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Another sad, true story
We located a wonderful breeder only about 100
miles from where we live. We went to their home and were equally
concerned about approving them as they were about us as a prospective
home. We were able to see either 9 or 10 adult dogs at various stages
of life from about 3 to 12 years old. It just so happened they had a
litter that was about 2 weeks old and were co-breeders with the owner of
the bitch and were assisting them with the rearing, testing and
placement of the puppies. We brought Mac home at about 7 weeks old after
a great deal of research and sole searching that we could be 100 percent
committed. Mac was a healthy little boy until about 51/2 months of
age. He had been to the vet for a well puppy check just days after
bringing him home and monthly for multivalent boosters. His final
booster of DHCCLP was given in November along with a rabies vaccination
at the same time. Duh, dad didn't know any better at the time and
trusted the vet to know what was right. There was no immediate signs or
symptoms of a negative reaction or if there were I was not looking for
anything that was associated with this. He had been a light eater since
day one but did experience even a more reduced appetite within the weeks
following this shot and his weight gain did taper off but I just though
he was starting to slow down. The first sign of problems which the vet
still does not want to associate with vaccination was an ear infection.
This occurred about 30 days after his vaccination. We went from a yeast
ear infection in one ear to irritation and papules in his groin area to
inflamed and thickened ear flaps occurring off and on in the following
weeks. He had several ear infections during the first 2 months of this
year which never got out of control but then started experiencing itchy
ear flaps and underarms. We started treating him with Benadryl with the
vet indicating he may be starting to show signs that he is allergic to
something and recommended that food was a very high probability. I
started researching food allergies in January and we changed foods over
the following months numerous times. We were able to clear things up for
a few days at a time to have it reoccur for another few days only to
repeat itself with each time lasting a little longer and being harder to
overcome. We were really starting to have problems the first of May and
the breeder took him for a week to monitor. He flared while he was there
but they had him back on the right track by the time we picked him up.
We actually picked him up at a dog show, this was his second time to be
shown and unfortunately would be his last time to compete. Our breeder
had sent us home with an Elizabethan collar and wanted us to leave this
on him for the next couple of weeks to assist in eliminating any
possible aggravation of his skin problems thinking this might allow it
to clear up. The last week in May was hell on him and we took him back
to the vet at which time he wanted to treat him for sarcoptic mange and
was given a steroid shot. He cleared up real nice for about 7 days and
then started down hill again. We went to another vet a few weeks later
and again he wanted to treat for sarcoptic mange and sent us home with
antibiotics indicating if he did not clear up we should have him allergy
tested. We took him to Dallas to an allergy, skin specialist in early
July and had him tested. Tests did not reveal any allergies of
significance to be causing this severe of problem according to this
vet. He had us start an exclusion diet trial. I cooked duck and potato
for over 2 months. During this time he had flared up real bad again in
the later part of July and was given steroid pills for about 2 weeks. He
cleared up this time real good again but started back up faster and
worse than the previous time. Now all hell broke loose in August and
his skin problem that had been localized to his ears and underarms went
rampant all over his body. He started loosing hair and everything now.
I started the consultation process with the holistic vet, Dr. John
Fudens who is in Clearwater, Fl and we started Mac on herbal and
homeopathic therapy and started him back on a healthy raw diet of
sorts. Mac wouldn't eat raw meat and I would lightly cook and try to
leave it cool and raw in the middle as much as I could. I had actually
been doing this with him back in May and June before the allergist had
us start the duck diet. Mac's ears had actually started looking
better
but he was still itchy and had to wear the collar. He looked pretty
pitiful with his thinning hair by the end of Sept.. We took him to a
Vizsla fun day on Sept. 29th and he had a ball in spite
of his condition. The breeder and I discussed along with several others
the possibility of thyroid problems and they told me that the thyroid
results from the dermatologist was not conclusive enough as he only
order a T4. We went home and the following Monday I took him in and had
a full CBC panel and a complete Thyroid panel completed. I had only
gotten the final thyroid results on Saturday morning of Oct.6th. I had a
consult with Dr. Fudens earlier in the week and let him know of these
results. He felt like Mac with detoxing and was sending another 30-45
days worth of medicine. I discussed the weeks events with my breeder on
Saturday night. Mac had a good weekend and did not have to wear his
Elizabethan collar. On Monday he was left without the collar since our
14 year old son was at home from school. Tim called me about 9:45 and
told me I needed to come home as Mac had scratched his ears and was
bleeding. I was home in 5 minutes. In just that short time from when
I
had left for work he had scratched both ears beyond recognition with the
right ear partially off and both a solid mass of hematoma from the base
of his skull to the end of the ear flap. There was no choice but to put
him down at this point. I am still struggling over his death and find
solitude in continuing to research his health problems and vaccination
risks. I feel like his skin problem was aggravated by his immune system
not being able to tolerate the vaccination. Does this mean his immune
system was weak? I don't know. I personally do not believe
this
to be a genetic situation. However, there are some beliefs that
vaccination ills are becoming a hereditary issue. I am struggling with
what the right
vaccination protocol should be and don't find too many people to talk to
about this.
Mac had been seen by a total of 5 different vets in recent months and we had
extensive telephone consultations with 2 additional veterinarians. The
real frustrating part for me was that conventional vets wanted to treat
the outward symptom immediately, regardless of how harsh the treatment
was to the immune system. For instance Mac had in excess of 20 skin
scrapings for sarcoptic mange mites at various times and nothing was
ever found and yet they wanted to continue to use the rule out method
before looking any deeper. My little experience told me he did not have
these mites because they will transfer to other pets and to humans for a
short while before dying. Were talking about a Vizsla that was glued to
us on a daily basis in our laps, in our faces and sleeping in our bed.
In addition to this, the dachshund, ruler of the house shows no symptoms
of a similar condition. What people need to understand is that the
conventional medicine approach usually treats the outward symptom first
in which case the condition improves and they assume the problem has
gone away. Unfortunately the pet cannot vocalize that something else
does not feel just right subsequently to have another condition show up
days, weeks or even months later that is never linked back to the
original sickness, which was only suppressed. I had delayed steroid
use, dips and parasite medicine for weeks and weeks before giving into
the veterinarians. Parasite medicine proved no benefit whatsoever and
probably suppressed the immune system further. Yes, steroids did help
for a short time but only suppressed the skin problems forcing them
further inward into the entire system. I know steroids can have a
positive outcome. I personally will never use them again unless I know
exactly what we are treating and that we are merely trying to reduce
inflammation in order for recovery to take place.
You can e-mail Larry at: larry@medi-serve.com
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