Our dog has had a very sudden onset of arthritic like symptoms. He was
given anti imflammatory tabs and a 4 week series of cartrophen
injections. These didn't do anything. Then he was put on 2 different
types of anit biotics to no avail. He then had blood tests taken,
which prove all O.K.. Now the vet says he may have an auto immune
disease and yesterday did a joint tap. We are waitng on the results,
but the vet has indicated that cortisone tabs will probably be the only
treatment. This has all happened in a 6 week period. We cannot
believe the absolute demise in our ever health dog. Can anyone help in
our predicament??

"kate" wrote in message
oups.com...
Our dog has had a very sudden onset of arthritic like symptoms. He was
given anti imflammatory tabs and a 4 week series of cartrophen
injections. These didn't do anything. Then he was put on 2 different
types of anit biotics to no avail. He then had blood tests taken,
which prove all O.K

............Among those blood tests did they do a test for Lyme disease? Has
this dog had Lyme vaccinations?

buglady
take out the dog before replying

"kate" wrote in message
oups.com...
Our dog has had a very sudden onset of arthritic like symptoms. He was
given anti imflammatory tabs and a 4 week series of cartrophen
injections. These didn't do anything. Then he was put on 2 different
types of anit biotics to no avail. He then had blood tests taken,
which prove all O.K.. Now the vet says he may have an auto immune
disease and yesterday did a joint tap. We are waitng on the results,
but the vet has indicated that cortisone tabs will probably be the only
treatment. This has all happened in a 6 week period. We cannot
believe the absolute demise in our ever health dog. Can anyone help in
our predicament??



I can offer no advice other than *pursue this aggressively*.
I lost a four year old dog to this exact same scenario, except he went from
fine to dead in less than four weeks.
If I had it to live over again I would ask for second opinions by *running*
to the closest veterinary teaching hospital/college.

I don't mean to scare you, but I had some of the best diagnostic
veterinarians in my part of the state and still lost the dog. A veterinary
college has much more to offer (IMO) in the way of diagnostic capabilities
and cutting edge technologies and treatments.

Good luck...

--
Toni Carroll
South Florida USA
http://www.irish-wolfhounds.com

buglady wrote:
"kate" wrote in message
oups.com...
Our dog has had a very sudden onset of arthritic like symptoms. He was
given anti imflammatory tabs and a 4 week series of cartrophen
injections. These didn't do anything. Then he was put on 2 different
types of anit biotics to no avail. He then had blood tests taken,
which prove all O.K

...........Among those blood tests did they do a test for Lyme disease? Has
this dog had Lyme vaccinations?

buglady
take out the dog before replying

buglady wrote:
"kate" wrote in message
oups.com...
Our dog has had a very sudden onset of arthritic like symptoms. He was
given anti imflammatory tabs and a 4 week series of cartrophen
injections. These didn't do anything. Then he was put on 2 different
types of anit biotics to no avail. He then had blood tests taken,
which prove all O.K

...........Among those blood tests did they do a test for Lyme disease? Has
this dog had Lyme vaccinations?

buglady
take out the dog before replying

Thank you for your reply....no he hasn't been tested for Lyme disease.
Is this from rats????

Dogs can get lyme disease from ticks...not from rats.


kate wrote:

Thank you for your reply....no he hasn't been tested for Lyme disease.
Is this from rats????



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"Toni" wrote in message
.. .
I can offer no advice other than *pursue this aggressively*.
I lost a four year old dog to this exact same scenario, except he went
from
fine to dead in less than four weeks.

...Hi Toni!
.....Could you tell me again what Steve had? I know it was something I'd
never heard of.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

"kate" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thank you for your reply....no he hasn't been tested for Lyme disease.
Is this from rats????

...........It's a disease transmitted by ticks. Here's a good page on tick
diseases: http://www.minden.com/nowhereelse/ca...ck_disease.htm

........There is some question as to whether or not it exists in Australia
(is that where you are?):
http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/lyme%20disease.htm
At the very least you should ask your vet about it and other infectious
diseases present in your area.

Why did you ask about rats? Are there a lot of rats around? Rats can
transmit leptospirosis, though this usually hits the liver or kidneys. Lepto
occurs worldwide.

How old is this dog? Any other symptoms, like fever? What were the
antibiotics used and how long was the dog on them? Both Lyme and Lepto
require long courses of specific antibiotics, so whatever the vet gave may
not have done the trick if it is one of these problems. I'm assuming the
anti-inflammatories were steroids? In some diseases they're contraindicated
and if they didn't do any good I'm doubting it's an auto-immune disease. I
don't think you really know what's going on yet and I would urge you (like
Toni) to get a firmer diagnosis. Please let us know the results of the
joint taps.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

buglady wrote:
"kate" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thank you for your reply....no he hasn't been tested for Lyme disease.
Is this from rats????

..........It's a disease transmitted by ticks. Here's a good page on tick
diseases: http://www.minden.com/nowhereelse/ca...ck_disease.htm

.......There is some question as to whether or not it exists in Australia
(is that where you are?):
http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/lyme%20disease.htm
At the very least you should ask your vet about it and other infectious
diseases present in your area.

Why did you ask about rats? Are there a lot of rats around? Rats can
transmit leptospirosis, though this usually hits the liver or kidneys. Lepto
occurs worldwide. How old is this dog? Any other symptoms, like fever? What were the
antibiotics used and how long was the dog on them? Both Lyme and Lepto
require long courses of specific antibiotics, so whatever the vet gave may
not have done the trick if it is one of these problems. I'm assuming the
anti-inflammatories were steroids? In some diseases they're contraindicated
and if they didn't do any good I'm doubting it's an auto-immune disease. I
don't think you really know what's going on yet and I would urge you (like
Toni) to get a firmer diagnosis. Please let us know the results of the
joint taps.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

Thank you for your answer. Yes I am in a fairly remote part of
Australia...Cairns. Queensland.The dog is 8 yrs old . The initial
anitbiotics were Amoxi/Clauvulinc Acid 500mg.
He was only on the anti biotics for a week.
I got confused with the rat disease Leptospirosiswhich started with "L"
. It has nothing to do with Lyme disease which i now see is from
ticks. The vet says we don't have Lyme disease here, however upon
looking on the net there have been cases but not proven. It seems it
is a huge problem in the USA.
The anti immflammatories were Rimadyl. No he hasn't yet been on
steroids, but that seems to be the next progression. The vet has
indicated Prednisone.
Results of the joint tap were that...."it was suppurative arthritis.
There was an "active immflammatory process." It was recommended that
we now have a bacterial culture taken??? After that, the tests
indicated that further tests should be serum ANA and rheumatoid factor
serol/Toogy. I feel time is of the essence and I will seek another
opinion tomorrow. Thanks again

"buglady" wrote in message
et...

..Hi Toni!
....Could you tell me again what Steve had? I know it was something I'd
never heard of.



We never did get a firm diagnisis and hadn't the strength to have a necropsy
done, but "vasculitis" and "meningitis" were both mentioned.
My "old time" veterinarian later looked through the records and guessed
lupus.

In an odd coincidence, a sister of his living in Italy died under almost the
same circumstances at almost the same time. The sire of the litter was very
popular in Europe and although he produced plenty of offspring these two are
the only cases I have heard of and the Wolfhound community is pretty close.

I do have a record of everything that transpired in a word document- I
would be glad to send you a copy. It's a bit mournful towards the end, but
the events are covered fairly well.

-Toni