Canine Botulism - Dead Iguanas in Florida - Page 3

Hodie,
Thanks and please forward anything that might help.  It has only been 6 days and the vets are excited about his progress.  We are hoping his age will be in his favor.  We are prepared for the worse but, want to give him every chance possible.

Carole,

Here are a few references. It seems that recovery is not unheard of, but it may well be a long process. Preventing bedsores, and turning the dog frequently so it does not get pressure sores, giving it foam bedding covered with sheets to help, seem reasonable options to help. Making sure the dog does not get some sort of secondary infection is also important. 

Do you know how the actual diagnosis was made? Did you see your dog eat an iguana? Apparently, whether the iguanas have caused this outbreak is not certain. And there is antitoxin available, but in your case, it is far past time to use it. In some cases, the toxin can cause severe reactions too.

Anyway, hopefully you have vets who know how to treat such an invalid dog. If you can hang in there and give the dog the time and effort this is clearly going to require, hopefully he will improve with time, although he may have some type of residual neurological effects.

Good luck. And keep us posted on his progress.




http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/DiseaseInfo/notes/Botulism.pdf

http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/digitalvet/2010-01-07_104631_Botulism_-_Associate_Data.pdf

http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/pdfs/botulism.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC525276/

Hodie,

Thought I would let you known that Toby has almost completely recovered.  He lost a lot of muscle mass and dropped 25lbs.  He is completely mobile but , needs to build his stamina back up.  That is happening every day.  We worked very hard with him  and it paid off.  Thanks for your replies.

Carole

Hydrogen peroxide can be caustic, yes. It comes in industrial strengths, and is a corrosive agent. Most drug store HP is only 3% or 6%. You can pour maybe a 1/4 of it in a dogs mouth, using the lower lip as a funnel. Dilute it 50/50 with water, first. HP is really just water, with an extra molecule of oxygen, which is unstable. When it hits something like pus or food or rotted flesh, that extra molecule of oxygen is released, which causes it to foam up. When the process is complete you have only oxygen and water left.. nothing toxic. The free oxygen is actually the corrosive agent.

If you ever have a really bad infection in your mouth, simply rinsing several times a day with HP can kill the infection and help save your gums and teeth. Most bacteria that live in pockets in the gums are anaerobic and don't like oxygen. Oxygen is corrosive to most bacteria, with the exception of staphylococcus aureus. It destroys their protein, otherwise, but staph A (commonly found on skin) has an anti-oxidant jacket or a beta carotene, which protects it. So, HP is not really a good disinfectant for skin.

Just be careful with the strength and frequency of use. Too much can be harmful to healthy tissue.

PS.. I am not a doctor or veterinarian. Consult your licensed doctor or veterinarian before commensing any medical treatments (disclaimer).