Update on Lucy.  Her skin over her entire body is a shade of pink or red, and more solid in color now, rather than splotchy like the picture above.  Her head and ears swelled up a bit and are now one of the main areas affected.  Her ears are deep red, as is the skin on her head.  It is causing her discomfort, and she stopped eating yesterday morning.  She is acting similiar to how she did when this all started, but not quite as agitated.  This is an inflamatory issue, but we cannot determine the cause.

We did blood tests for a complete tick disease panel and one for auto-immune diseases.  Everything came up normal.  We could do further testing for auto-immune disease as there are many types out there.   We tested for the most likely auto-immune diseases.  To do further testing for auto-immune would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, be very expensive, and we tested for any that could fit her symptoms. 

We decided not to do the skin biopsy due to the nature of her symptoms and the way it is traveling over her entire body.  It was worse on the back half of her body the first 5 or 6 days.  Now it is worse on the front 1/2 of her body.  So, we are seeing changes, just not all good.  The leg area we shaved has changed to a light pink/purple shade and looks a bit better.

Our Vet at this point thinks it could be one of the following: 
1. Auto-immune disease (in which case if this goes away it will most likely come back again)

2. A bacterial infection either from her own body, or the environment.  However, she should have responded to the drugs if this was the case.

3. A toxin in the environment that she is reacting to (plant or otherwise), however our other 3 dogs are fine.  And, we should have seen some indication in the bloodwork for her body functions.

4. An un-known virus.  Our Vet has 3 other cases right now that are all inflamatory related, just not exactly like Lucy's.  The other dogs also show completely normal blood test results, all body functions are normal, no fever, and are also not responding as would be expected to meds.  A couple of them have gone on to specialists with no results too).


We are currently treating her with Benadryl (which does seem to give her releif), and Doxycycline (sp?).  We are also adding the prednisone back to the regiment.  And, we cool her down by rinsing her with cold well water (this helps the heat in her skin a lot, and she seems much more comfortable afterwards).  This morning she woke me up at 3:15am and was acting similiar to how she did when this all started, agitated, panting, and asking for help.  I took her outside, she drank a bit, then brought her in, filled up a big bag with ice and held it on various areas of her body for 3 or 4 minutes.  This helped her get more comfortable.  I also gave her more benadryl and that really seemed to help combined with the cool comfort of the ice pack.

So, today we start the prednisone again.  And, we are putting her back on chicken and rice to see if she will eat.  Fortunately my husband is able to work from home for the most part.  So, Lucy has been in air conditioning most of the time.

I will mention to my vet the following suggestions, so thanks for the input!:
Pemphigus disorder, systemic lupus erythematosus, and the Temaril-P Antibiotecs.

Maureen

 

I'm so sorry to read that Lucy is not improving. Maybe it is not the right antibiotic? There are a number of different kinds of anitbiotocs to treat various kinds of bacteria. This has got to be so scary and upsetting, not to mention your poor girl must be terribly uncomfortable. I really feel for you and I hope that a diagnosis will be made soon and/or the vet will be able find something that will help clear this up.

OOPS regardless of how other dogs are. Like 1 kid gets the chicken pox..they dont all always get at same time..etc.

I have seen similar looking in a newspaper article in the region when certain lakes get a bacteria and that is what the people looked like.. they also get flue symptoms and aches and pains.. not all get fever. Spider bites, bug bites, beetle bites... they can carry such things too.

Hopefully it is something that will pass when it runs its course..or the proper meds help

Has she had recent vaccination. yes could be allergic reaction to that if so or a botched batch and yaaa that does too happen.

Could there be anything like insulation or other toxic materials etc that she could have brushed thru.. all ideals.. I am sure your vet will help you get to the root, so keep on plugging and best wishes for her!


Debi