Below is something I found on a schipperke.org website.

Now I'm really scared. I just vaguely notice the reddish tinge a few days ago, but thought it was from the warmer weather.

She doesn't have any off balance problems that I know of.

Any body else heard of this?

Thanks.


MPS-IIIB is an inherited genetic lysosomal storage disease found only in Schipperkes and Humans. This
disease was recently discovered and a test developed by the University of Pennsylvania. Typically symptoms of
this disease develop between 2-4 years of age. The symptoms include: tremors, difficulty balancing and
walking, many develop a reddish cast to the coat. This disease is progressive and most owners have their dog
euthanized within a year or two of the onset of symptoms. There is no cure or effective treatment at this time.
As breeders, we have tested all of our breeding animals and those of carrier parents placed in pet homes. The
three classifications from the test are Normal, Carrier, and Affected. Normal means the dog does not carry the
gene and can never produce it. Carrier means the dog carries the gene and can produce it if bred to another
carrier. However, a carrier will never develop the disease, so it is perfectly acceptable to take a carrier as a pet.
Affected dogs will develop the fatal disease and should never be bred.

Always insist on knowing the MPS-IIIB status on a breeder's dogs. If you are not convinced they are being
truthful, ask them to fax or mail you copies of the certified tests signed by Dr. Urs Giger with the University of
Pennsylvania. If you currently have a Schipperke you would like to have tested, you can order cheek swabs
from the University directly. Click here for the submission form. Click here for more info.

Nora, is your girl a purebred Schipperke? If so, are you still in touch with her breeder - enough so that you could inquire about the issue and ask about her parents and any screenings for this disease? From what I just read after a search, the major hallmarks of MPS-IIIB are balance, coordination and brain related - coat color changes occur *sometimes*, but are not as important an indicator as the other symptoms. If your dog is not experiencing ANY balance and coordination issues, I wouldn't be so quick to worry:

 Quote:

The clinical signs in the dogs are in many ways similar to the children, in that the clinical signs are related to the brain disease. However, the dogs differ from children in two important ways. The age of onset is seen in the dogs during early adulthood, and the clinical signs are related to a particular part of the brain called the cerebellum. The cerebellum plays an important role in balance and smooth and coordinated movement. The clinical signs in the dogs have been reported to appear between 2-4 years of age, and include tremor, difficulty balancing, walking, negotiating obstacles such as stairs, head tilts, falling to both directions, and other clinical signs associated with the generalized balance problems . Some have reported a change in coat color from black to auburn, however, coat changes can be associated with many other diseases and illnesses.

Quote from:
http://www.bonchien.com/MPSIIIB.html

All that said, I hope she'll be just fine after her vet visit tomorrow!!

~Natalya

Thanks so much for the response. Let's hope I am just having my typical knee jerk over-reaction.

She is purebreed and the person who gave her to me offered her 'papers'. I did not need them as I was taking her because she had been a death row rescue.

The guy who had her brought her from the pound. They called him because he had a pet store and the dog was a so-called 'papered dog'.

So, yes, I suppose she is pure bred but I don't know anything about her parentage.

I took her for a companion animal as I had lost my boxer to old age a few years ago and was only just then able to get over that.

I wanted to make sure I got the companion that fit my life style and age, now, and had been looking at french bulldog rescues.

But, after I met this little dog, I brought her home with the understanding I could take her back if things didn't work out in a few weeks.

He had only taken her to keep her from getting euthanized. She had been in a crate most of the time of her few six months.

My guess was that someone got a cute little puppy that was a rare breed and didn't realize that they were getting a lot of bark. Which she has.

At any rate, I gave her what I think is a good home and she has given me a LOT of companionship.

Before this dog, I knew nothing about the breed. I looked her up on the internet, but even a google search doesn't bring up a lot except for breed conformation or whatever they call it.

I hope I am over-reacting to all this.

She got a terrible itch from fleas last year. I mean horrible. I bought everything in the world to battle the fleas till the point that I was afraid I was poisoning my dog.

She was neutered last year at right about the same time the fleas started. The vet gave me some antibiotics because she had scratched so badly. This got better, but the itching has never really gone away.

THERE ARE NO FLEAS ON MY DOG.

I know that many people think there are no fleas but a fine tooth comb will turn up fleas. Not so with this dog. NO FLEAS.

But still she is itchy.

Every time I took her in or called (and I called many times) it was always, check for fleas. I was giving her a cap star pill, along with the frontline, etc almost every week.

She developed this behavior of scratching her back under the couch or any edge she could find but it appeared to be an annoying behavior more than itchiness. I would even say, she had OCD, not too much unlike myself.

But, now, this is a different spot and it is a missing plug of hair.

Any advice appreciated or any thoughts to the vet.

I dread him telling me it is what she eats. We already gave each other mean looks over her diet and the no vax rule I have except for the rabies and then only once.

I would go to another vet, but I live in a small town and all the rest I have interviewed share the same ideas.

There was a holistic vet listed that is not to far from me, but she never answered the phone or returned the message and I'm thinking she is no longer around.

I apologize for this long, ramble, but this will be the longest night until the vet appt.

As I said, I started giving her the fish oil/vit e more regularly thinking that if she had dry skin, that would help. The heat in the winter here makes my skin dry, so probably would affect her, too.

But now, this bald spot. She seems OK in every other way. Playful, eats well, etc.

I'd keep bugging the holistic vet. I may think about a thyroid test for her too.

what is her vaccine history. I know you said rabies only once, but was she vaccinated prior to your adoption?

I was told she had her puppy shots when I got her. I gave her (the vet) the rabies last summer about one month before she was spayed.

I've been trying to do internet searches today before I go to the vet in the morning to try to familiarize myself with possible causes, hoping I won't be put off with "Well, we'll give her _______. The vet's office to where I take her has three vets. The original vet to whom I always took my other dog I found satisfactory. The one that saw her last time seemed to want to give me the bum's rush out the door. When I talked to him about flea treatment, he told me Frontline. I informed him I had already used a round of fronline, adams flea shampoo, bio-spot and something else that doesn't come to mind right now. He told me that he didn't recommend bio-spot. I asked him why and he said it makes little dogs sick. That was not satisfactory explanation to me at all. Also, that office doesn't sell bio-spot. I also told him how I had treated the house and yard with the expensive stuff I bought there. Of course, it was a standard line of you have to treat the house and bedding of the dog. For pete's sake, the dog is in my bed and if I had a flea, surely after all these months I would have seen one.

He is also the one that gave me the frowny face over raw feeding and when I asked further questions about the rabies vax, he said they were required every year. I then asked him if the vial of rabies vax he had given my dog was the three year vax and with raised eyebrows he said yes. He finally ended with saying for me to tell them she acted sick on the vax for the next year and I would be able to avoid it.

I'm just trying to cover all my bases before I get there.

She is not sluggish or overweight. Should I still ask for a thyroid?

She exhibits (in my opinion) what I call obsessive compulsive behavior. She started doing this after the flea problem last year.

For instance:

When she is excited from playing, or company, or coming in from the outside, she will run around in circles, not tight circles, but running around the room. If I stop her she will usually calm her self, but I have to keep talking to her (redirection, I guess). After that, she will start scratching and then that will turn to finding an edge to scratch her back. Really like she is itching terrible.

But this spot of hair loss is different.

Should I bathe her tonight before I take her in the am? Or would that wash away something that is there that the vet should see?

Thanks for any advice.

Nora, you're probably at the vets right now... please let us know how it goes!

~Natalya

Update.

I just got back from the vets.

Allergies, so you don't have to read the entire post. Mine tend to be long.

So, I guess, that's good news.

He did a scraping and said he saw nothing which was good news.
He gave her a shot of cortizone and put her on clavamox for three weeks. He said to bathe her in oatmeal shampoo and keto.....zole something. He said he thought it was environmental and never once mentioned her food.

He said I had done right with bathing her often and agreed that she had probably gotten a scratching syndrome behavior from the flea problem last year, but also reminded me that it only takes one flea to start an allergy itch if the dog is allergic. He said his office will be carrying Comfortis this year for flea season but they don't have it in yet.

He said this summer I may even need to bathe her twice a week if she was still itchy.

He said it was probably environment due to the time of year (we live in the sinus belt).

He said to watch her and if she continues to be itching and lose hair we should start allergy testing and desensitization.

He also said to give her benadryl twice daily to help with the itching.

I told him my reluctance with the cortizone shot, and he said he thought it was necessary to calm the skin down and keep her away from it for a few days.

He said it would probably look worse in a few days (where she is shaved) but would get better after about ten and that skin problems tended to look really bad and to make sure I continued the antibiotics for the full three weeks.

So, I probably had my typical knee-jerk over-reaction, even tho allergies can be really bad (I have them, too).

So far as the defective gene with the msb-111b or what ever that is in Schipperkes, I think I will just wait and see and not borrow trouble for tomorrow. If she has it, I will just have to deal with it when it appears. I don't want to know about it now, as there is no treatment and no cure.

Thanks for all the support here and if you have any suggestions or advice, please let me know.

Thanks, again.

a quick ps

The vet today was the original (Dr. Pat) whom I like and takes time to listen to your concerns. The next time, I will refuse the other guy until Dr. Pat is available.

Edited by Nora Ferrell (03/25/2009 11:19 AM)
Edit reason: add ps

Could you bump this in a couple of hours and remind me, unless you hear from Sarah or other allergy experts about rinsing, getting allergens out of the bed, paws, carpet, etc., and Benadryl, etc.?

Gotta do a little paying-type work. sigh

Well, considering the other options, allergies aren't the worst that could have been diagnosed! You're right, they can be troublesome and uncomfortable, but once you figure out how to control them, your dog should be feeling back to normal. I don't know much about allergy treatments, so you'll have to rely on your vet and other members here more experienced than I - but I have faith you'll figure out what works best for your girl.

 Quote: Nora Ferrell

So far as the defective gene with the msb-111b or what ever that is in Schipperkes, I think I will just wait and see and not borrow trouble for tomorrow. If she has it, I will just have to deal with it when it appears. I don't want to know about it now, as there is no treatment and no cure.

Indeed - no sense worrying about THAT until you actually have cause for alarm. If we needlessly worried about all the possible ailments that could afflict our companions at any given time, the stress would be fatal!

Glad you have a course of action & best of luck with your pup.

~Natalya

Yes, I will and thanks.

I will be on and off here all day in the hope that I can get the full court press of everyone on here and especially those experienced with allergic dogs.

Also, I had already been giving her benadryl occasionally and it seemed to work a little. It would make her sleepy but after that wore off, she would be back to scratchy.

Background info:

I have hardwood floors, central natural gas heat and fireplace. Some cedar trees in the yard, plus peach tree, maple tree, dogwood, boxwood shrubs and some juniper shrubs. Wigeia bush, honeysuckle bush, peony bush. I'm not sure what kind of grass, but whatever is typical in South/central-eastern Kentucky (Laurel county).

Thanks.

Feeding - raw, chicken, beef, pork, bison, some fish, fish oil, vit e. Occasional vegs from my plate. Occasional cheese and peices of whatever I eat.