I know absolutely NOTHING about vasculitis, but I did find this on another forum....found it interesting....do not know if it is accurate, but perhaps some information you can use...this is from a different breed site....~~
"Your description sounds pretty typical of either Ear Margin Seborrhea (common in the breed) or Vasculitis, which as you've correctly stated one frequent culprit in weens (weenie dogs) is recent vaccination (esp rabies) although it can be triggered by many other things. Always a good idea to rule out mites and fungal infections for completeness sake... Is she itchy anywhere? Any other skin / lip / pad problems?
Your vet should have good suggestions for treatment, which often includes:
•an anti-seborrheic shampoo to remove the crusts
•+/- topicals to keep the skin supple (a lot of people swear by BagBalm!)
•+/- supplements such as essential fatty acids (fish oil is great)
•+/- supplements/meds to improve blood flow (niacin, pentoxifylline, etc)
•+/- meds if has an immune-mediated component (doxycycline, pred, etc)
For cases where recent vaccination (typically within past 2-3 weeks) is suspected as the trigger:
•Try to minimize future vaccinations (only vaccinate for diseases that the particular dog is at risk for - ie no lepto if not in your area, etc, and use titer testing to extend the intervals between vaccinations... for rabies, you can try to get permission from your local authorities on using titers but this is sometimes difficult due to legal/human implications).
•Give vaccines separately (ie one trip for rabies, one trip for dhpp, etc)
•Use a different brand than the one suspected of triggering the reaction.
•Ask your vet to report the incident to the vaccine manufacturer and the USDA (good policy for tracking problems) |