Dermatomyositis- not a sheltie

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Dillydoodle

Forums Novice
Hello.. I just joined this forum in hopes i might get some answers from this friendly community. I do not have a sheltie (though they ARE adorable!) I have two Pembroke Welsh corgis. One of my boys is a show dog drop out due to what his previous owner thought was pemphigus. When I got him, he was on a cocktail of heavy duty steriods and Immuran and nothing was working. I took him to am dermatologist/allergy specialist vet and he was diagnosed with Dermatomyosits ( something NOT common in corgis). This was 3 yrs ago. We immediately got him off the bad drugs that had , by that time reduced his liver function to about 20% . He was put on denosyl , milk thistle and then ursodiol to help try and "fix" his liver. After 6 months, countless tears and thousands of dollars in drugs, testing and very regular vet visits, his liver became healthy and he now has 100% normal liver function. He was also on clavamoxx for about 2 months straight to fight all the secondary infections from his open wounds around his mouth and muzzle. While he was going through all that, he was also put on Trental.

Trental has made all the difference for him. His skin cleared up, the hair grew back on most of his face. He does still have small dark patches on his face that the hair never grew back ( too much scarring). He has been on trental now constantly for 3 yrs with no negative effects. HOWEVER, I am at a new place that i never thought i would be... i cannot get trental. they were on back order, so i called every pharmacy within a 150 mile radius to find trental on the shelves. I managed to get all the bottles i could driving well over 100 miles to get it. Now i am on my last bottle and the drug company is still bumping their release date out another month .. I am in a panic.. this drug has been his life line.

I came here in hopes that others had some ideas about how to treat this condition without the use of trental . Currently i have "scored" some generic trental (pentoxifylline). I was told that we should never use the generic only the name brand but i am desperate. Now i have learned that they are getting low on the generic and it is on back order...

Gus is on super premium food, gets organic yogurt in his food along with pumpkin and a spoon full of canned food. He takes daily suppliments to his diet of salmon oil, cranberry capsule to prevent the UTI's he used to have frequently when he was so sick, and glucosamine chondroitin. I also give him 4 ounces of water mixed with 1 ounce of acai/blueberry juice every morning. He is walked twice a day, total of 3 miles... and he is in great health now..

I thank you in advance for reading and hope that if anyone has info or ideas , i am all ears. I have been reading about this condition for 3 yrs now and hope that someone might have a newer study ( the only one i found is an older texas A& M study.

Emilie
and the corgwn!
 
SheltieChe said:
Central IL sheltie rescue has a page related to DM with info of 2 people who are most knowledgable in DM, I believe they are both in Texas. Sherry Lindsey and Dr Rees are great info source on the problem and possibly to see if there any other sources of trental you can find.
http://www.illinoissheltierescue.com/dm.html
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Great info on DM. I don't have this problem, but it is sure great to have the knowledge to reach out for help.
 
Our sheltie, Sara, has DM also. I was able to get pentoxifylline from CVS. They also had it at Walmart, and Drugstore.com claim they have it. However, the CVS people told me that supplies are getting low. As we just started Sara on this,I'm very concerned. My dermatologist told me he hadn't experienced any difference between the Generic and Trental, however, I've read the studies that claim that Trental is more effective. He also said that certain drugstores will compound the drug for you. There again, it may be expensive. Sara had a similar problem to your corgi in that she has vacular liver disease. She is also on Denosyl and Marin for that, so I'm hoping the pentoxifylline doesn't harm her liver.
 
I am sorry to have no advice or stories to offer here. Bless you for putting yourself through SO much for your pooch. It is one thing to say you would do it, but another to have actually done it. I am sure I would for my dogs, but haven't had the experience of all that. I wish you the best with your herding dogs and hope you can find something that works.

Oh, and you should get a Sheltie. Just saying...



OR... at least post some pictures. My Shelties love Corgis. I think they recognize fellow herders.
 
We had DM in our lines when we bred out. We had kept a beautiful sable & white bitch (Abby) to show (and potentially breed), when t showed up on her face. The whole side of her left face was covered (or, rather, uncovered). Our vet diagnosed DM, and we spayed & placed her, where her new owner (who had another Sheltie), took her to Michigan State, got the right combo of drugs, and it cleared up.

The only problem with DM is that it doesn't always show-it can be a very small patch, that never has a problem again...I don't think Luke has it (only shares 1 line with Abby, but is mostly unrelated.)
 
Thank you all for your replies! The link to Shalane ( found on the IL rescue site) is actually the one that i had initially found in my searching that was filled with great info.

The minute we had a dx of dermatomyositis, i made sure to contact the breeder who has been breeding for show for 30+ yrs - the dog suspected of being a carrier was not one of hers.. it was a stud she used for his litter...incidentally , one of his other littermates has it as well... but at a much lesser degree.

Here is my sweet Gus ( this is him healthy and happy on his daily dose of trental.. he gets a half of a 400mg tablet in the morning, a half at lunch time with some food and a half at dinner time.)

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So you can see how far we have come, this is how he looked when he was so sick - before we started the trental.

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It pains me to see him look that way... and i pray i can get more of the trental somewhere.. i just hope the manufacturer is not discontinuing the drug and not being honest and forward about it.

Oh and I did some calling around and found a few compounding pharmacies ( one in CT local to me, one in TX that will compound the generic drug and both are costing about the same or more than name brand trental ( about $140-150 per 100 pills -400 mg) and one CVS has the generic for $61 and i grabbed that , but i have a feeling i will be calling all the pharmacies again to see if i can get the generic and just stock up and hope it works for my dog.

I also contacted a human doctor who i respect and asked him to help me find any last stashes of Trental anywhere...

Also , any of those with dog that have it, have you noticed a corrolation between loose poop and a new outbreak? I have noticed a trend...

Hugs to everyone who has to deal with this.. it is so treatable, as long as the drug is still available, but emotionally it can be hard to hear the comments " ohhh, what HAPPENED to his FACE?!?!?" or "did he get burned?" Since his hair has come back in mostly, people don't comment as much... but it was hard to see people shy away from petting him ... :( he is so sweet...

Emilie
 
The same thing happens with Sara. She's our most friendly sheltie, and when she goes up to people, they totally ignore her or ask what's wrong with her. We no longer use her for a therapy dog because of that, and she is so sad when she needs to stay home. Our Human doctor claims they are no longer going to make Trental, but the druggist wasn't sure. That would be terrible for our pets.
 
calicoquette said:
The same thing happens with Sara. She's our most friendly sheltie, and when she goes up to people, they totally ignore her or ask what's wrong with her. We no longer use her for a therapy dog because of that, and she is so sad when she needs to stay home. Our Human doctor claims they are no longer going to make Trental, but the druggist wasn't sure. That would be terrible for our pets.
Click to expand...

Really? I think it would make her a better therapy dog. Especially with children, who have a disfiguring ailment.
I remember reading about a 3 legged therapy dog. He helps injured people from the military. It makes them feel better seeing how happy he is despite only having 3 legs.
 
I think it is so sad that Sara doesn't get to do therapy anymore.. I also would have thought that it would be a great way to educate people. It used to make me cry when people would look at Gus with disgust...then i realized that they were the ones missing out on the most amazing little guy!

I explain Gus' condition to anyone who asks.. before when he was so sick , and he had open wounds all over, it was really hard for people to want to pet him... he looked like it hurt... but now , people often ask about his freckle face. I tell them about his condition.

gus is very mellow and sweet and very unassuming. Everyone who has met him agrees that there is something so very special about him... a sweetness... he really is my heart dog!

I managed to get my hands on the generic and starting tomorrow, Gus will be getting that . I pray that it works...

The Trental manufacturer tells me it has a release day mid july... but i dont believe them. I have asked them outright if they are discontinuing the product and they tell me no... but again, i am not really believing them... there is something wierd going on ... I really pray they do not discontinue this med... it has been a miracle for Gus.

No one has used any alternative methods for this condition that do not involve steriods or worse, Immuran? I am all ears!

Emilie
 
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