15 Month Old Greyhound Is Very Sick`~update Post #99

[4greyhounds]

I am so Happy to hear that Becky is starting to feel a little bit better, we are praying real hard and trying to keep up with the updates. Becky sweet girl, please keep getting stronger every day. You are so Beautiful and we want to see you be able to play and run to try to catch those squirrels. Sending lots of prayers and white light. Please keep us posted.

 

 

I am so Sorry about Annabel, that was too fast. Bless her and thank you for all you did for her. Run Free Annabel.

[Guest Winterwish]

very glad for Becky and all of you who worked to get her well. Good girl Becky!

 

And also send my condolences to Bill for his Annabel.

[ShantisMom]

I am glad to hear Becky is doing better! Shanti was diagnosed with IMPA. We treated for 90 days. In her immune suppression (Imuran and prednisone) we finally got another diagnosis. Valley Fever. It was the immune suppression that allowed it to show up. She was tested for that early on. We are not necessarily done with the IMPA diagnosis, but we have to treat the VF first. All her joint tap cultures were coming back negative for bacteria and fungal too.

 

If she has to go onto Imuran, PM me. I still have some. Not much, but some. Costco has it for about $40 for 90 tablets. It was almost $350 for a month through the vet.

 

I will keep her in my thoughts and hope she goes into remission!!!

[Guest BillF]

Thanks for all the kind words for Annabel. I'm glad Becky is doing better. I'll probably be visiting the kennel in a few weeks. The house is starting to feel empty.

 

Bill

[Guest LindsaySF]

Thanks Jenny. We will let you know about the Imuran. From what I remember of the prescription, she will only be on prednisone. It will be slowly tapered off, over a 4-5 month period.

 

I asked the Angell Memorial vet about Valley Fever at Becky's appointment, she said it is unlikely because there are no spots in her lungs on the x-rays, no respiratory symptoms, no bone lesions, no eye issues, etc. She said it would be "an unusual presentation". It's still in the back of my mind though because I read that sometimes they don't have respiratory symptoms, and I don't think we did a titer for valley fever.

 

How is Shanti doing?

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

 

[carronstar]

Keep fighting Becky. We're all behind you.

[Guest LindsaySF]

I just wanted to update everyone on Becky. She is doing much better! She is tapering off the pred, but they have added another immunosuppressant drug (not Imuran, something else) and a round of antibiotics because she spiked a fever again. But she is very mobile and has even attended a few meet & greets now!

 

I have a lot of pics from before Dewey that I need to upload.

 

I also saw her in her foster home last week after a meeting, and she was playing with toys and then up on the couch!

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

[3greys2cats]

Thanks for updating, so glad to hear that she is doing better, looking forward to her pics.

[Guest argolola]

Thank you for the wonderful update.

[greyhndz]

Lindsay, I'm just seeing this now. My iggy Lexi is also followed at Angell for immune mediated polyarthritis. She's followed by Dr. Sisson (neuro), as initially we thought she might have GME. He's very experienced in the use of immunomodulators (Imuran, cyclosporine, etc.) so has continued to manage her care.

 

Who has been caring for Becky at Angell? They're really top-notch there, so I know she's getting the very best care.

 

Lex was also put onto a pred taper x 6 months - 50% of dogs will stay in remission after this, but Lexi was not one of them. She relapsed after a week. Because she'd been started on Imuran and developed drug-induced hepatitis, she was put onto another steroid taper (we're using methylprednisolone rather than pred) x 3 months and was started on leflumonide. So far, so good, but coming off the steroids will be the true test. Meanwhile, she's happy, healthy and Lexi!

 

I wish the very best for Becky!

Jordan

[Guest LindsaySF]

Thanks for the reply Jordan. The vet at Angell is Dr. Carol. Not sure of her first name. Becky is on ~ 5 month taper of pred, and one of the first decreases just happened and that is when she spiked the fever. Hopefully she will stay in remission for the rest of the taper, and after she is off the steroids. She will remain in foster care until she looks to be in remission.

 

I hope Lexi continues to do well!

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

[Guest LindsaySF]

New Becky pics are in this thread.

 

 

[greyhndz]

Lindsay, here are some links I've found helpful:

 

http://www.michvma.org/documents/mvc%20proceedings/frank.pdf

Another recognized form of erosive IMPA is known as polyarthritis of greyhounds. This

is a disease that looks very similar to idiopathic non-erosive PA. This is a disease of

greyhounds that is not as destructive as Rheumatoid arthritis and tends to affect the

proximal interphalangeal joints, carpus, tarsus, elbow and stifle.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is another cause of IMPA.

 

http://www.berner.org/pages/orthopedics/au...lyarthritis.php

 

http://www.dogsadversereactions.com/vaccinePredisposed.html

 

http://www.provet.co.uk/petfacts/healthtip...munedisease.htm

 

https://www.vetconnect.com.au/5min/data/09600961.htm

 

http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings...5&O=Generic

 

http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/artic...l.jsp?id=152657

 

http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings...7&O=Generic

 

BTW - she should never be vaccinated again

 

[ShantisMom]

Jordan, you are always a wealth of information!!!

 

I am glad to hear that she is doing well. Hopefully the decrease in prednisone won't set her off. Maybe the fever was a fluke. Shanti ran some fevers coming off it.

 

We will keep our fingers crossed for her that she goes into and stays in remission!

 

We are not done with Shanti's leg issue. It is more than just the VF. She still has arthritis that has damaged her joint badly. Hopefully it was spurred on by the VF and when we get that under control, the damage will slow down. I am glad you asked about the VF on Becky and they looked into it. You are right, Shanti's xrays are nasty. You can see the lesions in her leg and the gunk in her lungs. It looks just like cancer, but luckily this is not!

 

 

[Guest LindsaySF]

New BECKY UPDATE (with pics) is in this thread.