I’m guessing if you are reading this it’s safe to say you think your dog has Pemphigus or you’ve just been told your dog has Pemphigus. Either way…I’m sorry.
We got our first introduction to Pemphigus in July of 2011 with our Boxer, Otis.
What begin as a series of bumps was diagnosed as Pemphigus Foliaceus.
After scouring the internet endlessly for information and not finding much out there, I decided that I would post my experience in hopes of helping someone. Pemphigus is a horrible autoimmune disorder that can come on at any time with no warning, when I read some facts including a statement about a 70% euthanasia rate, I felt sick to my stomach and hopeless – utterly hopeless.
There IS hope. I questioned many times if we were doing the right thing and progress could be slow but to be where we are now makes it all worth it.
and now Otis’s story.
Thank you for posting Otis’s story! The vet thinks our dog might have either pemphigus or lupus. We go for more tests today, but it is very scary! I hope Otis is feeling better!
Honestly I have so much more to post but I got wrapped up in other things.. your comment motivated me to continue and I want to thank you for that. You made me remember why I started this. Otis is doing really well, still on meds but alot less meds.
I hope that you get some answers for your dog so that you can start treatment. It’s really scary but knowing what you are are facing makes it a bit less frightening. Obviously you love your dog because you searched long enough for answers to find this story.
Please let me know what you find out about your dog. I’m keeping you all in my thoughts today and wishing for good news.
Now today I will start working again, thanks to your motivation. 🙂
Thanks!!
any word on your dog?
I took her to the dermatologist, and she took one look and ruled out lupus. She thought it could still be pemphigus, but the culture said something else. Right now we’re waiting for biopsy results. For now, she’s on prednisone.
My dog ended up having an allergic reaction to a bee sting or spider bite that caused an infection. No pemphigus or lupus. How is Otis doing?
Hi. Read your story and cried a lot. My 6 year old lab got diagnosed with this pemphigus about 14 days ago. We are going through hell and I feel sick to my stomach all the time. My problem is that my vet doesn’t seem to know to much about this disease and seems to be making the wrong decisions on the meds. I’ll start at beginning. First it was allergies which I got a antibotic for then when they kept spreading I took him back to the vet and they changed antibotic and up dose. Didn’t work back to the vet they then culture was taken and I was told it was ringworm. During this time, I had made a appt. with a derm. vet. That vet didn’t seem to give a crap but told me that it looked like a very resistant staph infection I took him home and bathed him in a anti fungal soap and the next day it was everywhere. He was breathing funny didn’t want to be touch or screwed with in anyway. Back to my reg. vet who took a biosposy that day and a few days later got the results back. My vet put him on
Dear Doggie Owners, I don’t know if this will work for you as well as it does here but: as long as I feed NATURES RECIPE “Easy to Digest” along with her vitamins an added people food like fruits and vegetables AND TOP IT OFF WITH RAW GOAT MILK KEFIR for both her daily meals her skin and fur heal up pretty good. (get kefir from a free ranging goat farm). When she was off for 3 weeks due to a loss of job, it came back. . Starting up with it again today. (also today she had a 1st dose of homeopathic Hepar Sulph 30c)
Only a few dollars to give these items a try.
800 mg of doxy antibotic and 80 mg of predisone. His skin starting clearing up. Last Thurs I took him in and he took him off doxy and told me to start with 40 mgs of predisone and yesterday he started getting all red again under his belly. I have a appt to take him back in tomorrow morning. Do you have recommendations on the meds he should be taking or maybe the name of your vet that my vet can get in touch with? I’m sorry if this is all jumbled and doesn’t make sense in some parts but my computer is not working well in posting on this site. than
You can email directly if you want at di_411@hotmail.com
Don’t apologize about your message, you’re going through hell right now.
We went through hell with Otis in the beginning just getting a diagnosis and we learned very quickly that Pemphigus is like a guessing game with each dog on what meds will work. I know you are scared and I know that sick feeling, I’m sorry you and your dog are dealing with this.
There is a difference between a board certified Dermatologist and a vet that just calls themselves a Dermatologist so that’s something to be careful with.
Shoot me an email and let me know where you are located and I’ll try and help.
Try to see a Vet specializing in Dermatology. My poodle is on Mycophenalate, Axothioprine, and prednisone – expensive, but almost in complete remission from widespread Pemphigus Foleacis.
I emailed you. Thanks
Thank you for your posts! We are lucky that our Akita mix has a mild case. We thought it was a sunburn on her nose at first. A dog trainer we were using was familiar with Pemphigus (spent years with a derma vet) and said she thought that’s what it was. So far it’s just her nose thankfully. Right now the main issue is nose bleeds – more like spurting as if a capillary opened up – which is why I started seaching the internet for any updates on this disease. Your story prepared me for what to watch for. My heart goes out to you, thank you again for sharing and glad to see Otis is doing better.
I can only imagine the nose! We had a hard time with ears.
I believe (unfortunately) it is fairly common in Akitas.I hope you can keep it isolated and under control, and am so grateful you caught it early!
Keep me updated and I’m here for questions if you have any.
Thanks.
Dianna
Hi Dianna,
Otis looks good in that last picture of him. I am thrilled for you and sorry about the eye. I know that you will get throught that too! Henry seems to have no life in him and his body looks likes he lives in a refugee camp. He lost about 5 pounds in the last two weeks but his skin is looking better and better all the time. I am feeding him 6 cups of food a day and giving him pieces of whatever meat I’m be eating. Vet is very concerned about the weight and if he doesnt’ gain any in the next week, he wants to give him a ultrasound to see if anything else is going on. We will see.
Take Care!
Hi
My boxer was recently diagnosed with bulloid pemphigoid. She has sores on her feet near the pads. We are starting her on a steroid and immunosuppressive. I was wondering if you tried any supplements or herbs with Otis to help boost his immune system?
We did not. Because we were never able to determine the trigger for the Pemphigus or pinpoint what caused flares Otis has a very strict diet and enviroment. We keep new introductions to necessary medications only. I don’t see what it could hurt as long as there are no concerns for causing flareups. How is your dog doing? I know the feet is such a difficult place to have sores. Poor thing.
Hi,
My 3 yo boxer mix just got diagnosed with pemphigus after 3 long weeks of being told it was allergies. She is on Prednisone now and is eating and drinking a lot and is so bloated and not herself. She seems so miserable and has no energy. I am worried sick about her and I am 7 months pregnant which is making it harder for me to pick her up like i used to. We have a derm vet at Angell memorial and likely will be adding Azathioprine in a few weeks since she isn’t getting the response they were hoping for with the prednisone. It is so sad to see my baby not herself and so energyless. I know this is going to be a long road and praying that she will go into remission and be happy again. Thanks for this blog, it has helped me a lot.
Lisa
Sorry to hear this Lisa. It’s heartbreaking to see them suffer. Just be persistant, you are in the hardest part right now.
You might talk to your vet about another steroid. We use Triamcinilone. It is more expensive but the side affects are much more tolerable.
Do you feed her on a schedule or just leave food out? Might help with the bloat if you schedule feed her. Keep me posted on your progress.
I will ask about Triamcinolone at our next visit next week. I do feed her on a schedule, morning and late afternoon/evening but later at night she gets up and stands next to the food container and stares at it. I always cave and give her a little more. A few times a day I see a glimpse of my happy wonderful dog, but most of the time she is just sleeping. She barely will go out for walks, and she normally would walk almost 5 miles a day with me. She wont sleep in the bed anymore, only wants to sleep on her bed. Her skin is clearing up an this is week three of the prednisone and they actually increased it last week. It is hard to tell if she feels miserable from the prednisone or is the pemphigus causing it.
You have to be really tough and not over feed because in the end it will make them feel worse and the weight gain isn’t good. I know it’s hard to feel like your dog is gone, she’s still there she’s just really sick. I always know when Otis doesn’t feel well because he won’t get up in the bed with me so I know that feels. I saw a huge difference when we got off the prednisone but the feel pretty crappy and can even run a fever because of the Pemphigus. Hang in there and keep working at it. This disease is tough and improvement takes a long time. She knows how hard you’re working.
Hello Everyone. My Dogo Argentino Mastiff was diagnosed with the Auto-Immune Disease Pemphigus last Tuesday the 8th. He has lost +15 lbs in the last 3 weeks, but he has not been eating any less. He was already on Cephalexin and Prednisone (2 weeks) because they originally thought it was allergies so all they did was up his dosage in hopes he would start getting better. His sores were no longer bloody when I picked him up from the vet Friday (they kept him after testing Monday), but the sores are starting to look bad again. I am giving him the meds exactly as directed, so I don’t know what to do. The vet told me no baths and that was pretty much it. Is there anything else I should try? My dog is 8 yrs. but a month a go most people thought he was 2. He looks like a walking skeleton with road rash and is very itchy. His tummy is bloated and he doesn’t seem happy.
Did they decrease meds dosage recently? That can cause a flare. Did they find a trigger for his Pemphigus? That could be causing a flare, as can sunlight. It’s pretty common to lose a lot of weight on the steroids. They will actually cause muscle waste. There is a powder called Neo Predef that can be “puffed” onto the sores that will help the oozing.
What are his current meds/dosage and his weight?
Steroids are very mood altering and he’s probably in pain from the sores so that would explain not seeming happy. Have you received any pain meds from your vet? I don’t think we could have survived without them.
Why isn’t he on a auto immune drug? You said a antibiotic and steroid. your vet needs to add the auto immune drug to it.
Hi Dianne. Henry is maintaining with all his sores pretty well. Just a few on his face that have never really gone away. How’s Otis?
Beth,
Good to hear about Henry!!! Otie is doing really well. We’ve been fighting some arthritis/joint/other issue lately which is tough because of the meds and restrictions we have to be careful what we give him to help out. In the next few weeks we will prob need to have some further tests done if his current meds don’t improve the situation. I’m crossing my fingers for just old age and stiff joints/bones and not something deeper. But as always we will deal with whatever comes out way.
Post some pics of Henry if you can, would love to see how he’s doing.
Beth,
I don’t think my vet has seen too many cases of auto immune diseases. She is younger and hasn’t been practicing that many years. I know she is waiting on a dermatologist to call her back. What auto immune drugs should I ask her about? I have been doing research myself, but there just isn’t a lot of information out there.
Leigh,
Pemphigus is tough for a vets outside of a derm to work with as most have never seen it. Azathioprine is the immunosuppressant that Otis is on. It can take some time to get correct medications/dosages/combinations to really see good results. Do you have a veterinary dermatologist in your area or do you need to work through your vet? When are you expecting to hear back from your vet? I would ask about the immunosuppressant for sure and also pain medication.
Feel free to contact me via email if needed at di_411@hotmail.com
When my dog was at his worst he was on a powerful antibiotic, prednisone, tramadol for pain and his auto drug is called azathioprine. I believe he needed all of these drugs at that time but until he started taking the azathioprine he was still very miserable. I got in touch with Dianne here and she gave me the name of her Dermatologist vet which my vet actually called and got the info on what he should prescribe my dog.
diannawoll411,
Unfortunately, I do not have a vet dermatologist in my area, but my vet is working with a dermatologist over the phone and through pictures. Debo is on antibiotics and I have pain meds but he seems to be ok. I will ask the vet about the immunosuppressant tomorrow. Thanks for everyones help. I will keep you updated!
I went back to the vet for Debo’s check up yesterday. He doesn’t have anymore bloody spots, but he is still getting crusty spots. The vet hadn’t wanted to put him on azathioprine because of the side effects, but she said he is not responding to the higher dose of Prednisone the way she hoped. So, she gave us a script of azathioprine to try. After just one dose, he seems to have more energy. He even wanted to play with the tennis ball this evening. Also, he has only put on 2 lbs in two weeks; he used to weigh 95 lbs. Did anyone else’s dog lose weight because of the disease?
My dog Henry lost about 12 pounds and looked like a refugee. He has been on the auto immune drug since we figured out what he had and will probably continue to be on it for the rest of his life. My vet has let me do the figuring out of what medication works best to maintain Henry’s disease. I have tried different combinations of the auto drug and steroid to see how he maintains. I have found that he maintains best on 50mg of the auto drug and 10mg of steroid everyday. Every other way I have tried, he starts breaking out on his face and neck.
That’s just what works best for my dog.
Hi Dianne,
I don’t know how to post at picture of Henry on this. I’ll email you a picture of him.
My sweet dog, Bridge, only 3 years old (mixed breed), has come down with this terrible illness and we have poured meds, hope, prayers and lots of dollars into trying to figure out how to best help him. We have started and stopped about 15 different meds so far and have finally got him on a mixture that “seems” to sorta dry up the constant ‘leaking’ of his lesions but he still looks awful and acts miserable. It is heartbreaking to watch.
We can’t seem to get his ears to clear up! They are beyond hope, the vet thinks. IF he pulls through and we can get him to remission, they believe he will have to have his ears amputated and he has almost complete hearing loss due to the damage. He has lesions from head to toe, hair loss too. Until yesterday, his appetite was still good, but now he associates any and all treats with the terrible tasting meds and is very suspect of whatever I give him.
I have switched his food to a non gluten chicken and potato dry dog food that is supposedly hypo allergenic and that did seem to help dry up his drainage – or at least the drying up coincided with switching his food – unsure right now which it is. 😦
He came down with this (first symptom) October 4 and was diagnosed officially about two weeks later from a culture and biopsy. He is currently on Atopica (auto immune suppressor), Azathioprine, Zyrtec for his constant itching, Tramadol for pain as needed, antibiotics to halt infection, another steroid I can’t remember the name of, and Pepsid to halt stomach ulceration and possible bleeding.
Sigh…every day I cross my fingers that he will seem better, but its either status quo or decline and I hope the specialist on Friday has something positive to say.
Sounds very similar to the meds Otis has taken or is taking. I know it’s hearbreaking but you are very early in the diagnosis and treatment. Things will improve, this disease takes a lot of time to get under control. The ears are very difficult to treat. If you want further suggestions on things to try for th ears let me know, it took a lot of trial and error to find something that worked. Keep me posted and let me know what the vet says today.
Hi,
My dog Harley is improving and skin is staying clear on Atopica and we’ve been decreasing the Prednisone every ten days. My concern is that she is forever changed. She is still a super sweet dog, as she has always been, but not the same dog as far as energy or play. She used to run with me and play so much with other dogs at the park, and now doesn’t want to do any of that and barely likes to take walks. Will she ever be the same again?
Lisa
Try and build up her stamina slowly. They will get tired very easiily, I think the muscle wasting from steriods has a big part in that. We would walk Otis several times a day for short amounts around the cul-de-sac until we could go on walks.
Otis will play and run but for shorter amounts of time so there is hope she will go back to playing once she feels better.
Have you thought of another steroid like Triamcinolone? We saw a huge improvement in behavior off of prednisone.
Thank you! I asked about Triamcinolone at last appt but they only had it in liquid and so the next refill I will definitely get it. I am also going to ask about switching to the generic cyclosporine because it is much cheaper than Atopica.
Lisa
The cheapest we found it was Costco. If you have one in your area check that out.
Well, we saw the veterinary dermatology specialist from the med school in Gainesville, Florida on Friday. She said he is honestly very grave and that his condition is concerning 😦 She said he has been on all the right drugs, just maybe not the right mix or dosages, so she changed up a few of them and sent us back home with the message that he needs to make an improvement by Monday (tomorrow) if he is to have a chance at remission. Whew…
So now he is on prednisone, 20mg, twice a day rather than once.
She changed his azathioprine to half a pill every other day – a big reduction in dosage.
He’s on cipro for possible infection.
Atopica every day at 100 mg.
Another one – dexamethasone – too.
Pepcid for stomach upset and ulcers, zyrtec for itching.
Magically, he started ACTING better almost overnight! It must be the double dose of prednisone he is now getting.
However, his ears started draining like crazy at the same time too, whereas they had been drying up before this change! Its such a frustrating, balancing act to keep the symptoms at bay!
Yes, please share anything you have used that seemed to have a positive effect on the terrible, wet ears! We would all appreciate hearing about it 🙂
Blessings to Otis from our house to yours ❤
Starlene, I am writing to find out what you thought about Shands Gainesville? My baby was just diagnosed 2 weeks ago with this horrible disease She is on Prednisone 30mg 1x day and Clindamycin 2x day. She is healing but much slower than when just on Prednisone. We go back to Shands this coming Friday
What is everyone feeding their dogs here? My bulldog Ollie was diagnosed in February….. It’s been as you all know a long road to some sort of recovery! Ollie developed Cushing disease as a result of steroid use so we have to do this completely off steroids. My derm dr has never really brought his diet into the mix of treatment, just wondering if anyone else’s has??
Ollie is now taking 1 azathioprine a day as well as 3mg of mycophenolate. He is mostly healed on this mix.
We use Royal Canin HP. I’m not sure the food really helps but with the status of things, I’m surely not willing to take a chance and switch! He’s also restricted to no treats or people food. The only thing he gets is mashed potatoes for pill delivery. But he loooooves those.
Sorry for the late response.
On the outer ear we used gold bond powder or neo predpef power, that would help them not be so oozy. There was also a solution the vet gave us that I’m trying to find out what exactly was in it, we would squirt in the ear. I actually used feminine pads to sort of prop them open so they could air out but don’t leave them in too long.
What’s the status currently? Feeling any better? Looking better?
Bridge is definitely feeling much better and his lesions as a whole are drier, crusting over and healing with very few new ones appearing. Of course, he looks like a refugee dog with scabs and little hair and the horrible ears. My derm doctor took him off the Predpef powder because she says neomycin causes a reaction in some dogs. His ears get flushed twice a day with the solution the dr gave me to use. His appetite is good and his eyes are looking brighter and he actually barked and wagged his tail this week which made me so happy. We have a follow up today ($$$$$) and will see how she feels about his turn around.
Hi there, I came across this blog whilst searching on anything relating to pemphigus. Our gorgeous and beautiful springer spaniel Mickey was diagnosed with pemphigus about 3 weeks ago, the specialist dermatologist has said that it is the most severe case he has ever encountered (in Scotland). He has has a whole range of treatments and still looks like the victim of chemical burns at the moment, along with a rather nasty ear infection. We feel so bad for him, he is in so much discomfort and distress. I have enjoyed reading your blog and seeing the progress your dog has made has given us some hope x
There is hope! Just takes time and extreme patience. Is your dog taking pain meds? It makes a huge difference.
Hi Dianna, yes, he has a really good meds protocol, pain relief, anti-inflammatory drugs, steroid and hydrocortisone for his ears. He is looking slightly better. Good luck and thanks for getting back to me x
Oh boy, looks like I will have to join the conversation. My Boxer Murphy (4y 10m) was just diagnosed with pemphigus and we will have our skin biopsy in 2 days. He is on 80 mg prednisone, tramadol for pain, and we will start today with some antibiotics and I think Azathioprine…so much to learn. He is already getting a little better (even before we started prednisone 3 days ago). I will take some time and read through your posts. What do you think is the best food for him? Right now he only gets soft chicken but I want to supplement and get him to eat a better variety. Is Nutro any good?
Thanks so much everybody! And we all get through this!!
Joyce
Hi everyone , my Akita called Balou has been diagnosed with Pemphigus Foliceaus, 3 weeks ago. He is only on 40mg Predisnone. We were at our vets last night and his skin is healing & scabs falling off with fur. He is absolutely covered with these sores. My vet was not very confident that he was going to make it. He has lost weight about 4.4 lbs . He is eating well and no other problems. The steroids are showing signs of muscle waste in his hind legs? Will they recover once the steroids are stopped. I was so down last night but after reading all the comments I got a glimmer of hope. My vet thinks as he is loosing weight he has cancer?
I am keen to hear how all the dogs are now and how long it took to get there.
Joyce
He might gain back the muscle but it’s likely he won’t get it all back. I would take Otis for short walks around our cul-de-sac to attempt to keep his strength up but he has never gained back all the muscle. Give yourself about 6 months once he’s on the the right meds for him but be patient.. finding the right combo of meds for him could take some time. Most important, don’t give up on him and keep fighting.
Finding a good vet with confidence to help you through this is also important for the both of you.
Is there a dermatologist in your area?
Ollie’s back end also wasted away a lot.
He became unable to get up the stairs in my house.
Now that his meds are nearly perfect he is back to going up and down with ease, still one step at a time.
Hope this helps!!
My dog Harley was diagnosed 6 months ago and is just coming off the prednisone and is only on cyclosporine. Her skin is clear and she’s almost back to her normal self. It is truly amazing because we thought we were going to lose her. We have the best dermatologist and team, so very lucky. Don’t give up!
Hi Joyce. Our 5 yr old springer spaniel was diagnosed late January this year. He was covered in lesions, his paws were swollen to about twice their normal size, he was lethargic, depressed, high fever, not eating and very, very ill. He spent a week at our vets, and a full week at the specialist vet school (in Scotland) where he received a massive dose of immunosuppressant medication and a white blood cell transfusion. He has been on a really high dosage of steroids since the beginning of fe and another drug called Cellcept (this is the uk so not sure what the USA equivalent is) since then. Most of his hair has fallen out. BUT, the last couple of weeks he has turned a corner. There is still some very mild active pemphigus but it is really small areas. He has regained most of the weight he has lost. His whole demeanour and behaviour is SO much better, he is 99.9% back to his old self. The vet today, after speaking to,the specialist dermatologist says he can now begin to reduce the steroids. 1 month ago we were down in the dumps so much about his prognosis, but things are looking so much more positive. Chin up, your dog can recover from this horrible, horrible disease with good vetinary care x
Hi , Debbie, Lisa, Melissa & diannawoll44
Thank you all for your comments & advice. I phoned my vet the other day to tell her what I had found on this site. She was surprised that most of the dogs lost weight even when they were eating well. Balou I think is coming on but as he is an Akita it is very difficult to see his skin . His ears are starting to loose fur & underneath looks good, no nasty red sores. He is Unfortuneately loosing muscle in back legs, but we are taking him for little walks and he is managing them fine. He seems a bit happier than he did to begin with ,so hope this continues. We go back to our vet on 25th March so hope we can reduce steroid slowly from then.
Thank you all so much again, I certainly will not give up on my boy. Will let you know how he goes.
Joyce
Any updates?
Brilliant news, give your pooch a big belly rub from me x
Ollie’s still improving. We took him off mycophenolate and put him back on cyclosporine and a low dose of medrol. So far no side effects!! And he’s feeling and acting almost 100%!!
Couldn’t be happier.
My Dog Jake was recently diagnosed. I tried to use the natural approach first and Vet said that probably slowed down the progression. Niacinamide and vitamin E . Vet says that does help some more so in Lupus cases though and I might want to continue those once he is in remission . Jake is 6 yo 75 lb mix catahoula/akita. Vet started him on very high dose of Predthnisone 3 tablets 2 times a day for 5 days then 3 tablets once a day for 14 days then 3 tablets every other day till remission. He is supposed to take 20 mg of Famotidine 30 min before Predthnisone. Right now he is very lethargic this is day number 2 of treatment I am also using Dermoscent bio balm on his nose and it is looking much better.
The steroids will probably make him act a bit odd. How’s his general health overall?
Hi M
Hi Everyone
Sorry I have not given an update on my Akita Balou. This is nearly 4 months now. He got so far on steroids ,his paws, elbows, ears & legs all seem to be clear. His back & sides Unfortuneately have scabbed but not coming off, so his skin is not red & sore but white crusty. About 6 weeks ago we started to reduce his steroids to 2 a day. He gained weight but not back to his pre disease weight. His hind legs also improved. About 2 weeks ago we visited a skin specialist in Perth, she thinks we have under treated him and he is now on 72mg of azthriopine tabs + 4 steroids a day. To be honest we are not seeing any change , vet says it takes time for this new drug to act? Has any one else experienced this drug & did it work? Any feedback would be welcome. We are wondering if our Balou will ever be the same.
Joyce
Azathioprine seems to be a pretty standard medication, I’ve seen with this.
Give it another week or so. My boy Ollie was diagnosed a year ago and we are now cutting the azathioprine down. And he is more or less stable. Still showing lesions on his feet.
Thanks Melissa we will persevere, go to vets on Monday. Will see what she thinks.
Joyce
Thank you so much for your story. After 7 months of trying every treatment, pills and natural, we finally got a biopsy and diagnosis of pemphigus. After seeing the 70% statistic earlier today, I have had that sad feeling all day. I am so sorry you lost your friend, but know that your blog helps give us hope that we may have a few more years with ours. My American bulldog baby is already 9 this month, so I hope I can have him as long as possible. Being pregnant with my 2nd baby has been challenging with his twice a week baths! And taking so many pills (he also has seizures from valley fever years ago), so peanut butter has been our best friend too! All the best to you and our puppies will be there to greet us on the other side ❤
I just found your blog. I just lost my precious bulldog to this horrible disease. I had a wonderful dermatologist treating her but she had a relapse and just couldn’t come back. She was passing blood almost every hour. It was terrible. We had to let her go and I have not recovered yet. It has only been a week and a half but it seems like forever. My heart is broken. I will never get another dog again. It hurts too much to lose them.
I know the feeling. It’s heartbreaking. It’s been almost 5 months and I still miss him like crazy, it hurts less but I still miss him. When you go through a fight like this with a dog or anything it makes your bond so strong. They know how hard you fight and they are grateful for it. It’s a hard bond to break.
When I read about Pemphigus and saw the rate of euthanasia I was shocked. You fought for her and gave her a chance. That should fill you with love. 🙂
I literally couldn’t breath when I lost him but I knew it was right, just like it was right to let her go. (I wish I knew her name)
You won’t stop missing her, but you will stop hurting so much.
I promise.
Great information. My Blue Nose Pit Bull has the same Pemphigus disease. I have been going through the same agony as everybody else and the same meds. It has been a year. He is still sick. But a lot better and big vet bill. They do get better. But lots of work.
Thanks for all the information. Larry, my mixed lab has been diagnosed with the same horrible pemphigus disease. It started with just a dry spot on his nose then swelling around his eyes then it continued to spread up his nose over the past couple of months. All in a matter of several days it spread all over his body. He is on many of the same meds that I’ve read about. Thanks for the info on the pain medication. I just put in a call to our vet. I’m glad I came across your blog. Otis’s story has sure helped so many. Susan
I was surfing the net for some type of dog bootie to help our baby, Dexter, and found your page. Wow. What an inspirational story. I have goose bumps as I type this. Dexter, our rescued Australian Shepard mix, was diagnosed about 6 months ago. So, luckily, he’s NEVER gotten to the point of poor Otis, thanks to our WONDERFUL vet. He suspected this disease almost immediately. We started the prednisone and antibiotics right then and there. Eventually adding the Aziothoroprine and Cyclosporine, which has also helped. Dexter’s not completely better. His nose is what we are fighting with AND the “limp” always on the same foot. In the beginning he too gained soooooo much weight due to the amounts of prescribed prednisone. We’ve finally reduced that to one pill daily and 2 ea of the others daily. I’m scared to change ANYTHING so we’ll see what his next check up holds. I know we need to work towards reducing the meds eventually. I use udder balm on his nose and feet once to twice a day. Seems to help but who really knows? I’ve read so many articles. So, I’m now on to finding booties. I want a pair that are sock-like to put on after I slather him with the balm. Then, a more durable pair so he can walk outside in the back yard. We have an acre with deer so he does run occasionally when they are near the fence – bonus he still has energy! I’m also looking for a safe doggie sunscreen as he LOVES the sun and living in Texas, can be exposed a LOT. We have a TON of shade but still…… So, if you’ve had anyone recommend booties or sunscreen, I’d LOVE to hear about it! Again, you really nailed it with your column. Not sure I could have handled it in the beginning with a dog so severe. He wasn’t near as bad but we also experienced all the doubts you so eloquently wrote about. But, those feelings have subsided with his improvement. Many blessings to you. PS. You are spot on – this disease truly does affect the entire house. It’s a very hard thing to watch, for one. Then, the time spent on all the treatment, not to mention the money. Add to that, his best friend, Lexi, our Golden has lost her play, wrestle buddy. They still lay together and walk around the backyard together but they used to play chase and wrestle non-stop. So, again, this is a family disease. Ironically, I too have Lupus. Guess God works in mysterious ways. He picked a home where we TOTALLY understand auto-immune and the problems associated. But, at the same time, we’re humble and grateful, ya know? Love unconditionally, that’s our motto and it’s so true. Thank you again and hopefully I’ll hear from you one day! You have my upmost respect for staying true to this blog. We can never give up on our furry babies!!
Sincerely,
Lori
You are so lucky you could head this off early, that was the hardest part is getting so far in before attempting to recover.
I used baby/toddler socks and medical stretch wrap, seemed to work pretty well. For sunscreen I’m not sure because I was so afraid to put any new chemicals on him. I used a mens white tshirt to cover him for brief sun exposure.
I hope Dexter continues to improve and keep me updated. I keep all these pups in my heart!
Our 8 year old Scottish Terrier was diagnosed with pemphigus last June. She has had some pretty significant medical problems already…allergies since a puppy, bladder stone surgery twice despite being on a special diet, cleaning her each time she voids, etc. It was after her last bladder stone surgery last April that we noticed the lesions. The vet thought they were hot spots. Since they wouldn’t clear up, we took her to the vet. dermatologist. After doing a biopsy and confirming the diagnosis, we started her on Azathioprine and dexamethasone. She had constant diarrhea, but the lesions were going away. In December, we finally just took her off the azathioprine because she had lost 10lbs and was so lethargic that we thought the end was near. The diarrhea ended 2 days later and she began to perk back up. During this time she was on Atopica and the dexamethasone. She began to get some sores back in late January but it was a nasty staph infection. 2 antibiotics later, the staph infection was cleared up but now the pemphigus and a nasty UTI. We are currently on an antibiotic for the uti and just the steroids. The vet dermatologist suggested another immunosurpressant but it would run about $100/month plus another $120 for blood work a month and of course all the vet visits which are usually about $175/visit. It is just not possible with our current budget. I think at this point we are just going to keep her comfortable with steroids and Atopica. When she is no longer comfortable, I think we are going to have to put her down. (It pains me to say this over a stinking skin disease!) Since she seems to not be able to tolerate the azathioprine, I don’t know what else to do. She didn’t have a quality of life when she had constant diarrhea, but the lesions cleared up.
Anyone know of anything else I can do to help her? Even something over the counter that might help her just remain comfortable. She currently has 3 lesions, one on her rump, one on her side, and one on her back. We’re trying hard to keep them controlled and make sure she isn’t uncomfortable.
We had a lot of success treating Otis with Tramadol when he was in significant pain. For lesions we used neopred pref powder that helped keep them dry, they contain a steroid so might help with irritation as well. Only reason I would be leary of anything over the counter is not knowing if it might irritate skin or trigger reaction.
How’s she feeling currently?
I’m the comment right above you. There are generic meds! For instance, Atopica is Cyclosporine. And we get the Aziothoroprine at Sam’s wholesale for $20!! Not sure if they have the cyclosporine. But you can google websites for it! We have him on prednisone. That is the only thing that seems to work. Our vet isn’t charging us for blood work every 3 months. See if you can find one that won’t do that. Twice a year is fine. There is also a rebate for Atopica. $20 when you buy two boxes!! I use neosporine and udder balm. I light cleaning with mild soap helps keep infections at bay. We also changed his food to organic which comes out to a lower price since we buy 2 bags and get one free at Pets Barn. Hope this helps!!!
SO GLAD THIS SITE EXISTS!
Lori!
Hi, all! Thanks for the comments. Right now Macy seems to not be in any pain at all. She has about 6 sores on her back and flank. Most of them are very small…just about 3 that are on the larger size. Nothing seems to be bothering her which is good. She is currently on cyclosporine 25 mg every other day. We actually had already been on that for her severe seasonal allergies. She is also on flucosiolone (a liquid steroid we put on her sores) and an oral steroid (dexamethasone.) The steroids are making her drink a lot, but we can handle that side effect. It is nothing compared to the 6 months of loose bowels she had when on azithioprine.
Thanks for the suggestions for keeping infections at bay! That is a serious concern for us as she just got over a staph infection of the skin and a uti. The poor girl has seriously been through it in the last few years between bladder stones despite her prescription diet and the pemhigus and the side effects that go through with some of the drugs.
Have you guys had success with keeping the pemphigus in check with cyclosporine? That drug doesn’t seem to give her issues with digestive system.
We did not see much improvement when Otis was on Cyclosporine but I think every dog is different.
Otis dealt with a nasty staph infection early on which was also resistant to most antibiotics, so agree with trying to keep infection away. Does she flare up with sun exposure at all?
Oh I totally forgot about sun exposure! Our dr said a good baby sunscreen or bull frog!!! He just loves laying in the sun so we have to watch him!! Suspect this summer will come with another set of issues. Fingers crossed!!!
Thanks for the warning about the sun exposure. I have been putting a tee shirt on her when she does go out, but she loves to lay in the sun. Luckily I have baby sunscreen already for my daughter, so I guess both will be getting it!
I started reading this to get ideas on if there was hope of a cure for this disease and I’m crying my eyes out now. Everything I’ve read has it in older dogs but my Max is 6 months old. Has anyone else gone through this with a puppy.
I’m sorry to hear about Max and have no experience with a puppy but youth and health are definitely on your side! It is very manageable and you can get great results. If you have any questions, let me know.
Macy isn’t cured by any means, but she also isn’t in pain and it is being managed. She is comfortable and happy. With Max being so young, his immune system may respond better to treatments. Hang in there…while it is a life long disease, some cases are VERY manageable.
I can’t thank you enough for telling the story of Otis’s battle. Sadie our yo pitbull got sick in December. I have been searching for someone other than my vet to reach out to and possibly help due to our ongoing fight with this devestating illness. It does weigh on the entire family. Sadie got her vaccines in October and right before Xmas woke up with pus pockets on her pawpads and a few bare spots on her back, within 3 days her body was an open oozing sore. They were all over body. Our vet since she was a baby gave us prednisone and antibiotics and sent her home. No answers. A few days later she was worse. Now all over her face, nose, eyes, back, belly. He did a biopsy, sewed her up and said he’d call with results. A few days later we were told allergies. For 2 months she went on and off prednisone, antibiotics. We cried and held her everynight expecting it to be her last. She laid on her bed, covered in blankets for comfort. But she never gave up or lost her spunk and kept eating. Finally in March, we took her to Shands UF in Gainesville, FL. The Dermatologist did the biopsy tests which came back Pemphigus Folliceaus, sounded and still does so scary, but now we had a “name” for this skin disease eating Sadie up alive. They narrowed it down to most likely her last round of yearly vaccines. Since March, after super high doses of prednisone and antibiotics, up and down. We agreed to find the lowest dose we could all live with and go from there. I feel our vet at Shands saved her life, We are at 30mg every other day. Sometimes I have to do 30 mg a day till she clears up then bring her down. Cannot seem to get below that dose. We feed her and give her internal coconut oil. Homemade salves, Mometamax ointment for when the sores open up. Everyday is a blessing. Her non prednisone days reind us of the days before she got this disease. Her hair grows back but with different pigment coloring of skin. She is always missing hair or all of a sudden has a bare spot somewhere 🙂 but no more open oozing sores. The vet said if we could live with her not looking beautiful, we can stay at this dose until i quits working then start increasing. She mentioned Azacatam? But it was $200/month, we could not afford it. They also work with me, now slowing weaning our visits, from weekly to now 2x per year or if needed, more often. Thank you Dianna, this is such a lonely journey, but has gotten easier to live with. Prayers to all the other parents out there.
Holly Johnson, Crystal River, FL
Every time I read these stories I cry. I cry for several reasons.
One, because it reminds me of my boy and how I would do it all again to have him back.
Two, because I’m in awe of how many people end up fighting this battle and do everything for their babies.
I’m glad your Sadie has you, she’s a lucky pup.
People used to stare at Otis and I even had people try to take pics because they thought he was some former fighting dog because of the scars. But to me, he was beautiful, one of the most beautiful things I had seen because I knew where every scar came from.
Keep living that beautiful pup of yours.
We are always here. 🙂
I am so sorry for your loss, he was beautiful. We get the same looks, but as I just read your beautiful response to my husband outloud…..well, you know. Thank you for your words of encouragement. Sadie is almost 10 yo now, but reading about Otis and his times of remission have given us hope. She has gone from 50lbs to 70lbs since December. We are slowly trying to rebuild her muscles, lose some weight and gain her strength. She is such a tough girl…and so patient with us as well lol
Thank you so much for posting and giving me some hope. My beloved Lucy was recently diagnosed with Pemphigus and she is miserable. This has been the longest two months of my life filled with ER visits and expensive tests. Her first treatment of steroids and antibiotics didn’t work. We just tried Atopica and the condition has worsened! We are now going to try higher doses of steroids in combination of an immunosuppressant drug. Her primary vet today talked to me about letting her go and I can’t bare the thought! In my heart I feel that there is so much life left in her I want to help her live! It’s a desperate situation
If you feel like there is snorting there then fight. Adding in pain meds will be a lifesaver. Trust me. Have you consulted a speciality vet? Dermatologist? Be patient and give it time. I know it’s hard but don’t give up if you can get her comfortable. We are here if you need anything!
Thank you so much! I am so thankful to have found this site. She is seeing specialty (dermatologist). She’s on gaba and tramadol for pain. We added the steroids back in this am (Shes been off for over a month to do another biopsy since the first one didn’t come back as Pemphigus and when we got the diagnosis we kept her off steroids and tried Atopica) This was my choice and it failed miserably. I get lab work ups that the dermatologist wants for her primary since they are less expensive there. Lucy was just at an all time low yesterday and her primary pulled me aside to talk about long term and her quality of life. She thinks that it will be more compassionate to “let her go”. But I really don’t think its time for that! I want to fight to get her better. I liked how I read somewhere in your blog that this is a family disease bc everone suffers, that just rings in my heart bc its so true. Ive been a prisoner in home off and on for two months afraid to leave her for too long afraid something may happen. I am hopeful though that we can get her to a better place with the right treatment regiment.
THANK YOU! Our 8 month old Italian Greyhound named Burrumpo was just diagnosed with pemphigus last week. I’ve been searching the internet for information but found very little help besides the standard Wikipedia-type websites. We’ve got 8 days left of antibiotics and prednisone from her initial diagnosis and I’m very concerned what her condition will be like after the meds. She has bumps all over her body, but no hair loss, and her paws and nose are dry, cracked and sore. Her energy level, appetite and overall appearance is very good so we’re hoping she goes into remission. I’ve been applying hydrocortisone to her bumps, petroleum jelly with cocoa butter to her paws and nose, and adding immune support probiotics to her food. I’m basically trying everything I can get my hands on to help her. We also have an 8 year old rat terrier with an autoimmune disorder and sensitive food allergies, so I’m accustomed to being an extreme dog-mom and I’m pretty sure I can handle whatever life throws at me regarding these sick pups. Burrumpo is just so young to be diagnosed and hearing there’s a 70% euthanasia rate is just sooo depressing. At this stage I’m just trying to figure out how you keep an 8 month old puppy from going in the sun, and how we’re supposed to reward her good behavior without treats because we’re concerned there might be some food sensitivity issues as well. I just want to say thank you for posting your story because I has definitely helped in our time of need. 🙂
Try a white tshirt for outdoors and for treats we found things like plain mashed potato balls worked well.
I hope your pup continues to improve. Let me know if you need anything!!
My 4# blue deer Chihuahua has have Pemghygus for over 10 years. It has been a battle and have tried everything. Antibiotics, prednosone, tramadol. Sometimes pieces of her ears fall off. I have kept things clean clean clean for her. The coconut oil works the best to clean the sores. But I am at the point of putting her to sleep she is 14 years old and I don’t see it going on remission this time.She has being part of our lives for so long.
Is so sad the vets can not do much, but you keep trying trying to do what you think is best for your dog. My heart brakes for you and me and all of our loving puppies. My best.
It’s a hard life to live that long with so many meds, it does take a toll on their bodies. Only you know when it’s time to let her go and if you have reached that point it’s completely understandable. I’m sorry for your sadness and my heart breaks for you as well. If there is anything you need, let me know. Keep me updated on your decision and know you are in my thoughts. Thank you for fighting so long for your puppy, so many would have given up long ago.
Good evening all
Sadly my dog Ollie a 7 year old black lab has been initially diagnosed with pemphigus foliaceus by a vetinary dermatologist. Just await the final result from a biopsy.
He is covered in crusting pustules and sore red lesions, he is so weak and tired and this all happened in a week. I would appreciate any advice on medications which is yet to be prescribed. We live in the UK. Thank you in advance from Sarah and Ollie
Hey Sarah. Sorry to hear about your puppy but you will find a way to control it.
He will probably be prescribed a steroid, possibly antibiotic or immunosuppressive med. if pain meds are not, I would ask for them as they will help keep Ollie comfortable. There are several meds discussed here if you want to research those meds to suggest to your vet. Let me know how you are doing and if you need further info.
Wishing you the best. Don’t give up!!
Dianna
Sarah,
This happened to our Sadie. It happened so quickly. Two weeks later we had her on meds and she started improving, problem was after biopsy, they said it was allergies, not a serious condition. …after two more weeks up and down with prednisone, antibiotics, we got her into UF Gainseville to see dermatologist. Their biopsy showed Pempgigus Foliceaus, most likely drug induced by her yearly vaccines, given within 90 days of the start of her disease. We never gave up hope, all we wanted was a diagnosis so we could find help. Next month is a year since she got sick. Thanks to the dermatologist at UF Shands….they saved her life. She is on Prednisone only, but except for her weight and some battle scats, you would never guess the last year. Never give up. Many nights we held her and criwd, wondering if we made the right decision…not putting her down. We did!!!! Everyday is a gift!!!
Hi Sarah so sorry to hear about your dog. Our springer Mickey was diagnosed with pemphigus early 2014 and was treated at the Dick’s vet training school just outside Edinburgh. They treated him with a massive dose of immunosuppressant medication and he had to have a blood transfusion to,replace his platelets, using human blood. After he was discharged (and this took about 2 weeks) the vet kept him on a very high dose (initially) of steroids and a drug called cellcept. This drug is an immunosuppressant usually used on human. Mickey also went into our own vets once a week to have a special bath and scraping to remove all the dried crusty scabs and so that the vet could check him over. He came literally from deaths door and made a full ,recovery, and now takes 2 cellcept a day and no steroids, with no reoccurrence of the pemphigus.
This wasn’t cheap, we were very lucky our insurance covered most of it, but all this cost the best part of around £6k!
The cellcept was the real clincher, once he started on that he never looked back. It is just the most horrible disease, so distressing, but, there is hope and our dog is living proof of this, good luck! X
Hi Sarah, Sorry to hear of Ollie’s pemphigus. My dog Larry is about the same age and is a mixed lab that we adopted. It is good that you are starting out with a vet dermatologist and getting the appropriate treatment from the start. It has been just over a year now for Larry and he is doing much better with the pemphigus and now we are dealing with other problems from over use of the steroids- this problem came about before the dermatologist was consulted. It is very important to keep up with the needed follow up appointments and blood work. I wish you and Ollie the best. Hopefully he’ll be in remission soon. Susan & Larry
Hi Guys. i wrote a while back about Maxwell, our 5 month old Red Merle Australian Shepherd that we rescued that has Pemphigus. We have kept it pretty much under control with prednisone since we got him – covered tail to nose in scabs in June. He was on daily Prednisone and Antibiotics and did the 3x a week anti-fungal baths, and we noticed improvements within a month. We reduced his prednisone to every other day- and have weened him off the antibiotics also since July. One thing we did right away is to switch him to a raw diet – no wheat or corn at all. No more biscuits, etc unless they were gluten free, etc. He had a massive yeast infection in his body and ears and was severely neglected by his previous owners, and the vet thinks that this, along with his poor diet – Old Roy or something along those lines, caused a severe allergic reaction bringing on the early onset of the Pemphigus. Since switching him to raw – they only signs of the pemphigus have been two small scabs between his eyes and the tip of one ear which popped up the other day – after he had 3 large milk bones in one week- the first in months – and I was the guilty culprit – so we upped his prednisone dose again- and put him back on the antibiotics, and he’ll be tortured with the anti-fungal baths he loves 3x a week for a few weeks for prevention,
I will honestly say that the diet has wholeheartedly contributed to massive improvement in this puppy. He is going on 9 months old. Has never had to be on pain medication, and we are getting ready to reduce his steroid dosage again next week to 10mg every 3 days. He is 40lbs. now and minus the scars, he is beautiful. I suggest trying a raw solution, it is not expensive, trust me, i have 3 dogs eating on this, and it is something that my husband and I researched for our 2 before Max came into our lives, and jumped on when I realized what his immune disorder entailed and I researched more into it. It breaks my heart to read about the suffering all of these babies are going through, so I just wanted to share what we have done to help our little Monkey.
Kimberly and Max
Do not give up!!! There is hope! I just went through a nightmarish 6month pemphigus battle with my shihtzu Lucy. I really didn’t think we were going to come out of this. Like you, her second biopsy showed the pemphigus. She was on Prednisalone 2 x per day and an amino suppressant aziaprine(spelling) every other day. She also had a MRSP skin infection which took three tries of antibiotics to get results which was custom doxy tablets. She has completely healed and now she is down on 1/2 Prednisalone every day. And will next get taken to every other day then hopefully off them. She will take the immunosuppressant for the rest of her life . I am telling U not to give up hope as Lucy is back to her old self again and feeling great. There is hope . Hang in there
I cannot seem to get Sadie’s Prednisone lower than 30mg everyother day. I tried 20mg, but her paw pads start swelling like golf balls and the yellow pus pockets start on and around her pads. She weighs 65lbs. Any suggestions regarding how to bring her dose down? Vet said we could try some of the other auto immune meds, but very expensive with monthly liver testing. We are more interested in alternatve ideas. So glad to help and learn as well
I know the blood tests are expensive but it was worth it! Prednisalone wasn’t enough for Lucy . When we added azathioprine every other day she cleared up and now we are down from 10 mg Prednisalone per day to 2.5 per day with continued azathioprine every other day. Again, I know the tests are expensive but its worth it in the long run!
Hey Holly, the autoimmune drugs are so expensive. Have you tried any of the coupons sent in the mail or newspapers? They have helped tremendously.
There are several pharmacies that accept them. Our local Walmart accepted ours. Please check into it. It makes a big difference. Azathioprine was one that they did accept, all you need is the prescription. Don’t give up! Susan & Larry
Good point. We used Costco.
Thank you. We will talk to her dermatologist vet next visit. How are the side effects? Our vet was concerned with Sadie being 10 years old, which would cause less damage to her body over time. Holly
Update on Sadie. We passed our first year mark 12/21/2015 since her illness started!!!! As of today she is on 20mg one day, 10mg the next. She seems happier and more energenic with a smaller daily dose, which I hope to keep reducing. We also have her on Vitamin D 400mg 2x daily and Vitamin B Niacinamide 500mg 3x daily. She was on Omega and Priobotics, but switching her to Canidae canned and dry food, it has those ingredients in it. Her weight is still an issue, but one step at a time. I don’t know how long her disease will be controlled, but grateful for each day. Dianna, your site has helped us so much, sharing info, ideas and stories. I hope I can help some baby’s family by sharing our story. Holly
Great news!!
This fills my heart and makes me so happy for you!
Keep the updates coming. 🙂
So awesome to hear the great success stories! !!
I keep losing my comments before they post – urgh!! One more time! Two year update for our Dexter, Australian Shepherd.
We have reduced meds considerably. Most say Atopica didn’t work for them but it seems to be the main med for Dex. BOOOO, because it is about $300 a month to treat!! Def open to suggestions on that one.
Morning routine: 2 Aziothoroprine, 1/2 prednisone (was up to 2!) so that’s a huge difference. Evening we give 1 Atopica (he was up to 2) By reducing, he broke out a little. We are sticking w/ 1 pill to see if it will take. HINDSIGHT, should have reduced slower like 2 one day, 1 the next, until we got to 1 every day but….. Gradual reduction is key. Especially with prednisone, which is how we got down to 1/2. Tried 1/4, but…. Also, keep lots of water handy especially w/steroids! For now, he’s down to a small patch on his back (no hair loss) and on his nose (hair loss.) We are very lucky! Calling him our little Rudolph. Pains me to read how some lost part of a ear or open pus sores. Horrible! His weight and energy still concerns me. Used to play 24/7 with our Golden. Now, never. We have deer around the property so he likes to watch them through the fence. But, other than that, his excitement is feeding time. We changed to organic dry from Pet’s Barn. Also add a powder mixed w/low sodium broth to make a slight gravy. Bought online called: Missing Link, Ultimate Skin and Coat mix. Giving to our Golden too, (so she doesn’t get jealous) she is disease free. Treats are organic, either carrots, apples, watermelon or bones from Pet’s Barn made of blueberry, strawberry, peanut butter, etc… They both love these!
Keep adding new discoveries. I’m researching Celcept. Will post more as I discover it’s properties. I’m hopeful it could replace Atopica (cyclosporine)!
As always, thank you for starting this post! I thank God for the support I get here and don’t feel so alone. I have Lupus myself so this really takes a toll on the pocket book. But, I relate so I’m a real stickler to routines.
Sincerely,
Lori
You are an amazing dog mom!! Reading this makes me smile to know your pup is doing so well!!!
We had the same issue with lack of energy, what worked for Otis was walking gradually every day once his health was stable. We started with one lap around the cul de sac until finally made it down the street. Took several months to get energy back.
I really am delighted to read your update. Post pics if you can!!
I have a 5 year-old yellow lab. She was diagnosed with pemphigus just 3 days ago. Unfortunately, she’s suffered with the lesions for about 10 months but our vet misdiagnosed her to have some sort of arachnid poison. She’s been on various forms of antibiotics and steroids since the onset of her lesions last May. She’s gained nearly 20 lbs and eats like every meal his her last. The lesions will start to look better but never fully disappear, but return with a vengence when the medicines are gone. I had to drive over 2 hours to meet a pet dermatologist and he needed no longer than a few minutes and $246.00 to tell me she had pemphigus. He warned me that this disease is very difficult to treat and often times very expensive. He also said that since my “Daisy” didn’t respond well to the different forms of antibiotics and steroids she was taking initially then she may need more intense therapy such as chemotherapy or blood transfusions. I can’t afford this type of treatment—-any suggestions?
I have never heard of a transfusion or chemo treatment for pemphigus, as an autoimmune disorder that seems strange but maybe he has some experience.
While true it can be expensive and difficult to treat, the hard part is finding the right course of meds that help your dog. I’ve seen a wide variety of medicine therapies for every dog reacts differently.
Have you tried any immune suppressor or different steroid types? Also I think it’s very difficult to have a pemphigus dog med free and not have outbreaks. It’s a disease that you treat not necessarily cure.
What meds was she on? Dosage?
Nothing worked for my Sadie except antibiotics and prednisone. But it had to start as high prednisone 2-3 times sper day, then wean down Since she newly diagnosed with pemphigus, she can be treated as such. She was misdiagnosed for 4 months and almost died. Dermatologist treated her and got disease under control for a year now. Still on prednisone, but desease controlled
My dog Lucy went through a similar experience and a multitude of failed treatment options. It felt like we went through hell and back. This is what ultimately worked for her: higher doses of Prednisalone 2x per day, doxycycline, and azathioprine 1/4 tablet. She was also getting an antibiotic bath daily with spraying her paws 3x per day with a steroid spray trichlor4. She steadily cleared up with this regiment. She is now lesion free and has been for quite a while . She will likely be on a Lower dose of Prednisalone and the azathioprine for the rest of her life but she is happy as can be and pain free. Oh yes, she was also on pain meds tramadol as well as ganapenton during the lesions as she was in terrible pain daily. There will be and expense with the regiment of liver blood tests as the mixture of azathioprine and Prednisalone can be tough on them. But Lucy’s levels are fine. I hope this information helps. There is hope! Do not give up!!!!!
she’s taking Dexamethasone, Doxycycline and Clindamycin (8 pills per day)
You might look into azathioprine as an immune suppressor and try a different steroid. We had luck with triamcinolone as a steroid. It took many trials to get meds correct for us.
Also we had issue with Otis being antibiotic resistant and a secondary staph infection. Something to consider as well.
I’m sorry but the more I read about the disease and it’s treatment—-the more skeptic I become. I’m not going to give my friend immune suppressing medications that will allow other forms of cancers, tumors and disease to attack her around every corner. I’m not going to subject her to that ——
No need to be sorry. Each person has to choose their own way, just offering options and experiences on what worked.
I would strongly reconsider that. Azathioprine has worked and an immunosuppressant drug is what is needed to suppress the immune system from attacking your dog’s skin. The biggest issue to consider is your beloved’s quality of life.
I appreciate you and saddened by your story ——– just don’t think i’m going to go down that same path.
Like someone else said, it is quality of life and we had an additional 2 wonderful years of life for Otis out of treatment. I wouldn’t change any of the decisions we made.
Best of luck to you and your pup, I’m always available if you need any further information.
My blue noise pit-bull has been not sick for going on 3 years. Getting lots of enjoyment from him. It was a hard time to heal him. The vet said if they are 3 years or younger they have a great shot of making it.His name is Jasper.
Hi, it’s Jessica with Lucy. She has been doing so well on azathioprine and low dose Prednisalone but out of no where last night her paws are blistered and bloody when she walks. It’s terribke. Did that happen to u before? It just comes back even on the meds?
You can get flare ups, we had times where the blisters would flare and we’d have to up meds temporarily.
OK. Thank you so much
Just wanted to give an update on Larry. This year has been much better after his knee surgery. He is presently on Azathioprine every other day and Tacrolimus in Aquaphor 0.1% Ointment as needed. He has been itching more with the warmer weather, but hasn’t broken out too bad again. He wants to be more active, but he still needs surgery on the other knee. My neighbors must think I am crazy for telling my dog not to run. I’m fine with that as long as he feels as good as he does. Thanks so much for this blog… Susan
I love good news!!!! 🙂
My dog, Carmella, who is 4 years old and is a collie mixed breed went to vet last night and Vet thinks she might have Pemphigus. She is scheduled for a biopsy on 3/24, but Vet said it will take a few days to get the results back. Keeping my fingers crossed that is isn’t. If it is, the doctor said we caught it early. Besides the meds that everyone has mentioned does anyone also use prescription food? My Vet said something about using meds in combination with prescription food.
We did prescription food for Otis in the beginning. Since it’s hard to determine what brings the disease on, it is common to limit exposure to things when initially diagnosed. There are many things that can trigger outbreak so it’s a good step to find potential triggers.
Fingers crossed for you and Carmella. Keep us updated on her!
Lily our 11 month old Chocolate Lab was diagnosed with this awful disease in Jan this year. It all began in Dec 2014 and i must admit our vet has been super. Mid Jan she had biopsy taken from her ear and neck. Whilst waiting results she ended up in doggy hosp as her temp so high she couldnt even stand up. Red bumps had started appearing all over her body. After a few days we got the results of this disease and a secondary infection if Ecoli. She was immediately but on antibiotics and steriods. She was only on antibiotics for 3 weeks but remains on 25mg of steriods a day. Where scabs had formed she has lost her hair – no looks like a chocolate dalamation – and blisters in her ear slowly getter better. Some days she seems so sad and has no energy and other days shes quite playful. Vet hopes to taper down the steriods and take it from there. Reading this blog has brought me lots of tears but mainly comfort to know we are not alone esp the days when we think shes never going to get better.
Not alone at all!!
I’m glad Lily has such wonderful people to care for her. 🙂
It is the most wonderful thing to see them coming back to life. Keep us updated.
Oops I meant to say Dec 2015 it began hence the reason I say my vet has been super in diagnosing so quickly. Stress of it all has taken its toll … Thank you for your reply. This blog has been such a help and I’ll certainly keep you updated. Thank you 😃
Jennifer-my vet said there had never been a link to dietary allergies and Pemphigus before, but we finally linked Mawell’s PF to an allergic reaction to any grains or wheat products. He can’t even have Pill Pickets. We have reduced him down to .5 mg of steroids every 3 days and hope to keep him at that until his next 6 month check up in May. I mentioned the pill pockets because he had some of those for their fish oil supplements and had an outbreak in early February. Due to his dietary needs. All of the dogs are on full raw diet. But he is t on any other meds besides the prednisone. It is something to look into. Reach out to me if you want to since they are so similar in age. And symptoms they presented. Kkhutcherson@yahoo.com
Dianna – Sad to report we lost our boy Dexter. NOT to this horrible disease, although I’m sure it didn’t help. He got cancer. We are beside ourselves for losing our sweet soul WAY TOO SOON! But, I will continue to monitor this site occasionally and offer advice. You were so comforting with this blog and for that I’ll be truly indebted to you forever! Much love and hugs and prayers for all who belong to this site.
Sincerely,
Lori
Tried to add a pic but not sure how!!
I’m so sorry to hear this but you were wonderful to him. He had a wonderful life.
Love the picture! How could you not fall in love with those eyes!!
I wish you all the best, enjoy your new friend Tucker.
🙂
Changed my profile pic to show Dexter! Such a love boy!! We rescued a Aussie/heeler mix, named Tucker, 10 weeks old and brings much needed joy and love to our home. Lexi, my Golden, is happy again! We still miss Dexter but the joys of rescue must continue!!
😊
Our dog has just diagnosed as pemphigus folia eons, he is a bichon frise, a cute lovely dog. It is so hard and painful to see him suffer. Will he get better? What type of medicine did you take to help it? And how long will you start to see some significant effect? And a rough cost as well please? As we are based at UK, and not under insurance, so to know how much roughly will this cost would be huge help!!! Thanks so much in advance
Our dog has just been diagnosed with pemphigus folia eons, he is a bichon frise, such a cute and lovely 8 years dog. This is the third week when he had this problem, and it gets really bad. It is so hard and painful to see him suffer from all the pain, he has blisters and spots all over the body. Could you kindly advise me what medications did you use to help this disease please? How long does it take to see any significant effect? And how much would it roughly cost? We are based at UK, and not insured. So any idea on how much the bill will cost will help us. We’be already spent almost £800 just to diagnose the disease. Thanks so much for your help in advance. It is good to know that we are not alone!!!
It’s hard to answer these questions with definite answers. 3 weeks in is pretty quick to catch it so that’s positive.
All dogs respond differently to meds and finding the right combo takes time and patience. But your dog has a chance. We used combination of steroids and immunosuppressive drugs. If you read through posts it lists meds tried and dosages.
Cost is hard to say, for me it was very expensive, several thousand but we had a very tough case. Like I said previously all dogs are different. Talk it through with your vet, they can give you an idea of treatment options and costs.
Treatment works but you need to be patient, it’s not a quick overnight cure. It’s a disease you manage.
Keep me posted.
My dog
Kandy – I am based in the UK too. My lab was diagnosed in Jan after only approx 4 wks of suffering. When diagnosed she was initially put on medication for 3 wks (just to treat a secondary infection of Ecoli) and steroids. She has been on 25mg per day of steroids only since end of Jan and these have, just in the past week, been reduced to 20mg. We’ve been visiting vet every 2 wks for check up, then 3 wks and next one in a month. My vet said steroids only cost about £13 for 100 tablets but cost will go up when or if she is put onto immune suppressant meds as obviously she can’t remain on steroids. Hopefully with catching this awful disease early she may make good progress. Inital costs before diagnosis for us were about £1700 but £1000 of that was 4 days in hospital!!! It’s been a slow recovery for Lily but I can see her getting better and she’s had no more blisters for at least 3-4 wks. This forum has been a huge comfort for me and I hope it will be for you too
Thanks so much!! It’s good to have the preparation to know it is going to be a long battle! He’s on 20mg steroids at the moment, and we are going to see the vets next Tues, hopefully it will work on him. What worries me is even we use the meds, will
He have a quality of life? Will he happy? Thanks
Hi Kandy. I feel exactly the same as you and have asked myself the same questions. My poor pooch only turns 1yr old this week so I’m trying to remain as optimistic as possible. My vet hasn’t given me any indication that she won’t have a good life so I’m hopeful. In fact he did say once the steroids were tapered down we would see our puppy return to her normal self. I researched the steroids and it was comforting to note the change in her behaviour etc was side effects. I hope all goes well with your little dog, I’m sure it will.
Hi Kandy,
My shihtzu has cleared up from Prednisalone and azathioprine. The medications are affordable. And I have no insurance on her either .
Thanks Jessica, that’s promising. How long did your Shihtzu clear up? I know every case is different. I really hope my dog will get better and not suffer so much pain. Thanks
It took a while to get the right doctor and dosage with meds but once she was on high dosages of Prednisalone and 1/4 azathioprine every other day along with steroid sprays other feet 3x per day and also doxycycline she started clearing up in a week or so but took probably 2-3 months to completely heal up. She’s on lower maintenance doses now and has an occasional flare up but she’s doing great. We tried several other treatments before but they all failed this went on for 6 months . Our golden ticket was : azathioprine , high dose Prednisalone , doxycycline , and trizchlor4 spray on her feet . Talk to ur vet about this regiment. I highly recommend give it a try. Nothing else worked for her
Hi Kandy. Our Sadie is still in remission. It has been 15 months since she got sick. She is still on low dose prednisone for maintenance and control over a flare up. The key is a good vet and the treatment mentioned above. It takes time and patience. Sadie is chunky from the meds and has her battle scars, but happy and back being the princess she has always been. Don’t give up and keep coming back to this blog. It was a blessing to know we were not alone. Thanks Dianna. Holly and Ron and Sadie
My beautiful Chorgi was diagnosed with PF 10 years ago at the age of 2. I chose not to put her on Prednisone and, instead, altered her diet. At the time, there were fewer ‘human grade’, quality foods in mass markets, but we began with the Natural Balance brand. It helped a lot. Eventually we advanced to a raw food diet which we’ve used for about 8 years. I feel so blessed that my girl was symptom free for the entire time. But, alas, it’s recently come back with a vengeance. We have an appointment soon with the dermatologist, and I’m worried that I won’t be as lucky this time at her advanced age. She’s been my best friend, seen me thru a divorce and medical challenges of my own. But I’m so scared for her.
Hi Karen. Sorry to hear about your girl. Our Australian Shepherd Max was diagnosed at 4 mos (rare) and it wasn’t until I realized that his PF is triggered by any grains (wheat, rice, grains, etc) that he has been symptom free for months. We’ve had all our pups on raw since the summer. He just turned 1 in February. His vet was amazed as they have never linked the disorder to allergies. I’ve started to dehydrate liver and sweet potatoes for treats so I know what the ingredients are because even the smallest thing would trigger scabs in ears, legs, tail etc.
Paws crossed in Dallas.
I was so relieved to find this blog and see that we aren’t alone. My seven-year-old Labrador, Tupelo, was diagnosed a week ago, although I had already suspected from my Internet research that he had pemphigus foliaceus. He started with a limp around April 11th, but he would stop limping after a few minutes of walking, so I thought it was a muscle injury (he had spent the entire weekend playing with my sister’s dog). Then I noticed small sores on his penis and odd coloring on his foot pads, so I took him to the vet on April 13. He tested positive for Lyme, so the vet prescribed doxycycline, but cautioned that if Tupelo didn’t respond to the doxy in two or three days, his problem was likely something else. He got much worse, and we went straight to the large, 24-hour veterinary hospital, where we were referred to their nearby affiliate hospital because a dermatologist was on-site. The first question the dermatologist asked was had the dog had any vaccinations recently. Yes, he had–on April 2, just over two weeks earler (I’d noticed the first sores on April 10). I’ve never felt safe about vaccinations, and so I’d suspected that–and I had the rabies shot certificate in hand to show the dermatologist. He initially thought Tupelo had rabies vax-induced vasculitis, and so he prescribed Tramadol and 60 mg daily of prednisone, which he instructed me to taper by 20 mg after 5 days, and then drop another 20 mg five days later. The poor dog just got worse, with his scrotum taking the toll. It looked as if it had been dipped in acid. It was so horrific that the vet gently asked if I would mind if he documented it with photographs. Of course not: anything to further studies to fight this horrible disease! He explained the three choices of immunosuppressants before us, to be given with a high dose of pred. We ended up going with Cellcept/mycophenolate at 500 mg twice a day, and 60 mg of pred once a day. The dermatologist did the dx with cytology as opposed to biopsy. He also found a staph infection of Tupelo’s scrotum, which is by far the most painful-looking aspect for the poor dog. Our original vet had prescribed Animax for the penis sores, but the scrotum did not break out until a couple days later (before he was on pred). After diagnosis, his antibiotic was switched to Cephalexin, which works better on skin infections than doxy. The staph infection doesn’t seem to want to clear up, although it’s looking more hopeful today. It’s just that the epidermis dies completely and comes off in large pieces, leaving his entire scrotum completely raw and exposed. I wish I could do something more! He’s been on Tramadol, but I’m not sure he needs it anymore; this is so hard to determine, because I know dogs hide their pain. I don’t want more drugs in him than necessary, and the others are most definitely necessary. His foot sores had been horrible, but they’re better, as are the ones in his ears and around his eye. As they crust over, I’m discovering more elsewhere on his body, where I couldn’t previously find them because of his thick double coat. I just hope he can get to really enjoy life again. He seems happy, but he is not able to do his normal fun activities, such as the daily swimming and digging he used to do. I hate that he is missing out on his joys. I know this summer is going to be very trying, and I’m preparing myself, especially since I can’t prepare him. I hope it’s true that finding it early gives him a better chance, although I feel like we lost two weeks of treatment time with the Lyme and vasculitis diversions. Thank you for reading this!
Hi Lisa. Don’t give up hope! I too had an amazing vet who diagnosed right away. We had good results with a combo of things you can give and taper as it goes into remission and re-administer when they have a flare up. Prednisone and Aziathoroprine worked but we had to go to Atopica as well. EXPENSIVE doesn’t even begin to cover it! LUCKILY my husband has his own business and the vet just bought a house that needed sounds, alarms and what not, so we were able to barter. But, there are sites that offer rebates on meds too. Oh, and I got the first two meds filled at Sams Wholesale. Do you have those? If not, GOOGLE your bootie off! Sadly, my baby boy, Dexter, an Aussie mix, got cancer and passed at age 4 but we were extremely grateful for the extra two years we got with him. Do not give up. Some days are better than others. The sun is not his friend during this time, so make sure he has shade. We used bullfrog in his nose during the day. I’m so sorry for the crusty sores you described. That’s just awful. Wonder if soaking helps? We were luckier that most in the sores aspect. But, Dexter used to run non-stop. Guess his feed and prednisone didn’t help and he gained so much weight. We switched to the Natural Food from Pet’s Barn. Great stuff and if you buy 2 you get 1 free so it just about evens out to the same price as the crap in grocery stores. Carrots, apples and so forth are ok to give instead of bones! Vet approved! You can always email me: lamarcum@me.com. I promised Dianne I would continue to monitor this site because it was my Godsend when nothing else helped!!! I love this site!! Saying a prayer and sending you hugs! I think I still have some things that haven’t been opened I could send you. (He just passed 2 months ago.) Thinking of you and your poor baby……. Lori Marcum
Lisa, so sorry to hear about your baby. This blog is the best thing that ever happened to our family. Sadie had sores all over her face and back. Her skin would just peel off in crusty pieces. The blessing 3 months later was finally a diagnosis. Then antibiotics, different kinds and doses with high dose prednisone, slowly tapering off. We ended up at dermatologist at shands in gainesville fl. And running up our care credit card!!! I remember holding sadie all night, sleeping on the floor with her. We only took her outside to potty for fear of sun and infections. We also took her off garbage food. Inly high quality grain free, the less ingredients the better. Lots of real fruits and veggies. Her disease was caused by vaccines, she fwll in 90 day window. Dont give up, like Lori said..google, google, google. She started improving after 3 months, slowly. Overweight and full of slow healing sores and scars….but better everyday!!! That was 1 1/2 years ago……blessed…she is losing weight, and so happy and playful. Slowed down some, she is now 10 and half. Dont give up. This disease requires patience, but worth it. I was scared, then found blod and wasn’t alone, just like you are not alone in your struggle. Good luck to you and tupelo. Holly johnson, sadies mom
Thank you so very much, Lori and Holly! I can’t tell you how deeply I appreciate the time you took to respond to me about Tupelo’s condition and your own experiences. We had a re-check this morning, and his lab work showed no staph bacteria! I was so happy. But the doctor said that the mycophenolate does not appear to be helping; although there are no new sores, the old ones are still hanging on too strongly. So, on we go to Aziathoroprine. He also needs a topical for his still very inflamed private parts: Tacrolimus, which has to be made at a compounding pharmacy.
Thanks again: I’ll keep updating!
Hi Lisa, good luck with Tupelo. Larry my 8 year old mixed lab has been having pemphigus for a while now. He is presently on azathioprine every other day and the tacrolimus cream once or twice a week depending on how he breaks out. I really like the petroleum based one. It seems to last a little longer. We found a really good price for it at Wedgewood pharmacy in New Jersey. We also use Trizchlor 4 shampoo to bath him. The sun seems to make the outbreaks worse. We wish you guys the best. Susan and Larry
Tinker is 13. He is an old dog but up until March of this year he was a lively bouncy full of fun and devilment. He has been a healthy dog and only been to the vets a couple of times in his lifetime. He does not go into a kennel and rarely mixes with other dogs. Why oh why are you encouraged to give dogs annual boosters and not give the dangers and side effects.
I took him for his annual booster in mid March!
I have taken him every year as instructed. I did think about not doing this 3 years ago but we were going to take him to his first holiday to the seaside, so thought he should be vaccinated just in case. Long walks in unknown territory. I also thought that due to his age not to do it again…..but I did.
I feel like I have given him a death sentence. He had 6 visits to the vet in 3 weeks. They were in complete denial that it is anything to do with the vaccine. He has always had a large lump appear after his booster but that has disappeared after a week.
What was different this year is that this particular vet had given it to him in his side rather than neck area.
2 weeks later his fur on his muzzle started to peel off. It was brittle and was just rubbing away. Days after he had a patch of fur just come away around the site of the injection. This has just got bigger and bigger. I took him to the vet who said he had a hot spot ?!? Gave him a couple of injections and some isaderm and sent him away.
I did a little research on the internet and thought it looked like ringworm. As the first vet had not done a woods lamp test or skin scrapings I asked them to conduct these.
5 days later he had taken chunks out of his fur on his right hind leg and appeared to have gone lame in his right foot. All the damage was occurring on his right side where the injection had taken place. He was licking at his paws constantly but what was different was the hardening of the skin and fur that were coming out. Hardened lumps of fur that looked like they had completely been killed off at the follicle. They were that hard they felt and looked like darts.
I then started to try and go down the holistic route of bathing in apple cider vinegar, D10 shampoo and putting aloe Vera gel on the sores. I am still giving him the antibiotics but also giving him 2 spoons of coconut oil a day. The hardened skin I have rubbed in Fllexitol with vitamin E for dry feet!! It helped soften the skin under his armpits a lot.
His front right leg was swollen and he has lost a lot of weight and his thirst is excessive. He then developed purpura on his scrotum.
Returned to the vet after a horrible upsetting weekend feeling helpless, and although the patches appear to be healing some keep opening up and then he is licking making them worse.
He broke 2 Elizabethan collars!! He was admitted for a blood test and skin biopsy. They still say they do not think it is Vaccine related and it is so rare in dogs and they have never seen it before!!!
I got a call to say his bloods looked normal and he has had his skin biopsy…..telling me I may have to wait 2 weeks for the results. He looked ravaged and continued to deteriorate. All I could think was that like this he may not make the next 2 weeks. No medication was given at that stage.
I got a call 3 days later to say Tinker had Pemphigus Foliaceous. An Auto Immune disease where his body rejects his skin. It blisters under the fur and then kills the follicle and the fur breaks off leaving red lesions. His whole body was covered with bumps and lumps and fur falling out in clumps. The point where all this started was the Injection site! He is now on 7 predinale a day . He had improved slowly and is happy in himself. We continued to bathe him twice a week. He still looked ravaged. He went from my puppy dog to looking like he has been in a horrific war….I guess he has. Many may think I should have put him down. We nearly did but he was fighting so hard and although slow he was going into remission slowly. We are taking each day at a time. I am so glad we made the decision to persevere. I know now it was the right one even though I cried myself dry for weeks.
If he makes it through all of this I will never put another vaccine in his body. I will think very very hard about giving him anymore toxins.
I contacted the drug company as I know that these vaccines were responsible. I have received a letter saying they are not admitting liability but have paid a vets bill of £300 for the initial diagnostics. I haven’t the money to fight them for more and prove they were responsible. Tinker isn’t insured as he is so old so have accepted it and will nurse him for the rest of his life.
I also put a review on the vets website asking why they don’t offer titre tests or point out all the horrendous things that occur after vaccination. Not saying ” Well I have never seen this in the 25 years I have been a vet, it cannot possibly be due to the vaccine!!!!”
I have cried and felt completely helpless. I found this blog page some time ago after spending hours on the internet searching for answers. I feel comforted that I was not going mad and imagining this. I have decided to tell you Tinkers story as I have found some comfort in following other people’s stories
Thanks for listening. I pray he can have a couple more years and die peacefully rather than the ravaged state he was in. I can happily say that that in the last few weeks Tinker appears to have picked up. He is still on 7 Predinale a day but I also use an ointment I have found on Amazon called Emuaidmax that although pricey has helped with the sore red scabby lesions that at last have started to regress. I still bath him weekly using neem and coconut oil with a good slug of apple cider vinegar. He is not a fan of baths…but have bought him a baby bath to just stand in up to his ankles and just bathe him lightly with a sponge 🙂
If any of you want to try a natural ointment that works for Pemphigus sores and can afford it buy some Emuaidmax. It’s been a miracle for the sores and it’s natural.
Research vaccines and boosters. Money making scams that are not required in dogs over 3. They can be Titer tested for immunity. Nobody tells you that.
I have found comfort and help from a FB page opened for dogs with IMHA but this blog has also made us feel less alone with this terrible condition. When an auto immune condition hits it’s catastrophic and most of us are sent in a complete spin Without these no education can be made even though it is sometimes too late it helps with the helplessness!
Penny (UK)
It’s a tough road but thankfully he has you. Thank you for sharing his story, all the info we can get helps those who face the same fight!!
Keep us updated!
Penny, my Sadie who was 10 also got deathly ill after her vaccines. The uf vet admitted this is common. My local vet of 10 years denied it, still to this day. Vaccines causecthis disease. The immune system cannot fight the poision. Saidie was on prednisone almost a year with antibiotics. That was December 2014, she is in remission. This is real but can be treated. You need a vet who will admit what’s wrong and start treating your baby. Not all drus are expensive. Prednisone is cheap and works to clear up sores and kinda shut down immune sysrtem so healing of skin can begin. Lots of holistic salves. Check out dr. Karen becker with dr mercola on fb. God bless don’t give up. Holly, Sadie’s mom
Thank you so much and will check them out. Tinker is. And has only been on Predinale. I’m too scared to given him anything else. He is on 30mg a day. Tried to reduce but he has broken out again. I’m on a mission about over vaccination as we are all so under educated and believe what the vets tell us. I just wished they would start to be truthful about the whole epidemic they are creating. I will never give up. Tinker is like my 3rd child and he is treated like that 🙂 . We are fighting the disease together and he is getting there with everyone’s help. Penny
Hi
My 3 year old lab was diagnosed in June with phemphigus foliceous after suffering sores and itching from October. He started on prednisone and azathioprine. After 9 days he had to stop the azathioprine as he developed liver disease. He started on 150 mg of prednisone has now been reduced to 40mg per day. His sores have cleared 90% and liver has improved to normal again. The sores he has left just show no sign of going. I find it really hard as sometimes he’s tired and doesn’t want any walks. We are desperate now to rid these last few sores. He goes back to dermatologist in 4 weeks. We are washing and spraying them with a steroid spray every day. It’s a long hard road but good to see the success stories
It can take a long time to get the lesions in check. Otis would still break out with some occasional ones even after 2 years. Keep working on his stamina, we started with short walks in our cul-de-sac that built him up.
I’m so glad your pup has you. 😉
Hi. I just want to give an update an update in my lab Lily who was diagnosed with this terrible condition in January when she was only 9 months old. After a number of stressful and to be honest awful months she finally came off all steroids in May and now only remains on 125mg of Atopica a day. Within a few days of coming off steroids her fur starting growing back and she now has the most gorgeous, glossy chocolate fur! She’s so full of energy, up to mischief and behaves, I guess like a 15 month lab would normally behave. The vet couldn’t believe the difference in her! She also gets one capsule of cod liver oil a day and I’ve been taking her to animal reiki for the past month after meeting the most wonderful, kind lady in the vets who offered this service for free after seeing how sad we both looked. Whether this has helped Lily, I don’t really know, but as its natural healing I thought I would remain opened minded and give it a go. Lily is not out the woods yet but hoping as each week goes by she gets better and better. This blog is so helpful in knowing that your not suffering alone and there are owners out there who have experienced exactly what you are going through. Thank you from Jen and Lily
I still think of otis all the time, along with this blog which was very helpful for us. I have replied a few times about my Sammy, a chow/lab mix, who was diagnosed pemphigus in 2013 when he was 8 years old .
Sadly, Sammy passed away this morning. I am beyond heartbroken and have not been able to sleep or stop crying, so I thought I’d hare my story.
Sammy was dealt a pretty rough hand in life, as he also developed cancer and pneumonia ( at the same time) during treatment for his pemphigus.
The first year of pemphigus was pretty rough since the vet had no idea what was wronf and it took a ton of trips (and a ton of money) before we even got the proper diagnosis from a dermatologist.
Then it was bloodwork and checkups every few weeks,along with about 10 different medications. What finally ended up controlling the pemphigus was prednisone and azathioprine with denamarrin.
Then as soon as we started making progress, a lump was found in his anal glands. Cancerous biopsy. Vet suggested putting him down since he was 9, which is considered elderly for a lab or chow.
Of course, i refused and elected for removal. Few months later, the cancer came back. Started chemotherapy. Cancer was gone (as far as they could tell). Stopped using the azathioprine because of the chemo, and had the pemphigus about 75 percent contolled on just prednisone alone.
But of course, every time you think youre making progress, something else happens. Thats what makes this disease so frustrating. From being on prednisone for 2 years, he developed cushings disease. Not to mention the constant drinking of as much water as he could possibly drink, which in turn made him go to the bathroom A LOT. Which causes problems if youre at work/away from home. You cant leave him outside, because pemphigus cannot be exposed to sunlight. Luckily our downstairs was all tile, so we could block it off and leave him down there if he has an accident. Oh guess what? The chemo made his pee toxic as well.
Also, during all this he would constant develop UTIs, which needed to be treated with antibiotics and even started having bad reactions to most dog food, so had to eat a special super-expensive prescription diet as well.
After all that, things finally seem contained. He was now 11 and one day he was just howling and crying and couldnt eat or drink anything so i rushed him to the emergency vet.
Pneumonia….Are you freaking kidding me??? The vet said put him down theres nothing they can do, he will not last more than 2 days and it will be painful, not to mention would require 24 hour care and would cost thousands of dollars. After careful consideration, i told them to give me the drugs and IV (food) and if he isnt better in 3 days i will bring him back for euthanasia. I wasnt ready to give up, and neither was he. They almost refused, saying there is no hope at all. Well 2 days later he was eating and drinking and wagging his tail.
His back legs were now extremely weak however. Not sure if it was from the cushings or whatnot, but he ended up giving himself a pressure sore from laying on it too much. With his prednisone, healing was going to be a pain.
After reducing the pred and finding a balance to contain the flareups, it finally healed after a few months.
Well 2 nights ago, after all he had been though, he started refusing tk eat or drink. I tried everything i could this time, but it was finally his time. I hooked him up to the IV and he had a peaceful last 2 days but finally succumbed to all his ailments.
I miss him already. I am devastated. I am also grateful that we got to share an additinal 9 months together when the vet said he had 2 days to live, tops. Evey day was a bonus and a blessing from that point on.
Maybe he will run into otis up there and they can play together. Pain and worry-free. I love you, Sam.
There isn’t much I can say except I’m sorry your heart is hurting. But knowing you gave him everything heart and soul should give you some relief. That’s a love like no other. It will hurt less eventually, I promise.
I know he’s met my boy and they are playing free now.
Thank you for letting me know.
😦
I am happy I found your blog. I hope you still monitor it! My 3 year old chi-weenie, Millie started screaming when she poops at age 1 year and seven months. We tried everything for the next 7 months, several vets, anal glands expressed over and over then finally removed, antibiotics, rimadyl, steroids, X-rays and probably more than I am forgeting. We were at our wits end, when I ran into a vet in Publix. I told him her problem and he said to bring her in to see him. He knew how to help her. He gave her a steroid shot and put her on a liquid steroid along with Atopica. She stopped screaming when she pooped for the next 8 months! The day she had her vaccinations she had diarrhea in the afternoon and started screaming again, she had sores around her vulva, cracks in the corners of her mouth and was itchy. My wonderful vet and his family had moved out of state so I save another vet in the same office. He said “nothing is working, let’s start fresh.” He put her on Hills I.d. Prescription canned food. He told me to put hydrocortisone on the cracks of her mouth and vulva. He tried Gabapentin, Tylan, Mirilax and finally Prednisone. She stopped screaming for 2 months. It started again and I gradually stopped the prednisone. I found pemphigus, while searching the Internet, she has all of the symptoms, fever, dry nose, tiny sores on the inside flap of one ear, itchy skin, screams when she poops, red and sore anus. I went to another vet in the office because the one I had been seeing was on vacation. I asked her to give Millie a steroid shot (the one that lasts about 2 days) and a box of Atopica. I have been putting the Mirilax in her food and giving her Atopica. It has been 6 days. She is not screaming when she poops! Her weight is back to normal, her itchiness has gotten better, no more sores in her ears, no more fever, the cracks around her mouth are getting better and the itchy skin is better. I have questions.
1. What should I feed her? I want to stop the Hills I.d. Food. She was on Orijen from age 0-12 months, Wellness from age13-23 months, Halo from age 2-3 years and Hills I.d. prescription canned with a few pieces of Hills I.d. Prescription mixed in for the past 6 months.
2. What do I do when/if the Atopica stops working? Another round of prednisone?
3. Can I put bag balm or something like that on the cracked Lorne’s of her mouth or on her anus if needed? Is it okay to put hydrocortisone on her cracked mouth corners?
THANK YOU!
Hello! Sorry for late response, been very busy lately.
First step would be to have her tested and verify it’s pemphigus you are dealing with. I’d highly recommend a dermatologist vet if you have one in your area or have your vet read up on Pemphigus.
What to feed is hard to answer if you don’t know what you are dealing with, is she doing okay on her food? If so I wouldn’t change right now unless you feel the food is causing problems then best to go with limited ingredient food.
I wouldn’t be concerned right now if the Atopica will stop working, cross that road with your vet if the time comes.
Again, if your vet recommends hydro I would keep using it but something like Aquaphor might help if its really dry.
Where are you located? What’s the status of your pup currently? Holding steady?
Dianna
When I got your response today, I was shocked that It had only been on November 27 when I wrote that my sweet Millie was doing well! She went down hill right after that. Yesterday, I made the painful decision to let Millie go. She was just not acting herself. The screaming when she pooped was back and she had avoided pooping for two days. I was having to pull her along on our walks. She stayed under my bed most of the time, She was getting more sores, they were on the inside flap of her ears, outside of her mouth, vulva, anus and I am sure in her rectum. Her little nose and cute feet were starting to blister and her tummy was pink and splotchy. I didn’t want to wait until they were all over her feet or inside of her mouth.
I carried her in the morning for a nice long walk and gave her a Happy Meal before we went to the vet. (She had not had anything but special dog food and a few pieces of apple in one and a half years! I told her she was going to feel so much better, have no more pain when she poops and no more dumb itchy, sore skin. She had her favorite Lambchop stuffed toy and I held her in my arms with her sweet little head on my shoulder, until the end. It broke my heart. She had a very short life but I spoiled her rotten and loved her more than anything. She was the smartest, sweetest and best little dog ever.
I can write this, fighting back tears but I cannot talk about it yet or I will cry my eyes out. (again) Thank you for having this blog and sharing your story. ❤
When I got your response today, I was shocked that It had only been on November 27 when I wrote that my sweet Millie was doing well! She went down hill right after that. Yesterday, I made the painful decision to let Millie go. She was just not acting herself. The screaming when she pooped was back and she had avoided pooping for two days. I was having to pull her along on our walks. She stayed under my bed most of the time, She was getting more sores, they were on the inside flap of her ears, outside of her mouth, vulva, anus and I am sure in her rectum. Her little nose and cute feet were starting to blister and her tummy was pink and splotchy. I didn’t want to wait until they were all over her feet or inside of her mouth.
I carried her in the morning for a nice long walk and gave her a Happy Meal before we went to the vet. (She had not had anything but special dog food and a few pieces of apple in one and a half years! I told her she was going to feel so much better, have no more pain when she poops and no more dumb itchy, sore skin. She had her favorite Lambchop stuffed toy and I held her in my arms with her sweet little head on my shoulder, until the end. It broke my heart. She had a very short life but I spoiled her rotten and loved her more than anything. She was the smartest, sweetest and best little dog ever.
I can write this, fighting back tears but I cannot talk about it yet or I will cry my eyes out. (again) Thank you for having this blog and sharing your story. ❤
Ohhh. I’m so sorry to hear that.
It’s the hardest decision to make but you did the right thing.
My heart is with you. 😦
Hope everyone is doing well. It’s been awhile since I have reached out. Sadie still doing well, keeping her disease manageable. However, a few weeks ago she got sores on her belly. First rashy, then blistery, one side is worse with black blisters that are crusty. It is like her skin blisters, then trys to heal, then gets black blisters. Part of the pemphigus foliceous, I know. She just turned 11 and has gained weight from prednisone. I understand thst may cause irritation on belly near thighs, from rubbing. I clean twice daily with betadine/water and put on topical antibiotc from vet. She is on 3mg prednisone daily. I am thinking it may have to do with food. We have her on totw dry food and give her raw carrots, apples, and homemade chicken jerky strips as treats. We had done homemade food but were missing out on vitamins and priobotics. Any suggestions regarding foods she can or cannot eat or tips on clearing up black blisters? Besides losing weight. Its been 2years since her diagnosis. She only now wants to walk and/or play more so we are grateful for her increased strength and desire to play again. So glad to have found you all. Comforting. Thank you. Holly, sadie’s mom.
We have what I am told, one of the youngest puppies ever to be diagnosed. She is now 14 weeks old but we rescued her at 8 weeks and noticed immediately that her nails did not seem normal. I hope someone here has some light to shed because it seems most on here have dogs that have pemphigus limited to skin issues. At first our vet thought she had SLO because she was losing her nails, but she was also losing pigmentation in her nose. The vet did biopsies of her nails, nose and tongue (as she had ulcerations on her tongue as well) and it came back as pemphigus. In the last week her pads have become ulcerated and are peeling off. Does anyone have any experience with dogs losing their nails and pads? We have her on prednisone, doxycycline, niacinamide and gabapentin (we switched from tramadol a few days ago since she continued to have pain even with increasing her dose). Any insight would help. Poor thing is miserable. She just lays around and doesn’t want to walk because of the pain.
Oh my. This sounds tough. How are you doing now? Sorry I’m so late in seeing this. We did have issues with Otis and his paws early on and we used wipes the vet prescribed and neosporin to keep them from drying out.
What type of pemphigus is it?
We got some bad news Wednesday from our vet. It turns out she doesn’t have pemphigus. She has a congenital disorder called epidermolysis bullosa and there is no treatment for it. It’s only a matter of controlling pain and minimizing secondary infections. What wipes did your vet give you? Maybe they may help us. Did you wrap or use socks after applying the neosporin?
My dog was miserable as well! Her paw pads were peeling off as well. It was an aweful experience for us both. We tried so many things but the ultimate answer was:
Doxycycline
Prednisone
Azathioprine (immunosuppressant)
Gabopentin (pain)
Tramadol (pain)
Don’t loose heart!! There is hope!!
My 9 year old Akita was diagnosed with pemphigus folicous in November 2016 was treated with steroids which got the symptoms under control but she wasn’t the same dog on these awful drugs. She had one problem after another with minor health problems that the steroids complicated weekly visits to the vets. She had every symptom of adrenal based Cushings then on Thursday she took a bad turn, she collapsed at home I rushed her to the vets within 30 minutes they got her on fluids and oxygen scanned her abdomen and chest for any bleeding as her gums and tongue were extremely pale and there was no bleeding. They admitted her to stay at the vets and within 15 minutes she died. The vets couldn’t tell me why only that maybe she’d had a blood clot on her lung a complication of this disease. I truly believe it was the steroids that killed her. I regret so much putting her on steroids I feel I let her down and so wish I had tried the holistic route. I knew this disease would shorten her life but not in 4 months I will never put any dog of mine on these drugs again. So if your dog gets this disease please think about all your treatment options and seriously consider the terrible side effects steroids can have on your dog. The vet didn’t give me any options but steroids I wish I had pushed for other options.
I’m so sorry, Allison, but please don’t have regrets about your treatment decisions. From what I’ve gone through treating my Lab, Tupelo, for pemphigus foliaceous I do not believe there is any way around the combination of steroids and immunosuppressants. The body has gone haywire in attacking its own skin, and the only way to stop that is to suppress the immune system, which takes powerful drugs. I too worried about prednisone’s side effects; my pup was on a very high dosage for a long time. He started at 60 mg daily and it was months before that was reduced. The tapering was so slow, and he took his last prednisone in September (he started in May). He had to continue the immunosuppressants for three more months, but he has been in remission since December. The prednisone made his liver swell and his hair fall out, and I worry about what might have happened during those months of no immunity, but I knew it was a necessary evil–truly necessary, I believe. People would talk to me about holistic methods, and my response was that we had to get him under control with the pharmaceuticals first because this disease is so powerful. From what I have learned from two specialists treating my boy, I do not think that steroids are responsible for taking your sweet girl. It’s a nasty disease, and we see what it does to their skin, so I imagine it must be capable of tearing apart internal organs, too. Again, I’m so terribly sorry for your devastating loss. You did everything you could for her.
Lisa
My 81/2 year old rat terrier was just diagnosed with pemphigus. It started in November..
One day whiskey was sensitive to touch lethargic and not eating.. we took him to the vet and they started to treat for lymes and a disc issue. All tests and blood work came back normal.. within 3 days of the doxy and rimadyl treatment he got immensely worse. He was shivering and had some lameness and stiffness in his gait. He also had a few red bumps around his eyes.. We took him to another vet for a second opinion. They got him on pred and thought maybe spinal and possibly meningitis .. all X-rays and blood work was normal..
On the pred he got better he was great! Every time we tried to lower the dose he would start to get worse again.. so he did so very very slowly.. finally mid feb we got him to 2.5 Ng one time a day and that’s when the skin issues came about. Pustules and sores in his inguinal area. The vet gave us cephalexin. No change so 5 days later when he was 10 times worse we took him back in.. they gave us simplicef and took a swab to send out for analysis. 5 days after that and he is covered in sores and missing so much hair on his body. He is swollen all over.. we got into the dermatologist who took one look at his cytology and thought pemphigus. We don’t have biopsy results back yet so we are increasing his prenisose to 5mg two times a day until we hear.
This has been a horrible 2 weeks watching my dog be eaten alive by a strange disease we knew nothing about.
Thank you for sharing your story. More people need to be aware of this disease. I am thinking of starting a blog about my whiskey as wellZ I know we have a long road ahead of us. I hope he can recover
My dog Sparky who is 11 years old was diagnosed with this disease last October. He was very sick at first. His paws were so bad he couldn’t hardly walk and he had a fever and was lethargic. Between my vet and I we found out what it was pretty quick and started him on Prednisone 20mg daily. He got better fairly quickly and now he only takes Prednisone 10mg every other day. He is doing really well and I am so blessed. i hope the best for Whiskey.
Hi Kandy. I’m based in the UK so thought I may be able to give a little help. My Labrador was diagnosed when she was only 8 months old but fortunately I think, from reading the sad stories on this blog, she was on the correct treatment in a short space of time. The initial cost was expensive, ie biopsy etc and she also had a hospital stay of 4 days which added over £900 to the bill …. Once diagnosed she was given a short course of antibiotics to treat a secondary infection of E-Coli along with steroids. She then remained on steroids only for a approximately 3 months – these are relatively cheap,ie under £20. She was then put onto Atopica and weaned off the steroids. She is now on 125mg of Atopica only which costs £200 a month. Luckily we are insured but I do believe you can purchase Atopica online much cheaper. Not sure if your vet has to write a prescription or whether you can just purchase yourself. I also give Lily a spoonful of coconut oil every morning and a fish oil capsule every evening. I read how both were great for the skin so I checked with vet and he said it was good idea. I was also very lucky to meet a woman who practices Animal Reiki. Wasn’t something I had knowledge of but I was willing to give anything a try and she worked with Lily for a couple of months – didn’t charge me anything and I still see her occasionally. Lily will be 2 next month and she has been symptom free for nearly a year. Vet is hoping to begin slowly weaning her off Atopica to see how she goes. I try to remain positive but understand she may never been able to fully come off medication but I live in hope.
I know each dog is different and you need to find the treatment that works for your dog so I can only state what it has cost me. I’m sure you are already aware, from reading other peoples messages, its a long road ahead and there will be times when you can’t see it getting any better but try to remain positive. Some people believe in the holistic route, which I have done myself but I think you need modern medicine alongside to get your doggy back on track. I hope all goes well and your little pooch starts to make a recovery.
Hi! Was trying to catch up since I am new to this disease. My foster Daisy was diagnosed a couple of months a go. My question is what food does your dog’s eat?
Thanks!
I’m in the Uk and my dog has always been fed on James Wellbeloved. Never had any issues and the only change I’ve made to her diet is adding a spoonful of coconut oil each morning and a fish oil capsule on an evening. I don’t feed her any cheap chews or dog treats – tending to opt for natural or vegetable type chews instead.
Hi, Sadie has been doing well since her dx a few years ok. She turned 11 in november. The last few weeks she seems to be going down hill. She always had arthtitis and had surgery on her leg due to torn ligament years ago. She seems to be in pain. Due to 5mg daily maintenance prednisone, I am afraid to give her rimadyl or baby aspirin. Is weaning or cutting back prednisone an option? She eats grainfreedry food, fruits, veggies and still wants to play. Just really slowed down all of a sudden. Thanks holly, saies mim
You could work with vet and try lowering steroid, just be aware of flares. You can get something like tramadol from your vet. We used it with Otis and that helped tremendously.
Thanks so much Diana. I will. Tramdol? Never tried that, will ask. Vet always prescribed Rimadyl and in early stages baby aspirin.
Thanks so much for this blog. I found it by googling pemphigus and the pictures of your dog’s ears are so similar to my dog’s ears. The vet has yet to diagnose her with pehmphigus, but I am convinced this is what she has. She is a 7 year old Jack Russell and I am so stressed worrying about her and trying to do what’s right. It is a huge relief to find others who have been in this same situation. Thank you so much for the informative material.
I appreciate this blog so much, it has helped me on my worst days. My beatiful girl Lucy was diagnosed less then two months ago. She is currently on steroids and awaiting possible remission. Thank you for documenting your journey. Knowing im not alone helps.
Any updates?
Sue, hi when my Sadie was in this stage of the disease, we were told to let th heal themselves. There will be bad scars as it is. we just dabbed with antiseptic using cotton balls tp deter further infection. She looked like one big open sore by the time we finally got a diagnosis. We put out clean blankets daily for her to lay on. She had over 20 circular scars where it took a years for hair to grow back. But it is almost 3 years and she is still in remission, her hair grew back and she is my beautiful baby, scars and all. God bless and good luck. Holly johnson, Saidie’s mom.
My Shih Tzu Teddy has just been diagnosed with Pemphigas and I feel like I am in hell. He has awful scabs in his ears and still has really bad scabs on his feet. The vet has him on Prednicare which was increased today (14/07/17) from 5mg twice a day to 10mg twice a day and changed his antibiobiotics from Rilexine to Noraclav. I also discovered he had lost weight going from 9kg to 8.4kg and I freaked. I love him so much and am in a great deal of pain right now.
I’m sorry to hear this, it’s so hard to see puppies hurting. Any updates?
He seems to have perked up quite a bit but I am struggling with the scabs on his body but especially the ones in his ears and on his head, is there anything that will loosen them? His poor ears are so sore and scaby. I’m bathing them daily with hibiscrub mixed a 1×10 with water. Those that do come off are taking the skin with them (ouch). X
We did daily bathing for awhile and it broke my heart every time so I had to stop, it didn’t really seem to help. I wouldn’t worry as much about getting them off as much as making sure they have good air circulation. What did your vet recommend?
My vet said to bath him 2-3 times a week in antibacterial shampoo with hibiscrub added to it and to keep bathing his ears in the hibiscrub. My problem is if I bath off the scabs on the inside of his ear flap by the next day they have scabbed over again so I’m getting nowhere fast. He is however a very good patient while I do it bless him. The scabs on his body are gradually flaking off and getting better daily. X
Do all the scabs have to be healed before the vet starts lowering the dose of Steroids? Teddy has a sore on the end of his willy and there is pus, have an appointment with vet on Thursday. He is on 20mg of Prednicare a day and I am concerned at him taking any more.
Hi Holly, thank you for replying. We finally got a positive vet appointment on Friday after so many negative ones that I always left crying. Vet was pleased with his progress and has left him on 20mg of Prednicare a day and a cream for his ears. I am pleased your Sadie is doing so well it’s heartwarming to hear she has been in remission for 3yrs. Teddy is only 5 so I hope he has quite a few yrs left in him yet. Teddy being a Shih Tzu is long coated so I cannot see his scabs I have to feel for them. I cannot wait until they start lowering his Steroids the side effects are horrible but I know I have to be patient. I just want my friend back to his old self again I miss him. Hope Sadie continues to improve thanks again. Sue! X
I am so grateful that I have found this site. May Otis rest in peace and his mother know that she has truly helped so many people through this blog.
I write the following words with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes. My 4 year old Australian Shepherd named Bella was just diagnosed with pemphigus on July 11, 2017. This is her story and I hope this will help a dog and his parent.
About a year ago, I noticed Bella had a dry nose and it had scabs that would not go away. I took her to her regular vet that told me she had allergies and prescribed Apoquel for the itching. I noticed that it was not going away but then got worried in April 2017 when she started getting scabs in her left eye as well. Her regular vet told me she might have mange and wanted to do a biopsy to be sure and prescribed prednisone. Not one word did she say that it could be a disease, if not, I would have done the biopsy in a second.
In order to help Bella, since she has a lot of hair, I mistakenly decided to shave her since summer was coming and we live in Florida. WHAT A HUGE and GRAVE MISTAKE! Within one week Bella started to get lesions in her skin and broke out in her back, her sides with lesions that smelled and were oozing. I was so much in despair at this point that I decided to take her to another vet, a holistic vet, another mistake I made. This holistic vet looked at her and told me just by looking at her that she might have Lupus, Addison’s disease or Cushings disease. She took blood work and said that the blood work and a biopsy would diagnose Cushings or Addison’s disease. This holistic vet told me to wait 2 weeks to let the herbs work and the shampoo. She prescribed herbs, gave her an anti-inflammatory shot and Maseeb shampoo. The shampoo made her worse, the sores spread, the herbs inflamed the situation. Within a week I found myself at a vet hospital because Bella had a fever and her condition worsened.
At the vet hospital, I found myself with a 3rd opinion. As soon as the vet saw Bella, she told me she was not going to diagnose her without blood work and a biopsy of her nose and her skin. I respect this vet . She read the blood results I brought with me and told me, your dog does not have Addison’s disease, nor Cushings disease. How can 2 vets read blood results and have 2 different diagnosis? She sent her home with antibiotics cefpodoxine since Bella had a fever and wanted her on it for 21 days since Bella had open sores. The next day, she did biopsy on her nose and her body and I had to wait 10 miserable days for the diagnosis.
On July 11 2017, the vet called to give me the grave diagnosis of the rare disease of Pempigus. My heart dropped. I started to search the internet and found this site and so much information. Bella is on prednisone and continues to be on the antibiotics – cefpodoxine. The vet wants to put her on the chemo drug azatrophine, but I don’t know if I can bring myself to give this drug to my dog especially with all the side effects.
I would like to share what I have learned and what is so far working on Bella.
I took Bella off of all foods with wheat and grain and CHCIKEN. Chicken brings heat to the skin! Wheat and grain is not good to eat for anyone one who has autoimmune diseases. I found a fantastic nose balm at chewy by the name My dog’s nose which makes her nose moist and helps her from the rays the sun.
I will never shave Bella again, her hair protects her from the sun and from allergens. . The sun causes flare sups to the skin with dogs that have this condition. I put t-shirts on her to go out to the back yard and bring her indoors within seconds when she finishes doing her business outside. I also bathe her every 3 days with Veterinary Formula shampoo hot spot and itch relief medicated shampoo which I bought at Pet Smart. I do not comb her spots since I have found that it spreads the sores!
I give her vitamins for her autoimmune disease. I give her Omega 3, 6,9 and give her 10 billion probiotics which helps her gut. The autoimmune disease affects her gut, the probiotics prevents her from having diarrhea, and gas. I also have her on vitamin D and C and just started her on glucosamine for her bones since prednisone affects the bones.
I found that people have pemphigus too. There is a foundation for pemphigus, however it is not for dogs, just people.
Even though this is breaking my heart in writing all this. I needed to share this and hopefully it can help someone’s dog. I am also a prayer warrior. I believe in prayer. I f Jesus healed leprosy, he can cure pemphigus. Jesus is my only hope for Bella and for all your dogs suffering from this vicious disease. I am a prayer warrior, I will pray for all your sorrow and all our dogs and pray for a miracle. Thank you. I will post again. Thank you Otis and his mom for this wonderful blog!
Blessings,
Ileana
Hello to everyone. I just wanted to give an update on Bella. She has been on prednisone for 6 weeks. Her lesions have improved and her hair has grown back. She has gained alot of weight. The side effects of prednisone has also made her anxious and she has not slept well at night. My vet recommended melatonin and it has helped her greatly. She is taking 6mg since she almost weighs 70lbs. But she is able to sleep in peace and she is not rubbing her nose or her skin since she is finally sleeping at night. I just wanted to share this with those of you going through this terrible disease with your dogs. Thank you for sharing the progress of your dogs.
Good to hear!
Hello to everyone on this site and Dianna, thank you so much for this blog. I wanted to share some information for all those visiting this site. I have a friend who knows 2 vets from Mexico. The vets have informed me that not only do dogs and cats get Pemphigus, they have a case in Mexico of a LION with Pemphigus! The Lion has lived 7 years with Pemphigus! They have kept him in remission. They have him in a covered area so the sun won’t trigger his pemphigus. He wears a T-shirt to protect his coat and the most important thing they told me was to keep the lesions moist with water ===cool water, not cold. So they spray him with cool water every 2-3 hours with a spray mist bottle and it keeps the lesions at bay. I tried that with my dog Bella, and the lesions are almost gone. She has like 3 small lesions left. They get very dry and smelly. Her skin turns read and I have been spraying them and it cools her skin.. I also have noted stress and the sun triggers the lesions. So I put a t shirt on her to go and do her business outside and bring her in fast and try my best to keep her calm. The door bell stresses her out, fireworks, and people. Pemphigus is not just a physical disease, I also think it affects the dogs emotionally. I know some of you know what I am talking about.
Bella is now on 1/2 dose of prednisone, and still on her cepodoxine antibiotics. She has been on 20mg of prednisone since July 2, 2017 and on antibiotics since the end of May 2017. She is still taking Omega 3, 6, 9 and vitamin C and D and probiotics. . Her hairs have grown back almost at 90%. It has been a long summer, but God has answered my prayers and has helped her get well. I hope by me sharing this with all of you, it will help alleviate the pain and the lesions of your doggies. My prayers are with you all. Blessings!
Update on Bella. Hello to everyone. We survived the hurricane in Florida. It was wicked and unbelievable. We were 3 days without power and that was very hard on Bella. After progressing with her disease, she had a set back due to the heat, the stress and being without air conditioning. Her lesions returned, I had to put her back on prednisone, and she is finally getting better. I found a great spray that has cortisone which is called Genta that is prescribed by the vet. I spray it on her lesions, and it is extremely helpful. I have noticed the difference within a day or two. Bella’s only problem is that some days she has pain, she complains when she lays down. I have called the vet to see what she recommends. She still takes vitamin E, C, Omega 3, 6 and 9. She is still on antibiotics since May 2017. She is on 1/2 pill of prednisone every day and hopefully with the cool weather in Florida, (50 degrees at night), her condition can improve. I hope all the other doggies are doing well. Blessings to all.
Glad you guys are safe!
Hopefully she continues to feel better. 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your story.
We are at the beginning, our vet said she is pretty sure it’s Pemphigus however biopsy came back inconclusive-suggestive factors but not enough to diagnose.
We are trying to treat as a deep infection and see if that helps any, if not will redo biopsy and hope for definite answers of some sort.
It is very hard to find hopeful stories but your story of Otis has lifted my spirits.
You are a great person and I hope I can be as strong as you in our fight.
Keep us posted. I hope you get answers soon.
Hi. My 7 yr old German Shepherd mix, Kylie, was diagnosed with pemphigus foliaceus in mid- Sept after her paw pads scaled off. The disease also affects her gums, soft tissues of her mouth, and tongue. So after one month of antibiotics, prednisone, and cyclosporine, her lesions were healing well but I felt like I had lost my girl. Her personality was gone, her only priority was eating. The cyclosporine also upsets her stomach. So with vet oversight, I tapered her off the prednisone and decreased the amount of cyclosporine. Getting her off the prednisone really helped her energy level and started to bring her personality back. But then she seemed to feel sick every other day because of the cyclosporine (which she was taking every other evening.) So I wanted to try taking her off that too. She felt great for about a week. Then she started having some random symptoms that don’t seem related to pemphigus, like gas, occasional loose stool, really bad breath, and generally not feeling well. I’ve been giving her probiotics that are not helping. And today (having been off everything now 2 weeks) I noticed her mouth Is starting to look raw again. 😔 Is she really going to have to stay on the immunosuppressive cyclosporine constantly the rest of her life? I was hoping I’d be able to treat flares as they occur, rather than keeping her drugged and not feeling like herself. Is it ever possible to have my dog back to feeling happy and healthy? It seems like I have to choose one or the other. Really, I’m heartbroken.
Sorry to hear about your struggle.
You can get to the point of treating flares but you have to get a solid time of supression. Have you tried a different steroid?
Hi, my dog Bella could mot tske cyclosporine. It gave her gas and upset stomaach. The vet switched it to cefpodoxine 200 mg. She has been o this since June 2017!. She is still on prednisone. Her lesions on her body and private part still come and go. I started giving her IP6, it is a supplement they are giving cancer patients with immune problems. She has only been on it it for 2 weeks. If I have to five my dog chemo pills, I know she will suffer. I wish you the best for Kylie. My dog in heaven is Kylie. This is not a coincidence we share here. Blessings.
We have been battling pemphigus with our boy James for 16months now. In that time we have had maybe a week of no itching, scratching, cone of shame or constant wimpering. We have thrown everything that we can at it, but sadly I fear we have lost the battle. We can’t get him to remission stage. The medications are taking a huge toll on his little body. His coat is basically gone from the azathioprine, his legs are just crusty sticks, his ears a mess, and his oh so cute bushy tail for a chihuahua is nothing more than a thin crust. We are heartbroken that we cant help him, so we are sending James to The Rainbow Bridge. My heart is shattered. I hate this illness, it has robbed my James and us of so much. Thank you for sharing your story.
I’m sorry to hear this. 😦
I know your heart is in much pain but you’ve done everything you could to help and sometimes letting them go is the kindest thing.
You’re a wonderful person to give him such a good life and every chance to live.
I’m so so sorry. I understand your pain. My lab had pamphagus. He did go into remission. We are in the UK and saw a specialist vet who prescribed steroids and Imuran. We were free for 2 years but then another outbreak – very mills. Sadly he died probably of heart failure at home on Christmas Eve. Not sure if due to meds or not. Have you tried steroids combined with imuran and are you in uk?
You and only you know your dog well enough to decide when he’s had enough. So heart breaking – feel for you all. Do speak to your vet though about imuran – but please ask about the risks of those meds
I lost my dog a couple of years ago but I still get a email whenever someone posts to this blog. I still read the stories and I still have tears in my eyes when I hear what people go through with this. This is a hard disease. What I learned from it is only my point of view but know that I feel for all who are going through this and wish you the best outcome!
Bella update. Hi, i wanted to share Bella`s progress. I switched her antibiotic to clindamycin 150 mg which I foind by accident since I had a rash on my body and within hours, the itching stopped for me. I wish my vet would have put her on this instead of cefpodoxine. She was on cefpodoxine since June 2017 and to no significant improvement. I feel like these vets are wasting my money and not providing me with any significant medications. At least with the clindamycin i finallysee her lesions drying up. She is still on prednisone 20mg, vitamin C, and E and omega 3,6 and 9. I thought with winter her lesions would be better. I was wrong. I pray the clindamycin will continue to give her rest. She is sleeping better at night and finally not sratching her nose. Her lesions on her nose, body, belly and private part has improved in 4 days.
For those of you struggling , clindamycin has helped the lesions in 4 days. It is not a cure, but at least it is comforting her body until God says give her back to me. I am praying for all the dogs with pemphigus and their parents. May God have mercy on us all.
My 10 year old Italian Greyhound has been battling Pemphigus since January with no remission in sight. Currently on high dose steroids, herbal tablet to help liver function, and a chemo drug. My girl only goes about 7 days without breaking out. We also tried Atpoica that did nothing. Dermatologist said my dog not only battling pemphigus but vasculitis also. Guess the 2 together are very rare and no studies done on the combination. They are saying this chemo drug was our last hope. My dogs attitude is normal except for a day prior to breaking out. She has lost 60% of her hair and doubled her body weight thanks to the steroids. Today we broke out again after about 5 days. Looking for ideas and how long did it take for others dogs to reach remission?
Hi, i am giving an update on Bella. Next month it will be 1 year of pemphigus. I would love to share Bella’s improvement of her lesions that I found by accident. Not by any vet. It is a natural soap you can get at amazon. Natural black african soap. It comes in brown bar, and i wash her lesions everday. They went from severe to small in 1 month. The smell is gone, she looks healthy. I also put her on dinovite supplement, omega 3,6,9 vitamin d, vitamin e, 1/2 dose of prenisone. She takes antibiotic still after a year. Her nose is my only problem. She has gained alot of weight, but I recommend the natural black african soap!! . Wash all the lesions everyday, it is fantastic. I pray for you all.
So happy for Bella. In response to Dawn, my Sadie has been in remission for over 2 years. It was a long battle. We put her on a grain free diet, vitamins, lots of fresh veggies. She is now on 2.5mg prednisone daily maintenance. She is now 12 1/2 years old. She is doing awesome for her age. Pls don’t give up. This blog was our lifeline. It kept me going when I thought all was lost. Also no more vaccines!!! They are what caused her illness. Read up on info. Dr karen Becker is a great vet, she has website and facebook page. Holistic info is useful to add to necessary medications to get her disease under control.
So glad to hear about Sadie. Kurejiko was Dx with mast cell cancer and removed 12/1/17. Jan 2018 she came down with pneumonia. While battling the pneumonia with fever is when she started breaking out. Vet thought it was due to fever. Dermatologist of 35 years at MI State University biopsied and was diagnosed with drug mediated pemphigus with vasculitis. X ray showed clear lungs at this point so all remaining drugs stopped and prednisone started. As I stated earlier my poor girl seems to be getting worse with increased steroids and strong secondary adjunct drugs. Dermatologist did a second set of biopsies which showed a worsening of vasculitis and less pemphigus. Decision was made to stop all adjunct meds and keep steroids for time being. Now we are slowly decreasing steroids due to liver function tests being off and Kurejiko showing improvement with less drugs. Today we are at 10mg prednisone daily down from 15mg daily just 10 days ago. Kurejiko had 1 breakout of 1 pemphigus pustule 9 days ago. 99% of scabs are gone and skin all healed. Just waiting on new hair growth. Every 2 weeks steroids will be decreased till Kurejiko is off all medications. Dermatologist feels the cancer upset her immune system which is making her react to every drug she has been given since the tumor removal. Hopefully I can say Kurejiko is in remission one day but for now we are happy each day passes without major out breaks.
I use my own home made raw goats milk soap with lavender to help with crusted itching spots. When her skin was broke out I cleaned every spot with Tea Tree Oil as a preventative from infection. Also bought an over the counter antifugal/antibacterial dog shampoo for those bad out breaks. Dermatologist said it was the best without having a prescription. Kurejiko has never been on a antibiotic for secondary infections. Glad you found a soap that helps your dog also. Best of luck to you and your Bella.
Dawn, I’m so terribly sorry to read this about your girl and her continued distress. My Labrador was diagnosed with pemphigus two years ago almost to the date, and he achieved remission within a few months. My understanding is that vasculitis is much easier to treat (a friend of a friend got her dog through it with nothing more than cleaning the sores with witch hazel), but I have never heard either about a dog suffering from both simultaneously. By any chance are you in the Northeast? My boy was treated by the excellent Dr. Klaus Loft at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Loft is well known here and in Europe for his prominence in animal dermatology; if you’re anywhere within driving distance it would be worthwhile to get to him. I have seen license plates from distant states in their parking lot because the hospital has such a great reputation for helping animals who couldn’t be helped elsewhere. The North Carolina State University veterinary dermatology department also has a fantastic reputation. I wish you the best of luck with your sweet girl!
Lisa & Tupelo
So glad your lab is in remission. I live in MI and our MI State University Vet school is excellent. Dermatologist that treats my girl has been practicing for over 35 years and teaches at MSU. Thank you for other options if necessary but Kureji is getting better by removing her prescribed medications. It started with a drug reaction and she continued to react to each medication that were supposed to help pemphigus and vasculitis. Not the norm but neither is having pemphigus and vasculitis simultaneously. Currently Kureji is only on prednisone and reducing about every 2 weeks. No out breaks in almost 3 weeks now. Doesn’t seem very long but she was breaking out every 7 days for 3 months straight. Keeping our fingers crossed the our girl continues on her positive path with healing.
Update on Kurejiko. We had to put her down May 23. The high dose of steroids, damaged her liver, and kidneys, pancreatitis, insulin refactory diabetes, cataracts, and uti. After 2 days in ICU on insulin pump, iv fluids, antibiotics, and pain meds her health still declined. It all happened like a switch went off in her. Was very heart breaking to see her fight for 5 months just to lose her. Thank you to everyone who reached out for suggestions.
Dawn
Dawn, i am so sorry to hear about Kuejiko. There are no words. Only to know we will all meet again. Love Holly and Sadie
My Bella. It is with a heavy heart and brokenness that i write that Bella had to be put to rest on July 4, 2018. The lesions went awayy on the outside, however it ate her up inside the last month of her life. She became lame, bloated, so weak and sick. And as she always did,she smiled as i gave her back to Jesus. She finally got to sleep and be at peace, no more itching, panting, crawling, no more evil pemphigus.
Thank you for sharing with me all these months. Bella was only 5 years old. I was blessed to have her these last 14 months I pray for a cure for all dogs and people. I am sorry I let her suffer because pemphigus eats the inside and then it exposes on the outside.The medications dont work, dont let your dog suffer and make the mistake I made. Blessings.peace…….
So I guess we join this club unhappily. Yesterday we got the news that Mozart (10 yo Lhasa shih tzu mix) was dx’d with pemphigus. We don’t know which type but most likely folliaceus. We really thought it was post grooming folliculitis but no so. We are lucky to have a specialty hospital near by and saw A wonderful dermatologist vet quickly. The vet and nurses have been amazing but we have just started and know this will not be easy for us or our sweetie! Started on Prednisone and mycophenolate today. Also on gabapentin. We know the side effects to be expected and although I’m A nurse and my husband’s A doc we’re not vets! Any advice on low cal treats, food, etc? And any sense to try to restrict water intake? Any thoughts very welcome. Can’t tell you how many people we know with autoimmune diseases but this is A whole new area. Thanks for any help. Nancy
Nancy and to all the pempigus moms and dads. Pemphigus is like an octopus. It is a lesion and it starts to grow and grow inside different parts of the body. It consumes the tissues, the cells, the muscles,. and then the bones and organs. I dealt with pemphigus with my 5 year old Austrslian Sheperd Bella. She died 7/4/18 after 14 months. You can read all I tried in this great blog. I tried so many things, Everything except cancer pills. There is no cure. Your dog will become an experiment. The vets took my money and my tears and pemphigus killed Bella. She became lame in the end. No one warned me of that. The best you can do is love them every second you have left, be bold and love them enough to understand your dog cannot beat this. The medications have terrible side effects. Bella started limping in May. I became blind and stupid and selfish to not see she was suffering. I gave her garapaten to cover her pain. But Pemphigus is an octopus and it will consume your dog to death. There is no dog that overcomes it, not 1. It is a fatal, wicked disease. I am sorry Nancy and all who come here for advice. This blog is great and i appreciate that we can share our stories . I miss my Bella, combing her, washing her lesions everday feeding her, looking into her eyes, seeing her smile and then seeing her die in my arms. May all our dogs rest in peace, and may God have mercy on us all.
I agree. This disease is terrible. Its been almost 2 years now since i lost my dear Sammy. I still cry a lot, and miss him every single day. He lived about 3.5 years after first diagnosis (11 years total), much longer than he was expected. But it took a LOT of money, time and dedication. As soon as the it seems like the drugs are actually really working, their side effects start kicking in, so it’s a never-ending cycle unfortunately.
My boy also started limping at the end,vets never did figure out why, but probably due to the prednisone, cushing’s disease and it’s effect on the brain/nervous system. By the end, he couldn’t walk at all.
My beautiful boy went from
https://ibb.co/hKaSMK
To
https://ibb.co/nx8Q8z
And
https://ibb.co/krWOve
To finally
https://ibb.co/mor1gK
Pretty much unrecognizable at the end. RIP buddy, i hope one day they find a cure for this horrible disease.
Hi Nancy, so sorry you find yourself in this situation and have to be here. My Shih Tzu Teddy was diagnosed with Pemphigus Foliceous last June and was put on Steroids these made him put on a lot of weight and always hunting for food. His ears were the worst and are still not perfect. Steroids did not work for him so was weaned off and put on Atopica. In January I warned him off that and he has been medication free for 6mths. There is light at the end of this very dark tunnel hang in there! XX
Hi Nancy,
I truly hope your baby is better now.
Any advice you like to share with somebody who’s dog has only been diagnosed?
Hello there,
I know it’s been few years since your last post but I just wanted to let you know your story really touched me. The love that you have for your babies it’s amazing and inspiring.
My boy was diagnosed with pamphigus about week and half. It’s been hardest time of my life. My boy means world to me and I’m so scared. I feel
Lost, alone and misunderstood as most people don’t understand my love and worry. Otis’s story gave me hope, I want to help my boy fight this!
Thank you for sharing xx
I appreciate your kind words, let me know if there are any questions I can answer. I know this can be a tough road.