shekhina

Thanks very much, I really appreciate it :)

Oh no, I've only just seen this. I'm so, so sorry Eza RIP Cooper

Thanks for your reply :) The Bullous Disease diagnosis came from a biopsy of a very large lump on his back end, I had a copy of the pathology results somewhere as well. Certainly not an easy case, it's all pretty baffling really but it's not looking too good right now

About 12 months ago Daegon was diagnosed with Bullous Disease. He was initially treated with some sort of chemotherapy drug and steroids and it has been settled since then. A number of months ago a lump came up on one of his back legs, it was checked and deemed to be nothing to worry about (put down to the immune disease), it wasn't causing him any trouble either. For the last month now we've been dealing with... something. At first it seemed like a UTI or similar, but hasn't responded to two different types of antibiotics. He's also gone lame in the leg with the lump (vets aren't sure that it's to do with the lump at all yet). As he has blood in both his urine and sometimes faeces he can't go back on the steroids or any anti-inflammatories so he's currently taking Tramadol for the pain. The vet says his prostate is also enlarged. He had bloods sent away for testing and a smear and urine testing and results show some of the kidney enzymes are raised, definite blood in the urine, and cells (I can't remember what they're called) that indicate there could be a tumour. He's having an ultrasound on Monday to hopefully get a clearer idea of what might be going on, as well as further urine testing. Because of Daegon's age the vet thought it would be unusual for it to be something like prostate cancer or some other type of cancer, but that it certainly wasn't unheard of. How unlucky can one dog be if that's what it is Has anyone dealt with similar symptoms, particularly Bullous Disease in dogs? The vets are doing more reading, none of them have even seen Bullous Disease before as it's so rare. Nobody knows if this is a separate issue happening now, or if the disease has done something to cause this. Daegon is a bit of a mystery unfortunately so any similar experiences would be great to maybe get some ideas to look into.

OMG! :love:

One of the dogs was vaccinated for it and still died

Thanks for the replies, I have had someone PM me, thank you :) Two dogs just a couple of doors down from me have died from parvo in the last few days.

Can someone who knows how to deal with a high risk of parvo please PM me? I wasn't sure where to post this and while I will speak to a vet as well I know there are a lot of people here who have dealt with this a fair bit. TIA.

Hoping he's home safe and sound soon, what a worry

I'm guessing because of the costs of getting him out. I know they were asking the costs of everthing, and living in the area the owners do it's unlikely they would have had that money available.

Well, bad news here. Just found out that Zeus was in fact PTS by the Hobart Dogs' Home. Apparently his owners never ended up coming for him (or something to that effect). Poor dog, he was so, so lovely as well

Thanks, I am VERY relieved! Autoimmune disease we can do something about - cancer, not really. I'm off to pick up his first lot of medication very soon. They want to start him on one type for about 10 days then move on to a different one for long-term, depending on how he's coping with it. Will get on to the herbal guys as well when I know what the medications are. Thanks for the suggestion of milk thistle and SAMe(don't know what that one is!), will ask them about it

An update on Daegon... got his biopsy result back today and it's not cancer! Big relief, especially given the vet thought it would be :D He does however have an autoimmune disease that will need to be treated with high doses of steroids for the rest of his life. But at least it's not cancer! I had started Daegon on the Maratime Pine Bark mix and will give them a call tomorrow to find out what I can give him to give his liver some help along the way as it's going to take a fair bit of strain once he starts on the steroids.

Thank you everybody for your advice, I really appreciate it. I will keep everything in mind and do a bit of searching about for information and then try to decide what to do when I get the full results back. My poor Daegy

I'm so glad Ruger is doing so well That's the other thing I'm worried about, the cost of chemotherapy! If I had the money I would have no hesitation in paying for it, but I really have no idea just how much it might cost and if it's even going to be a financial option for me. I didn't even think to ask, I just wanted to get out of there

He's going home

Thanks Yep, that's where I got Gomez's treatments from - he's on the Maritime Pine Bark, Lymphoma support and heart repair. Twice in one go feels pretty rough.

Daegon had a lump come up right by his bottom a few weeks ago. Initially I thought it was a swollen anal gland, unfortunately not. He had a course of antibiotics to start with to see if it was some sort of infection, but showed no improvement. I've just brought him home from his biopsy today and the news is almost certainly not good. The vet is pretty confident that it's cancer but I wont have results until probably next week. I didn't really get a lot of information, but the vet mentioned that depending what sort of cancer it is he may be able to have chemotherapy. He cannot have it removed because of where the tumor is. Can anyone give me some information on chemotherapy and dogs? I thought I'd read at some point that they handle it much better than humans do? I want to do what's best for Daegon, I do not want him to suffer of course. At the moment you wouldn't know he was sick until you saw his back end swelling...he's still running around the yard after his ball like he always has (not tonight of course after surgery!) I am happy that at least for now he seems to feel pretty good and I want to keep him feeling as good as possible as long as possible. One of my cats was diagnosed with lymphoma and heart failure about 6 weeks ago and I currently have him on some herbal treatments. I'm going to contact the place I got them from and find out whether one of them is also suitable (in a different dosage) for Daegon, and if there's any others they would recommend. My head is sort of all over the place at the moment, I'm upset and teary and finding it difficult to get my head around things...but I would really love any advice or pointers about possible tracks I could follow once we know exactly what we're dealing with.

I'm going to give them a call tomorrow to find out if the sign was for him. Hopefully!

Thanks The dog went to the dogs' home today and we think found it's owner. When I rang the dogs' home I asked them had anyone asked them about a white staffy x or pitty x and they said no. Get to the dogs' home and they have a freaking sign up there saying someone is looking for a white staffy X :rolleyes: Would never, ever, ever trust a phone call.

He's being taken to the vet now to check for a microchip. I also rang the dogs' home myself and was told something completely different, that he wouldn't be PTS unless he was aggressive...so one person has told us one thing and another something completely different!

That is not what we were told yesterday when we rang. We were told if they identified it as a pitbull/pitbull cross it would be PTS and not rehomed, despite how friendly he is. So confused by all this crap.

Ah yes, that was the other thing we were worried about - whether vets are now under some obligation to report these things or not...otherwise that would have been done already. All the things I would normally do for a stray animal I'm now unsure whether it's 'safe' to do them or not. We want to get this dog back to it's owners without it being seized or god forbid PTS.

We have found what appears to be a pitbull/pitbull cross/staffy cross/something that will almost certainly be 'identified' as a pitbull or pitbull cross. It was trying to play with my dogs through the fence late at night so we caught it and kept it safe. We've put up signs around the neighbourhood trying to find the owner but so far haven't had any calls. We've walked him around the neighbourhood as well hoping someone will recognise him, but no luck yet. We rang the lost dogs' home to find out what would happen if we took him there...they said they would have to put him to sleep if he was a restricted breed. We asked if we could take him there just to see if they would identify him as a restricted breed and they said it would be a very big risk because if they did identify him as such they would seize him then and there and have him PTS. The dogs' home said to try the RSPCA as they have more leeway in this...but I'm not sure??? We want to do the right thing by this dog, and the law as well. Unfortunately we're both quite confused by the law and from what we've been told so far it doesn't seem like there's much we can do except hope that his owners see our signs etc. very soon. I was going to put an ad in the paper saying he'd been found - but now I'm wondering if that could get us in to trouble as well...unless I describe him as a staffy cross, perhaps? Does anyone know what to do in this situation, please? He is a truly lovely dog and I would hate to see him PTS just because of his looks.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Jodie. What an amazing dog who put up such a battle and fought so well. RIP now Ollie dog