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My dog might have Lupus...

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Posted 11/18/2009 2:07 PM (GMT 0)
So I have a 11 year old German Shepard who has been having a lot of joint pain and stiffness along with Chronic ear infections and many other issues. We took him to the vet yesterday to have him sedated so they could look into his ear to see why his ear will not get better with the antibiotics he has been on. They ran some tests on him and they came back suspicious of an AI disease. When we went to pick him up yesterday evening, the vet told us he had an AI disease and they are pretty sure he has lupus but the results will not be in for about a month. OMG...MY DOG HAS LUPUS! How can this happen? As of now he is on another antibiotic for his ear and they have him taking 20mg of pred 2x's a day. Well, i woke up this mornign and Jack was running around like a puppy again, jumping up on me, and in general you could tell he felt so much better. Gotta love prednisone. HAHA!


I have researced this a little bit and apparently German Shepards a prone to develop Lupus. I had no idea animals could even have it. Depending on the results the vet mentioned starting him on immunosuppresents. Wow, so my dog will be on the same meds as me. HAHA. Well I wanted to vent a little and I was wandering if anyone else has had similuar experiences???
Posted 11/18/2009 3:54 PM (GMT 0)
Amy, my old rescue dog, Sister, who was part border collie, developed a sore in her nose that wouldn't heal. After two negative biopsies, we took her to the OSU vet school where she was diagnosed with lupus. We gave her prednisone and another pill which I don't remember for a while. Unfortunately, she prednisone made the sweet gentle dog angry and she would lash out at our prima donna dachshund who had been her best friend. Her nose healed and we eventually took her off the meds. She lived another 8 years or so.
Posted 11/19/2009 2:12 AM (GMT 0)
I don't have a dog any longer, nor have I ever had one with lupus...but, years ago I had a Boston Terrier, whom I loved dearly that had grand mal seizures..I as well have epilepsy (grand mal), and found like amusing in a weird sort of way. Sort of similar story. I never knew about dogs having seizures, nor until now did I have any clue that a dog could have lupus. Wow! You learn something new everyday.
Posted 11/19/2009 8:12 PM (GMT 0)
One of my sons had a border collie and she died rather suddenly after developing an AI disease.  The vet did not specify lupus but did say it was an AI disease.  It was very shocking because she was only 8 and a very healthy and active dog.  The vet said it was fairly common.

Bill

Posted 11/19/2009 11:36 PM (GMT 0)
Amy, I am so sorry to hear about your dog. You know, now that you mention it I remember the nurse to my kidney doc was telling me (several years ago) that her Dalmation had lupus, I had never heard of that before. I hope the meds work well for him. Take care (((hugs)))
Posted 11/20/2009 12:30 AM (GMT 0)
Its so sad to me because it means he probably has been suffering for a little while and we had no idea except for the chronic ear and join pain. he is responding so well to the prednisone. The only bad thing is it affects his bladder so any time he walks or moves, he dribbles! But things are looking to be in the up for him!!!
Posted 11/20/2009 5:55 AM (GMT 0)
Amy, I'm happy to hear that your pup is responding to the prednisone and feeling better.
Posted 11/20/2009 2:44 PM (GMT 0)
wow--I didn't realize that dogs could get lupus either!  But, actually, when you think about it, the word lupus comes from L. Lupus, the wolf.  Ironic, huh?

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