Just need some support for a very difficult choice I am going to have to make this week. I have been caring for my son's young GSD while he has been in Iraq. She is the most lovely dog, and not quite 3. She has wonderful drive, super sweet disposition, very very good with children, but a problem came to light about 10 months ago. It first started with allergies so I switched her to an all raw diet, she seemed to be doing good, but then she showed up with very achey sore joints. Took her in the the vet and the diganosis was RA along with allergies. After lots of testing and sleepless nights trying to get her issues in check she stopped responding to the steroids, and had an almost non existant platelet count. The vet tried a very aggresive med therapy by adding in Cytoxan but she just is not responding well to it. I love this dog and of course my son is very bonded with her but he has left the choice of what to do for her up to me. Not a place I want to be. The main problem that she has is an extreme auto immune disorder, and for me to sit and think what her quality of life will be the more meds they add I just can not justify it. Right now she can't even go outside without scratching herself senseless, and what kind of life is it for a dog to be housebound? This dog loves to work, she loves to play and it breaks my heart but I feel I have no choice but to have her PTS. I hate this because of where my son is right now and the news I am going to have to give him. I guess I just need some helpful words of support from you guys.

The first thing I would do is take her to another vet - a specialist or teaching hospital (Tufts, VA Tech, Cornell on the east coast are some) and get a second opinion. Bring all of her blood work results and see what they have to say. Maybe there are other options for her that would help you maintain her better, or better yet, solve the problem. Seems to me if she is 3 years old and just started this problem, she wasn't born with it - maybe taking her for second opinion (with a vet who is board-certified) might give you more options - at the worst they could tell you there is no help.

molly

Thanks Molly, I should have added that this problem did start when she was about 6 months old. It surfaced right after she was spayed. At first it presented itself as an ear infection that is where it started. Then when that was treated and cleared up she was showing signs of Pano. The first vet that was treating her was very inadaquate. She had issues with stiffness and pain in her joints right along. Unfortunatly my son did not have a really good vet available to him at the time, so when I took over her care she was seen by my vet who is really really good. I do appreciate your input and will take that under advisement. It is a shame because she is young.

I agree with Molly and was going to make the same suggestion. When it comes to ending a dog's life, I'd like several opinions from specialists in that area.

Since you've come to the point of having to make a decision, if it were me at that point, I would give it 2 or 3 more months (speaking specifically about your dog's particular illness which isn't terminal) and try other methods of treatment.

There is a product that you might want to introduce to your son's dog called Recovery SA, a lot of info on what it can do found here: http://www.recoverysa.com/ . If it were me, I'd purchase this product and give it at least 3 months to work, along with other specialist opinions and other possible treatments.

Thank you Sandy, I will check out that supplement. As far as being able to take her to a specialist we live in Northern Wisconsin and the only place really available to us would be Madison. This week when she goes in for her bloodwork my vet said we are going to enlist the aid of the vet college as far as looking at her lab results offering new testing options etc... If I have to make the decission to have her PTS I want to do it with knowing that we have taken it as far as we can without harming her. That is my main concern is the harm that these medications are doing to her long term. Long term steroid use is damaging, the Cytoxan can have some really bad effects on her also. The goal was to reverse and HAULT the RA and do our best to keep her allergies under control and of course when my son comes back and gets stationed probably in the Carolina's her allery meds will have to be adjusted to that area. I really appreciate the input.

Hi Ann,

You may want to PM/email Cindy Rhodes and see if she can suggest specialists and/or holistic vets for you to consider in Wisconsin. I think if anyone could point you to a good doc, it would be her.

Hopefully Connie will see this and offer suggestions, as well.

I'm so very sorry your girl is going through so much.

Ann, I would hold off euthanizing her until you get with a GOOD holistic/alternative vet, or a really good specialist in auto-immune disorders. What you're describing is a really broad auto-immune disorder, likely caused by the stress of the operation combined with (taking a stab in the dark here....) vaccines. By any chance was she vaccinated at the same time as the spay?

While I agree that the life you're describing is no life for a dog, I feel that you may be able to have good success treating the whole dog. What kind of raw diet were you giving her? It sounds like it helped, but didn't completely fix the problem. The steroids are HELL on the body, so they are not going to help. Any more aggressive drugs at this point are going to do more harm than good, IMHO. I'd give her a shot at a normal life by going alternative. Conventional has failed her miserably. She wasn't born like this; she shouldn't have to live like this. My gut tells me there is hope for this dog.

I have a female Pit w/pretty broad auto-immune problems from a botched spay and vaccine course; it's often difficult/impossible to pinpoint exactly what the triggers are, and far better/easier to concentrate on boosting the immune system. Keep in mind that a HUGE percentage of the immune system is based in the small intestine.

Are you willing to travel if I know a good vet? Veterinary Specialty Center in Buffalo Grove IL is EXCELLENT, and Dr. Barbara Royal is in their holistic dept. and is wonderful.

http://www.malamutehealth.org/articles/immune.htm

Link to Dr. Jean Dodd's page on auto-immune disorders and some general overview. I will add more as I find them.

Ann, I know it's hard emotionally to switch gears from euthanizing, since it took so much emotion to try to reach that decision, and that you were looking for support for your decision. But I really feel that you should hold off, and others seem to feel the same way. I like what Jenni had to say. It can't hurt the dog to try alternative medicine and treatment. It may even give her a decent quality of life for many years.

I would give the product I mentioned a chance. It may not be the only treatment she should get and I wouldn't ever say that, but it can add to other treatments.

So far you have 2 immediate contacts, Cindy Easton Rhodes (lives in Wisconsin at Leerburg and the contact in IL that Jenni gave you). I'd start there and see where it takes you.

You are in an uneviable position. I agree with the suggestions mentioned by all the above posters, and think there might still be a chance for a good life for this dog.

I would also keep a notebook with a section on Veterinary Prognosis (write down the different veterinarian opinions on quality of life for the dog). I would have a section on Treatments (write down everything, the medications etc., along with how effective each treatment was) and a section on Diet (everything you have try and how effective and any results you might notice).

This will help you to keep your thoughts organized during this stressful time, and help you make future decisions for this dog.

Thank you all for your suggestings. She goes in for her bloodwork on Thursday and I will wait and see what that shows. My son has invested so much money in this dog and that is the way it goes sometimes when you own a pet. I just need to know if he is willing to go any farther financialy with her. We are not able to travel to far to seek holistic care, I was hit by a drunk driver several years ago so I am not able to really go to far from home. As far as the raw diet goes I pretty much follow the one that is recomended on this site. She really has no problems with any types of food anymore, that does not trigger her issues. I keep a diary and have ever since this started, and raw food has never been the trigger. KIBBLE OH YEAH that was like feeding her ITCH WEED!!!! Now as far as the spay yes she was vaccinated at the same time, and I was not to happy about that. My own dogs are on a limited vaccine schedule, and are on a raw diet, fortunatly my GSD and BC are very very healthy dogs, and aside for a few gastric problems with my GSD which are now solved from tweeking her diet a bit, I treat them naturaly. I will PM Cindy and see what she says. Again I do appreciate the input here, that is why I posted. My son should be calling me in a couple of days so we will discuss this further and then he can tell me how he wants to proceed. We do have a vet about 30 miles from here who does practice holistic medicines along with alopathic and I have heard good things about her, so maybe I will also give her a call. She also does acupuncture and chiropractic and the people who do go to her from my Kennel Club have nothing but good things to say about her. The only thing is I want to make sure the dog does not slip backwards, because of this platelet count being so so low and I don't have the numbers in front of me right now but trust me it is VERY VERY LOW, I don't want her getting any worse and I know that is a possiablity until the resolve is reached. Thank you all again you have been extremly helpful and given me some more options to think about.