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Originally Posted by ladyjane  How old is she? I would use that as a guide to making decisions about tests.
What does meat have to do with cutaneous vasculitis?
Kibble is enough. It should have all of the nutrients needed.
Why can't the vet view her ear? As for cleaning, have your vet do it!
Nystagmus is neuro and as Ellie May suggested, neuro would be a great option. If it is not possible, a general vet can do basics ... and often if a client is limited on funds or if a pup is very old and testing isn't going to change the plan going forward, prednisone can be helpful. My DIL had a pup who was 15 and she suddenly went blind one day and was stumbling around. She ended up putting her on prednisone and she had another 6 great months with her. They were sure it was a lesion...surgery was not an option.
So...cannot hurt to try the pred IMHO |
Thank you for replying ladyjane.
Jenna is just a few weeks short of 11 years old.
Meat proteins were thought to be the cause of her vasculitis, which they believed was internal, not just cutaneous. She could eat no meat without breaking out anew in hives and rashes. Vegetarian kibble was the only thing she could manage without a reaction. She was also treated with pentoxifylline for 3 months. We now think it was one of the tainted dog treats from China that started this ordeal for her, but she's gone 6 years without meat in her diet and I feared reintroducing it may have caused a relapse. She was so puffy when she got sick all those years ago it took 4 days in the hospital to get her even remotely able to go home. While she has no obvious signs of inflammation other than the presumed CNS disease, I did worry that I'd done something wrong giving her chicken again. Of course, no one wants to believe something this debilitating is a condition that can't be resolved or is genetic...you want to be able to blame it on something you've screwed up that you can fix.
I've had the vet clean her ears but even she has trouble getting them completely clear, hence why she wanted me to continue it every day with a gentle cleanser she gave me. I keep trying to do it properly but I don't think I get it quite right and of course I have no otoscope to review my efforts. Jenna has rather strong opinions about stuff going into her ears and none of them positive. It's frustrating.
We began the pred today and while it hasn't seemed to cause any reactions like steroids did to her back in 2013, it's a small dose and any benefit is likely to take awhile to show. For now I'm glad I didn't have to rush her to emergency.
Thank you very much for your help.
