sammy_update

Your Pet: Sammy's update and it's Christmas time! For those of you on pins and needles waiting to hear about Sammy, I have some news. To recap, Sammy is a Labrador retriever living in Bodega Bay California. A few weeks ago he went from being a rambunctious never say stop companion to one who became reluctant even to get up from his bed to eat or go outside to urinate. He has gone to his veterinarian and was found to have a fever and was placed on antibiotics with instructions to his caretakers to bring Sammy back in one week for re examination. One week passed and he was worse. He would not get up at all and would only move if absolutely pressed to do so. It was my theory that Sammy was suffering from polyarthritis or inflammation of his joints and I recommend he have a couple of diagnostic tests performed including retesting his blood work, testing him for the tick born disease known as Lyme disease and also have his joints tapped to examine the fluid within. I was sure he was in pain from inflammation in his joints. I have heard back from Sammy's caretakers as they promised to follow-up and the results are in. His Lyme disease testing was negative, but his joint taps were read out by a veterinary cytologist as highly abnormal containing a large number of inflammatory cells. His diagnosis was autoimmune polyarthritis. We discussed this disease as a possible cause for Sammy's symptoms in last week's column and to summarize, this disease occurs as a result of the immune system reacting to something within the patient's own body that causes immune complex deposition in the joints resulting in an inflammatory response that causes pain and a fever. Treatment for autoimmune joint disease involves medication to suppress the immune system response. The most common drug used to accomplish this goal is cortisone. I am very happy to report that within twenty four hours of starting cortisone therapy, Sammy was back to his normal active self. His disease will likely require several weeks of therapy but his prognosis for full recovery is a good one. I want to make one important point about this type of case in dogs. We should never treat a dog with polyarthritis assuming it is autoimmune in nature with cortisone without first ruling out a possible infectious cause. Cortisone therapy in these cases is used to depress the immune response and if the case is actually due to an infection such as Lyme disease, the immune system needs to be full strength. If we depress it with cortisone, grave results may be in store for the patient. One a different subject, one I am sure is occupying quite a bit of your time at the moment, it is the Christmas season and I am sure may of us are looking forward to sharing it with our companions. I thought I might share a few cautions, there are many, with you in hopes of keeping your companions safe and free from potential problems as we celebrate together. I think the most important warning I can give you dog folks out there concerns the desire to feed them things they should not be fed. I realize the desire is twofold; it is ours as the caretakers and our companions' as the manipulators. Be strong my friends, resist the urge and those longing eyes and your companion will be safer for it. I have dealt with many cases some very tragic, involving a scrap of meat shared with a companion which lead to severe pancreatitis. Regretfully, some of these cases have been fatal. Why take the chance? Stick to a good quality dog food. I know you've heard this from me before and I promise you will again, it is in your companions' best interest but please don't tell them I said so. For those of you with a feline companion, watch the ribbon wrapped around those gifts. Cats seem to thoroughly enjoy playing with that stuff and some will swallow it. It can adhere inside the cat's intestine and telescope the intestine in on itself. This is a potentially fatal and guaranteed fatal if not treated. There are many other precautions but not enough space. Just enough left to wish you all a Merry Christmas and to share my thankfulness with you that I can share as my career and passion, the wonder and love of the human animal bond with all of you and your companions both first hand and with these words. Thank you.