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Catch 22 - Can I Ask Your Opinion Pls


Clare

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First off must say I am not planning on doing anything until we have seen our vet tomorrow but just want to get some thoughts before the appointment in the morning :flowers:

 

Murf was diagnosed with auto-immune disease about 10 months ago. It was touch and go for a while but eventually we found a steroid that he could cope with and gave him a good quality of life.

 

He went from a very young bouncy 13yr old who never had a thing wrong with him in 12.5 yrs, to now being an old boy but he still happily potters around and is I hope happy, I think we find it harder seeing him slow down and not to be able to enjoy the things we used to.

 

He did steadily improve for a while getting back to enjoying some nice walks and then started to quieten down again but we put down to the steroids as they were also symptons of steriod use, but recently they have gotten worse, he will wake us up most nights demanding a drink (only fresh poured will do :wub: ) and I can't keep on top of his coat as much as I try to brush him it keeps matting and his skin is looking poor. This triggered a memory in my mind of a horse I used to look after who suffered from cushings disease.

 

Not even knowing if dogs could get it I have done some research and am pretty sure this is what he has, well he has every sympton listed and the steriod he is on is known for triggering it :mecry:

 

From what I have read Cushings triggered by steriods can go away once the steriod is removed, but if we do that there is every chance the auto-immune will flair up again and we will lose him that way.

 

What would you do :unsure:

 

I think if given the option I would rather try to ween him off the steriods and see if his immune system has sorted itself out although I know the chances of this are slim, I doubt we could even try to treat the Cushings if he was still having the steriods.

 

I also don't want to put him through lots of tests, he, myself and our lovely vet was getting very distressed with the regular blood tests he was having to have to check the steriods were working, as his circulation was poor it was so hard to get any blood, so we decided we wouldn't do anymore and would go on how he was telling us he was doing.

 

Has anyone else come across this, or have any pearls of wisdom for me :flowers:

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I'm afraid I have no experience of this, but just wanted to send you a :GroupHug: I can't bear it when mine are ill either.

 

Once the diagnosis is confirmed, could you do a bit of Googling to see if there are any natural remedies or a special type of diet which would help whatever it is? Could your vet refer you to a homeopathic/holistic vet?

 

Hope you get to the bottom of it soon and that Murf comes out of it well :flowers: :GroupHug:

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Steroid induced Cushings is quite common - I think Jules's (Tempest) Ollie had this, and she decided to take him off the steroids.

Cushings is also caused by the body over producing natural steroids in response to either a pituitary or adrenal tumour - meds are available for these, but they reduce the natural steroid (and therefore symptoms), so they don't deal with the cause...

You could take him off the steroids and the Cushings symptoms may go away, but you are then left with the possibility that the auto immune problem comes back :err:

I'd also suggest seeking the advice of a holistic / homeopathic vet for that if it does arise.

Good luck

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What is the autoimmune problem that he has - there are quite a lot of natural immune boosting products that could help and also natural treatments for a variety of autoimmune diseases.

 

At the end of the day it is about quality of life. I have been there twice with steroids - the first time before I knew there were alternatives and had all the problems you describe, Back then I withdrew the steroids and tried with natural methods which worked for that particular dog. The second time was an end of life scenario as a short term treatment to prolong good quality life, sadly that didn't work.

 

Sending you massive Group_Hug_Emoticon.gif and hope we can help more

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Thank you :flowers:

 

Will check the links out, we are definately for using natural methods and when the auto-immune was being treated we did contact a holistic vet Nick Thompson (?)who was recommended, and after a long discussion he said he felt Murf was too far gone to benefit from his help, but at least he proved him wrong there :biggrin:

 

Anne, they never found the reason for the auto-immune, he had every test under the sun and specialists said it had all the signs of being due to a tumour but they couldn't find one anywhere.

 

Had our appointment this morning and our vet thinks it does sound like cushings, we have to take him back on Monday to have two blood tests an hour apart, they couldn't do it today as they need to order in a drug. They will also check his red blood cell level and then we will have a basis to hopefully start reducing the steriods. He is of the opinion that the auto-immune will come back if off steriods completely, as his bloods never got back to a overly good level even while on them, but he hope to able to reduce the dose so we can find a balance.

 

Overall he was pleased how bright Murf seemed considering it wasn't long ago we were preparing ourselves for letting him go :wub:

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Just had the results back and its good news :biggrin:

 

He does have steroid induced Cushings but the good news is that his red blood cells are 46% which is almost double what they were when he was last tested. So that puts us in a good position to reduce the steroids :partytime: and keep everything crossed for a re-test in four weeks.

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Just had the results back and its good news :biggrin:

 

He does have steroid induced Cushings but the good news is that his red blood cells are 46% which is almost double what they were when he was last tested. So that puts us in a good position to reduce the steroids :partytime: and keep everything crossed for a re-test in four weeks.

Fantastic :pinkie:

 

Keeping fingers and toes crossed for the re-test and that the Cushings goes away now :flowers:

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