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ForumsGerman Shepherd Dog > Is this Von Willebrands, allergic reaction, or auto immune? have you ever seen this? (42 replies)
Is this Von Willebrands, allergic reaction, or auto immune? have you ever seen this? by Maureen on 18 June 2012 - 18:04 |
Hi there, We need some help from the GSD community. |
by TingiesandTails on 18 June 2012 - 18:12 |
Sorry for your dog! |
TingiesandTails by Maureen on 18 June 2012 - 19:29 |
| Thanks, we will double check the plants in the backyard and see if we have those. |
by djc on 18 June 2012 - 19:32 |
| Poor thing! Hope they find whats wrong soon! The only thing that comes to mind to me is, Has she been in any water recently? Dirty water or chemicals in the water could do this. Good luck and hugs to your girl! Debby |
djc by Siantha on 18 June 2012 - 19:54 |
| my sister had a reaction like this from swimming in the lake and it was a paracite |
Siantha by Sheesh on 18 June 2012 - 21:16 |
| Check a tick borne disease panel. |
Sheesh by SitasMom on 18 June 2012 - 22:49 |
| Maureen - do you happen to live in the Dallas-Ft Worth area? |
by Nans gsd on 18 June 2012 - 23:14 |
| Did the vet take a skin scrapping and look at it under the microscope? I would do that and if they see nothing send it to the lab. Quickly, you can imagine if the outside looks like this that could be even worse on the inside. Best of luck with her Nan Von Willebran (or VWD) I believe is where the blood does not clot properly. |
by guddu on 19 June 2012 - 01:59 |
| This is NOT vWD... |
guddu by hexe on 19 June 2012 - 04:50 |
| If a tick panel rules out Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme and the like, and you're *positive* she hasn't been exposed to anything that could be causing a photosensitivity reaction (some medications, such as tetracyclines, can cause that, and some of the topical flea control products have been reported to cause a similar response), then you have to consider autoimmune conditions such as one of the pemphigus disorders, or systemic lupus erythematosus... |
by mrdarcy on 19 June 2012 - 07:12 | |||||
Posting the comments from the same thread in the All Breeds forum which will be deleted. All comments should now be posted here, thank you. mrdarcy (admin)
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by fawndallas on 20 June 2012 - 01:49 |
| If you still are not getting anywhere, see if your vet can get the photos and results from the skin scrap to A&M. |
fawndallas by RebelsMom on 21 June 2012 - 00:48 |
| I don't know if this will helps, but I found a tick on my shepherd ... I got the whole thing out, & cleaned it out, but with in a couple of days, he had somewhat of the same rash, (not as large), and the area had swollen to the size a quarter of a golf ball. The vet told me had an allergic reaction to the tick bite. With meds, it was gone within a couple of days. I hope this helps, but it might not be the same thing. |
RebelsMom by hexe on 21 June 2012 - 05:10 |
| <bump> Hey, Maureen--any update on your girl's condition? Better? Worse? No change? Any differential diagnosis from the vets? |
by Maureen on 21 June 2012 - 12:21 |
| Hi Everyone, Thank-you for all the input. We are at day 6 with no marked change in her condition. We have done 2 complete blood panels, the 2nd one slightly different than the first one...all results came back in normal range. We did tick panels, twice too, and heartworm, etc. and the results were negative. No new shampoos, food or other things in her environment that could be the cause. We have been using Frontline plus for years, so while it possibly could be caused from that we don't think it is... We have 3 other shepherds and they are all fine. The dogs are kept in runs during the work day, and with us in the late afternoons/evenings. There is always the possibility of an insect bite, or she ate some plant on the property that I am unaware of. However, we would expect her blood panels to show some sign if this was the case. She is eating and drinking and relieving herself in a normal manner. And, we cool her off by hosing her down with the nice cold well water, especially with the heat wave we are having on the east coast this week. So, basically the only symptoms she has, is some discomfort or pain, now masked by the drugs, the red skin over most of her body, and the heat from her skin where it is red. She feels like a child with a high fever. The red blotches do change and have spread into a more solid red color on the shaved area of her leg. Last night the color lightened up a slightly to more of a pink than a red, but the red area is now more solid than blotchy. I also found the front part of her body had areas with normal skin color, all good signs if it stays that way. We are going back to the Vet tomorrow. At this point our only course of actions are: test for VWD (which we don't think it is, but her bloodlines trace back to the shepherd who is known for passing it on), a skin biopsy, and possibly continue the antibiotecs and benadryl. We are finished with the steriods I think. I will send an update as we progress through this. And, hopefully we either figure out what the heck this is, or it runs it course. I am taking some of the comments I have not yet discussed with my vet in tomorrow. So, again thank-you! Maureen |
by starrchar on 21 June 2012 - 13:31 |
| If she has an infection, she should be on antibiotics for three weeks or longer. Although Benadryl works on some dogs (I believe it is 30%) I have never found it to be effective on my own dogs. You may want to discuss trying another antihistamine to see if that helps. Almost any antihistamine you try will only be effective on 30% of all dogs, so it is a challenge to figure out which one is right for your dog. Temaril-P is the medication I have found to work really well when dealing with an allergy flareup. It's a combination of low dose prednisone and antihistamine. Has your vet recommennded trying ZAntac (anti-acid med)? It also has histamine blockers and it works differently that other antihistamines. I know it is sometimes used on humans, along with regular anti-histamines, in treating allergies, but I don't know about animals. It sure sounds like you have done quite a bit to figure this out and it's good that you're doing a skin biopsy. I hope you have some answers soon. PLease keep up posted. Hoping for the best for your girl. |
by fawndallas on 21 June 2012 - 14:39 |
| Please be very careful of giving your dog prednisone (sp?). This medication has terrible side affects on a dog's kidneys. Over long term (3 years or more) the dog's kidneys eventually fail. |
by fawndallas on 21 June 2012 - 14:47 |
| I looked over the posts and did not see this. What about a fungus? There is a medicated shampoo your vet can give you for fungus. It is expensive though. I do not think it will hurt to try, but check with the vet first. Also, could this be a sunburn? Looks like this is on the skin exposed areas..... Have you tried totally changing her food? I have found that dog food manufactures change their food with little or no obvious indication. It may something as minor as changing the amount of an ingrediant just enough to trigger a reaction. Just throwing ideas out, as it looks like all the normal stuff has been checked out. |
by DebiSue on 24 June 2012 - 15:29 |
| I noticed a very similiar break out on my girls inner thighs and tummy...not near this bad but the spots look identical. My vet is having me treat it with EnteDerm (Nystatin-Neomycin Sulfate-Thiostrepton-Triamcinolone Acetonide) ointment, once a day, lightly applied, rubbed in well. He's treating it like some kind of fungus. We just started using this as of Thursday evening so not seeing a big improvement on the looks of it but she is no longer crazily licking at it. You might want to ask your vet about it. Good luck! |
DebiSue
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