Start from scratch diagnosis-lessons learned
I took the forum advice to go back for more culturing. Only I decided to ask the vet to forget where we had been the last three months and start from scratch. Miss Ellie's foot was swollen twice its size with lesions in the pad, on her leg, face, ear, and rear leg. It was horrible to look at and extremely painful for my little girl. After examining Ellie from nub to nose, poking and prodding each lesion and spot, we went from the possibility of a fox tail in her foot to taking cultures and biopsies from each location. After the doctor took samples he said we should expect one of the following results. 1. Really weird bacterial infection 2. Auto immune disease 3. Cutaneous (sp) lymphoma  (She really looked bad)We had to wait 5 days for the biopsies and 7 for cultures. Meanwhile the vet prescribed a mega antibiotic, Baytril and steroids. Within 24 hours there was vast improvement and at 72 hours she was back to her old grouchy self. But we still didn't have the sample results. I was in Texas looking for a house just waiting to hear from the vet. When the call came I knew cancer had been ruled out just from the tone of his voice.  So what did Miss Ellie have? 4 different bacteria’s (staph, fecal, and two other monsters) The Baytril took care of all but one and that was addressed by a course of amoxicillin. The fungus was either the beginning of the whole thing causing a little crack in the paw that allowed the bacteria in or a side effect of an immune system out of whack from all of the infection. The one constant was demodex mites active at each lesion site. So we have a month of Ivomec. Lessons Learned: Starting from scratch isn't a bad thing even if you have a lot of money invested in getting to where you are.  |
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| I am very relieved for you and Miss Ellie that you were able to get to the root of the problem. She must feel so much better. |
| Happy to hear that she is on the road to recovery! |
 Great news Devra! Phooey... Donner's Mom |
| It is good to hear you found a solution. Wishing a quick recovery. |
Thank goodness you figured out what was wrong  Sending wishes for a continued recovery  The story was like a vet version of the House tv show   |
| Good for you insisting on starting from scratch. Glad to hear she is doing so much better. |
nice work devra and an interesting lesson.  |
| So glad that Miss Ellie is doing better. It's good that Oscar's experiences with multiple drug resistant infections can help someone else. This forum is the best! What you describe sounds exactly like Oscar. There is usually a primary infection, like staph, and then a few other opportunistic critters with light to moderate growth. My vet ends up doing a spreadsheet each time to determine if it's possible to treat with just one antibiotic. As a matter of fact, we are waiting on culture results today. (About a week after Oscar's pancreatitis, I noticed some skin lesions, which we have been treating topically. Last week, more had cropped up, so we cultured, and our seven day wait is up today.) With Oscar, unless he is in really bad shape, we no longer treat with an antibiotic until culture results are in. We used to start him on a broad spectrum drug while waiting, but nine times out of ten we ended up having to switch to a different antibiotic anyway, so pre-treating was doing us more harm than good. I think the broad spectrum treatment and then switching after a culture also contributes to more bacteria becoming drug resistant. With Oscar's crappy immune system, we have to be extra careful how we deal with cooties in general. Sounds like you have a very responsive vet, who listens to your concerns, which is awesome. Hope Miss Ellie is feeling better every day. Laurie and Oscar |
| Very wonderful that you persisted AND got some answers!!! |
| YAY! |
| So happy you found the problem!!!! |
| Sigh......the beat goes on. the devine Miss E continues to struggle with Demodex mites. Not long after arriving in TX Ellie's skin blossomed again. She had been through so many medications I thought it was time to work with a holistic vet, hoping to balance her immune system. It helped her feel better and remain active, but the mites were still winning. Yesterday, it was a trip to the regional veterinary referal hospital for a dermatology check. Ellie had been on a restricted diet so we elimintated the food allergy issue. Dr confirmed what we knew from the past, #@!&# MITES. Because Ellie is an OES, the Doc will not treat her until he performs an MDR-1 gene deletion test. Apparently a genetic issue found in many herding breeds will dictate how immune issues are treated. So, we returned home with shampoo, antibiotics, and directions to ween her off steriods while we wait 2-3 weeks for the results of a genetic test. After slapping down the credit card for yesterdays treatment I realized Ellie could have fininshed a semester at the University for what we have dropped into these #@!&# MITES. Sigh............ |
Sheepdogma wrote: After slapping down the credit card for yesterdays treatment I realized Ellie could have fininshed a semester at the University for what we have dropped into these #@!&# MITES. Maybe she can go to vet school and self diagnose? Hoping you find the answer and cure soon!!  |
| Square 1 isn't such a bad place after all. |
| Wow - what a learning experience. Thanks for sharing. Your saga reminds of something Dr. Jean Dodds once told me. She said when something like this is going on and you are not getting any answers which lead to good results, it is up to US to persist and to keep on persisting until a solution is found and that WE are RESPONSIBLE to keep on pressing our vets until they find the right answers for our dogs, whatever that takes. The dogs can't do it for themselves. We have to be their advocates to keep them healthy. -Linda Zimmerman |
Sheepdogma wrote: Dr confirmed what we knew from the past, #@!&# MITES. Because Ellie is an OES, the Doc will not treat her until he performs an MDR-1 gene deletion test. Apparently a genetic issue found in many herding breeds will dictate how immune issues are treated. So, we returned home with shampoo, antibiotics, and directions to ween her off steriods while we wait 2-3 weeks for the results of a genetic test. Congrats on finding the root cause! Just FYI, my vet prescribes Revolution for heartworm and mites in OES -- apparently it has an ingredient that doesn't trigger that gene issue in OES -- something other than Ivermectin. I hope Miss Ellie continues to improve.  Hang in there! |
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