Well, just got back from our "weekly" vet's visit. Good news and bad news. Good news is that the T4 results are in the normal range at 34 after 4 weeks on thyroxine. YAY!!! Hopefully this will help boost Zoom's extremely compromised immune system. Zoomy has certainly been more energized and happy again in the past week so I had expected a good outcome with regard the thyroid.
What had been worrying me is that while the skin on her back is healing her chin is red raw and she has a couple of red-raw patches on her feet. So we did a skin scraping as well as her bloods, and guess what, my 3 year old (nearly 4) dog has demodex caused by an infestation of demodectic mites!!! Arrggghhh... what more can happen??? Obviously her immune system was so compromised that she couldn't counteract the mites that commonly live on dogs in small numbers. Usually localised demodex is seen on puppies, but as I found out today it is also reasonably common for dogs with low thyroid function to succumb to demodectic infestations. Of course if her demodex becomes further generalized it will be very frustrating to treat and uncomfortable for Zoomy especially with both the lupus and hypo-thyroidism and the related medications. So, the vet is trying to "nip it in the bud". This translates to an initial treatment cycle of 8 weeks of 1ml of ivermectin per day (she is between 15 & 16kg in weight). She needs to have two "clear" skin scrapings at the end of this cycle for it to be considered under control.
I'm extremely nervous about this treatment having been exposed to many years of warnings against ivermectin use in shelties and collies (intolerance due to mutation in the multi-drug resistance gene (MDR1) that is apparent in as many as 75% of collies). I'm working from home for the next day or two to watch for any adverse reaction to the ivermectin. In all honesty I would have been more comfortable if we'd tested Zoom for the mutant gene prior to commencing the treatment, but... well... fingers crossed.
In addition, she also has another 2 weeks of Cephalexin antibiotic to ensure that the Staphylococci infection is completely gone and to ensure the demodectic mange doesn't become infected.
For more info on demodex:
http://www.sniksnak.com/doghealth/demodecticmange.html
http://www.geocities.com/schlosser44/Demodex.html
For an article on treatments of Canine Genereralised Demodicosis (CGD):
http://www.all-creatures-vet.com/demodex.html
The Merck Veterinary Manual excerpt:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/72005.htm
For info on multidrug sensitivity in Shelties and Collies
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-VCPL/
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
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2 comments:
I don't understand why you had the chance to ask your vet to have your dog tested for sensitivity to Ivermectin and chose not to insist.
8weeks @ 1cc Ivermectin a day is very aggressive. Your dog may be overdosed with this treatment schedule. Hopefully, your vet told you to watch for signs of toxic overdose during the entire treatment time. These symptoms may not display right away. Sleeping more than usual, drooling and tremors.
Hi thanks for your comment. The sensitivity to ivermectin and the prevalence of the mutant gene are not highlighted in Border Collies as a breed. Neither the vet nor the testing lab, genetic technologies, have the BC as recommended for this DNA testing. My vet did not even present it as an option at the time. I'm "probably" oversensitive to the problem and more aware of it due to having shelties. The lab would take 10-15 days to return a result and in that time her infestation could be much worse. So yes, I am watching her very closely for any signs of a toxic overdose. I have also commenced her dosing at a much lower level than the 1ml, with the intent of increasing it slowly over the coming week. Thanks for voicing your concerns.
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