Any Ideas? Health related - Page 1

One of my males will be 5 in September he has had health issues since the age of 2yrs.
He has various allergies and adverse reactions to meat proteins, these include dust mites, chicken, turkey, various white fish, lamb, sheep,  beef just makes his stoools soft doesnt affect his skin. He has a diagnosis of Atopic Dermititis and for 9mths was on Atopica with some good results but resulted in serious side affects mainly seizures, muscle weakness and jiont pain. He was taken off this in January 08, diet changed to Duck based protein in Nov 07, maintained with natural remedies untill April 08 when he then developed the allergy to dust mites and was placed on steroids, these over a period of time were reduced to 5mg daily, if I reduce more skin lesions re occur. During his relapse in April 08 I nearly lost him due to his immune system attacking his own body and his weight dropped massively, the steroids were last resort before looking at him being pts.  In April 09 he again started loosing weight, initialy from just over 35kg to 29kg in 2 months, a further 4 wks later he dropped to 26.5kg, 1 wk further to 26.35kg.
I have just recently had TLI redone and is still normal, other blood tests re organs liver/kidney etc I am still waiting the results, he is going back to the vets at the end of the week all results should be back then.
He is still happy and full of life so dont want to make the final descision untill I know the cause.
Any body got any ideas on what to try next?
If it is his organs ie liver failing or some other severe condition ie cancer  then he will be given sleep.

I'm sorry to hear the distressing history of your boy.

It sounds like he has a compromised immune system, and I know that unfortunately it is an issue we are seeing more and more today  Re the coat the only good luck I've had with a girl who was ripping her coat out, growing nasty infected pustuiles and looking like a hat rack.  I was lucky and I put her on all natural food (no cereals) and I gave her large amounts of alternative therapy's - I used liquid aloe vera, bee pollen and bee propolis (these are natural anti biotic, anti allergy and anti fungal.  Strangely enough these things did work and pretty quickly - I didnt really expect them to work but not only has it meant that she has a good coat, but now she's back on kibble and doing pretty well, I doubt she'll ever be a chubby but other than when she is moulting she's looking pretty good.

Thanks for your response, although I am aware about his immune system being over active, his allergies have been under control for a long time, no problems with grains food wise it is the protein source with him. I have tried natural remodies but they only worked for 3mths and he relapsed.
At the moment I am unsure what is going on the only signs are increased hunger and rapid weight loss, I cant see he has developed a new allergy as his skin is fine, ears fine, feaces are normal, temperature fine, still very active no lethargy at all, coat shiney, deffinately no clinical signs of illness apart from the weight issue.

Hi, from what you are saying about the ++ increased hunger and weight loss - this sounds very much like Pancreatic Insufficiency - I have a 7 year old bitch who has PI and she is doing very well on normal chicken and rice complete food with 2 teaspoons of canned digestive type meat and a teaspoon of Panzym - dried pigs pancreas.  She developed this disease at 14 months old.  There are 2 types of PI - one is genetic from both parents and the other is acquired PI, the second I have no idea how they get this - could be trauma or stress or ingestion of poisons etc etc.  Not sure how she became ill, but she was really sick with massive drop in weight very quickly and so hungry she ate her own faeces, the other dogs faeces and anything lying in the garden, weeds, grass, plants, twigs - just anything to stem her hunger. 

Once she was treated on the Panzym she made a fantastic recovery - however she must have this everyday with her meal.  She only gets fed once a day and her regime is set.  Occasionally she can have a biscuit treat and she is fine.  If she misses her medication she reverts back to very soft to custard like stools within 24 hours. 

I did have a male who had the skin disease and it was Auto Immune Skin Disease similar to your dog as well, but he is deceased now at age 12, he had steroids for many years.  However, there are apparently vaccines that can be made for the dog and the last I knew they came from Holland.  Probably cost a fortune to have a vaccine made for the dog, but might be worth a try.  I think they need a blood sample and skin scrapings for the vaccine to be made.  At the time I had my dog there was no offer of anything but steroids.

Ask your Vet for the PI test and see what the results are. 

I hope this helps a bit towards a diagnosis.

All the best
Aileen

Hi Pam

Sorry, no experience of this, or advice to offer, but I really hope you find the answer for Alfe and that he improves soon

Paula

I had a friend that would treat her horses with all kinds of home remidies, the would get worse and worse...one died at 5, another at 7 another at 4......Once she was called away to help her ailing mother, I fed her horses without all the remidies and within a month they were the pictue of health.....When she got back, she freaked and started the remidies again and the horses again began to look terrible........

Becareful with them.........

That being said, have you tired Dinovite?

I do hope that what ever it is, it can be helped.

Aileen he has been tried under vet supervision Lypex a pancreatic enzyme supplement whilst he was on this apart from having loose stools for the first time in his life he still lost 2.5kg in the 4wk trial, plus his TLI is normal which has just been tested again last week results were back on Monday.

Thanks Paula.

Sitasmum
Dinovite is similiar to Lypex he is not on any home remedies he is just fed a Duck Based food along with 5mg of steroid in the evening. The only natural remedies  that were used were nutritional supplemts made for dogs between Jan& March 08, nothing since. The Skin as been under control for a long time.
I was wondering if it is his Liver but no other clinical signs, will see what other bloods are like when I see vet on Saturday.
Pam

Re the Vacinnes this was discussed with the Lab back in April 08 and has it is only successful in approx 55% of cases and the chronic condition he had and the length of time he had it they did not believe it would work in his case and they recommended not to go that route.

Has his thyroid been tested?  It is important to do a full thyroid panel.  Possible symptoms of hyperthyroidism are:

• Excessive thirst
• Excessive urination
• Increased appetite
• Weight loss (despite increased appetite)
• Hyperactivity
• Irritability or Aggression
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Voluminous fatty feces
• Panting, Heat intolerance
• Skin lesions, dry, greasy, matted coat

It is not all that common in dogs, but it sounds like a possibilty. I sure hope that you and your vet can figure this out. It is so stressful to deal with these situations. The best of luck to you.

Char

has he been checked for diabettis?