and alternative treatments that helped them deal with this complicated condition.

I am asking that you all please refrain from posting horror stories about all the bad, sad, and devastating things related to the condition. I am a terrrible worrier by nature ...I am aware of the prognosis and the seriousness of the condition, but would like to stay focused on moving forward in a positive way..

I appreciate being able to post here and ask for your help and encouragement...

Thanks Deanna..:)

 

In addition to the antibiotics, try cleaning the area with Hebiclens and applying Desitin Maximum Strength 3 times a day. Ask your vet about cyclosporine. IMO taking him to a vet school if they don't clear up is a very good idea.

Deanna, I have been so fortunate w/my GSDs, but that doesn't mean I can't empathize with your situation and imagine how I would feel. I have faced other health horrors with other animals and in fact am right in the middle of EPM w/my favorite horse. It seems so insurmountable at first and you hear such varying stories it's hard to know which end is up sometimes. Unfortunately, I don't have AF experience to share with you, so, I wanted to say I'm very sorry to hear you and Prince have to deal with this, but knowing how dedicated to him you are,  I know you'll do the right thing. Best wishes!

I am so sorry to hear about what is going on with Prince.  I've never had a dog with AF, but I understand that early diagnosis and treatment is very important, so it's great that you took him into the vet as soon as you realized something wasn't right. PLease keep us posted as to Prince's progress. 

Not that it is of any benefit right now, but there is now a DNA test for the gene that increases the chance for a dog to get AF. If you are interested in finding out whether or not Prince's AF is hereditary, please PM me and I'll give you the info. You may want to talk to the breeder about it too.

Deanna, not all instances of fistulas are the result of the chronic condition known as 'anal furunculosis' or 'perianal fistulas'--small fistulas can also occur secondary to an impacted/infected anal sac which is not detected and which then causes a tear (or tears) in the skin in the perianal area from which the sac can slowly drain.  In those situations, with treatment and management of the affected site, the fistulas will generally resolve, and as long as the anal sacs don't continue to become impacted, the fistulas usually don't recur.  Did the vet check the anal sacs and express them when she examined Prince?  If not, that needs to be done as soon as possible, because if he does have an infected anal sac just giving antibiotics by mouth and keeping the area clean isn't going to address the impaction...

Here's an encouraging outcome for you to focus on:  when my first GSD, Jess, was about 3 years old, she developed two fistulas which were secondary to an impacted anal sac.  Keep in mind that this was 25 years ago, when treatment options were extremely limited--there wasn't any cyclosporine or tacrolimus being used for the condition at that time, and amoxicillin was still a pretty powerful antibiotic then. Anyway, we emptied the sacs, flushed them and the tracts of the fistulas out with a Nolvasan solution, packed both anal sacs with bacitracin ointment, and then as the final touch, my boss cauterized the tracts (Jess was under general anesthesia for the entire procedure, so she didn't feel a thing).  I continued to keep the area clean, and to check the anal sacs daily for about two weeks, and during that time, the fistulas closed off and healed beautifully.  She never experienced an impacted anal sac again in the remaining 11 years of her life, and she never developed another fistula either. 

So it's not always as bad as it seems.  Given Ruger's age, it's certainly possible that these aren't signal of the chronic condition, but rather are a secondary effect to something else.  Even if it does turn out to be AF/PAF (depending on which term you prefer), it still can be quite manageable in some dogs--recent research has shown a link between food sensitivities and the condition, so one aspect of managing it is to switch to a feed with hydrolized proteins, or switch to feeding a single, novel protein (and I mean really novel, like ostrich or kangaroo or duck) and a single carbohydrate such as potato, quinoa, millet, etc. 

There's an excellent report on the long-term results of treatment of PAF using 1% tacrolimus ointment in the "Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association" (JAVMA) Vol. 235 No. 4 August 15, 2009 edition that you should ask your vet about--if she's an AVMA member (and most vets in private practice are) she can access it via the AVMA website and print out a copy of it for you [it's not available as a free full text article on line :( ].  The title of the report is, "Long-term prospective evaluation of topically-applied 1% tacrolimus ointment for treatment of perianal sinuses in dogs". (Yeah, just what we needed...yet ANOTHER term for the condition. Pfft. The report itself is quite informative, however.)

Noddi posted a thread about AF recently http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/forum.read?mnr=158198

Best wishes

Hi
My girl had AF for the last 5 and a bit years of her life.  Keira was unable to go down the conventional route of cyclosporin because her immune system was already compromised.  I have a amazing Homoeopathic vet and we managed it for all those years.  Do NOT use anything harsh to wash round the anus I just used boiled water that had cooled.  I used a gel called Intra-Site twice a day to make sure the tears/pits didn't dry out and it didn't make the area to wet either.  Kee was on homoeopathic remedies and anti-biotics every now and again.  We couldn't operate because of where it was.  I am not into over use of any meds or vaccines.  She was also on a natural diet.

All the best shepherdhope