problems after removal of spleen in a GSD - Page 1

Hello everyone,
I have a client who purchased a GSD 6 years ago. The dog is having major problems after having his spleen removed. 
The dog is having severe allergic problems (yeast) with his ears, intense itching and and digging at himself and also what the vet diagnosed as IBS.  I am wondering if any of you have ever had any problems like this with a GSD and if so, what did you do? 

So far, they have recommended that the dog be put on either Purina or Pedigree dog food (isn't that odd?!)  and he is having steroid shots which is seeming to just make his ears worse.  The owners said they tried a raw diet with him for a month and he h ad the worst case of diarrhea ever...worse than when he's on dry dog foods.  I told her about the problems with wheat and corn in dogs who have skin reactions and yeast overgrowth, but I don't really know what else to recommend to her. 

Any suggesions?  With the spleen missing is there apossibility that he is having some type of deficiency in his diet that could be causing this?

peggy
knightenhaus

First of all, why was the spleen removed? Tumor? Secondly, what does their vet say about this? The spleen of course is involved in storage for red blood cells and gets rid of old red blood cells. It also serves like a lymph node and acts as a filter for certain kinds of pathogens. So essentially, it is part of the immune system. 

The question is whether the liver and kidney function is also up to par. If not, kidneys not functioning properly, for example, can lead to puritis (itching). The recurrent ear infection may be that they have not used an appropriate medicine for the type of organism, that the ears never got clear because the medication is not reaching it, or because there is some sort of systemic weakness.

The dog should eat what it will eat and what does not give it diarrhea. There are many medications that also might be added to the daily regimen. I would make sure I knew what the infection was, and make sure the medication is getting to it and is specific for the particular yeast or bacterial infection. I would look carefully at kidney function, consider using something like benadryl if the itching is a problem and unfortunately, sometimes with IBS, one must experiment and see what works. And no, it is not odd that they recommend the Purina. The dog may well need more fiber/bulk than some of the premium foods provide. I have several dogs who do better on what I consider not the best quality of food. Dogs with removed spleens, like humans, can also have trouble with iron deficiency. So that is also another thing to think about. But the vet is right there, knows the history and should refer them if he/she is uncertain how to help.

Hi Peggy
I had a dog who had torsion and had his spleen removed but he did not have any bother he was 7 years old and lived till he was 12 years old without ever being ill  also one of my other dogs took a skin problem it was overgrowth of yeast he had to be bath in malmasep shampoo [not sure of the spelling] prednisoline tabs and a corse of antibiotics  for the ears a vet wash to clean the ears and surolan ear and skin treatment that is what my vet gave me and it worked as for food I fed him on James Wellbeloved lamb and rice hope this helps 
R 

There is a very good product for yeast infections for people that can be used on dogs called Candex  made by Pure Essence Labs it is in a capsule and usually you give a dog a child portion which is one capsule, and also the dog will need a good probiotic to take with it like an Acidopholis powder made by a company called Nature Most Laboratories.

 The question then is what medications have they tried? And have they taken samples of the organisms and cultured them and identified what they are so they can select an appropriate antibiotic or antifungal? Sometimes with serious infections, and or with stubborn infection, it is necessary to give the medication internally and for a while. Also, they can do a "pulsed" type treatment where medication is delivered for a week and then again three weeks later, and then again three weeks later etc. 

I would be very careful about bathing the dog in anything until I knew what the organism/s is/are. Otherwise, that too can make things worse. I would make sure he has a properly functioning thyroid and have some general endocrine hormonal levels run, as well as checking liver and kidney function.

In the meantime, let him eat what he wants. Check and recheck as well for parasites. I suspect he has a persistent internal infection that has not been identified and thus the medication has not been correct to date.

I would say that the IBS is not terribly surprising after such a surgery. With IBS, you need to ease into things. Raw should be fine, and probably best, but it needs to be eased into. I would be willing to bet that they didn't really know what they were doing w/the raw when they fed it to him. I would like to know exactly what they gave him and how much, and how long they tried it before scrapping the idea. Raw is the ONLY food that works for my IBS case. But you can't give it to him all at once in the beginning. Start easy- chicken w/a lot of bone and no skin (bone is a great stool firmer)

The other possibility is that removing the spleen didn't fix the underlying problem with this dog, and now it's simply manifesting in different ways. Poor dog.