Dermatologist
Naughty girl jumps in the dryer to lay on my clean clothes!! lol
Today was the ever-so-anticipated dermatologist appoitment for Faith. Avi decided to wake up and take me in this morning which was very helpful - our follow up appt is NOT at 9am!! LOL - traffic was awful!! Our dermatologist is a very nice guy and he spent a lot of time with Faith. We got a few answers, but mostly more questions than I had anticipated getting. For starters, he doesn't seem to think that Faith's main issues are allergies - actually he went as far as to say he's not even interested in doing allergy testing until the histology report comes back on her skin lesions (the second report) and she gets some blood testing done. That's fair to me, as I am not sure it all stems from "allergies" either. He confirmed today that she doesn't have Demodex mange or walking dandruff - no scabies either.. Phew ;) He did send off a slide to have a fungal analysis on it though, so that'll be interesting to see what it comes back like. Under his microscope (literally in the back of the vet facility) he was able to see bacterial rods and cones (occasional), along with yeast (!) and white and red blood cells. The yeast was an obvious unexpected finding as he came and met me in the waiting room with that result and said she needed some more meds (surolan applied to the area).
He said if the slides all come back negative then we're perhaps looking at a situation of her immune system not functioning properly. I have thought this for a while now, so it is no surprise to me. Most things have come back negative thus far. He also said he would be looking for papilloma but considering that my original vet sent the histology slides to a very highly regarded pathologist, he trusts she already looked into it. Due to the fact that the skin lesions are so localized, he's going to treat her with some topical medications and we're going to re-evaluate in 4 weeks and see if it's made any difference. She's on a host of topical things for now to see if we can make any difference with her.
One of the things he was quite concerned with is the fact that she has some snorting/breathing problems and I reported to him that my vet said it was red and swollen when she was put under for her skin biopsy. He obviously couldn't look all the way down her throat with her being awake, but he did stick a light in it and he said from what he seen, it is in fact red, raw and angry looking. He has requested that we see an internal medicine specialist to deal with this issue and get a detailed blood work up - and when I say detailed, he wants cholesterol, thyroid, kidney, liver.. all kinds of blood tests to see if she's showing anything abnormal. Due to the fact that she's lethargic a lot of the time on walks, he wants to look for an imbalance. He asked to have the internal medicine specialist do the blood work just in case they have something they want to check, but gave me a list of the things he wants on there, lol. Right now we have an appointment (not downtown this time - thank God!) for July 5th. He wants her to see the internal medicine specialist BEFORE I return to him so they can collaborate and he can see the results of the blood test during the follow up. I don't feel like paying another $150 consultation fee, but if I can get somewhere, I'm all for it.
One thing that he said that was interesting to me is that the medication that Faith has been on for her ears (Ottomax as a preventative 2x/week) is a BAD BAD BAD idea. He stressed that to me multiple times and cited things like superbugs (antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria) and that that sort of "heavy duty drug" shouldn't be used for a maintenance. Instead, she's now on a "self-formulated" sort of Burrows ear drops for dogs. It does have a hydrocortizone agent in it, but it's 1% and apparently very gentle. I'm supposed to put it in her ears twice a day for 2 weeks and then "as needed." If it works like he says it does, I'm going to order it for all of my friends! lol Her ears look good for right now though, but he did say he couldn't see one ear drum due to a big pile of wax. He's hoping this drug will loosen the wax and that he'll be able to see her ear drum next time we're in to see him.
In all, I feel like we had a pretty good appointment. Avi is kind of upset that nothing "happened" but honestly we've got a starting point and that's all I'm looking for! I had Kosmo with me and I had a short talk with the dermatologist about him. I told him it was possible I'd see him again with Kosmo, but in all honesty I'll probably end up going the other route.
Speaking of Kosmo, today is a GOOD DAY!! YAY :) I am excited to report that. A little scratching this morning but none really since then. He has had a pretty exciting day though and is pooped, LOL. ;) Earlier I was on the phone with Debbie *YUP I figured it out.. woohoo - thanks!!* and I said "hmm I hear Kosmo scratching".. Wait.. My house is shaking!! LOL! Holy .. earthquake in Canada?! I'm glad it wasn't Kosmo scratching, and thank God I was on the phone which kept me from freaking out. That was kind of scary! No more earthquakes! lol
I'm DYING to try the Vellus shampoo and conditioner that Debbie gave me (I like this new trick ;) ) I of course just bought a ton of Isle of Dogs and watch me like it more - Murphy's Law! LOL ;) I am considering bathing the poopers tonight but if it doesn't happen, I still have tomorrow.. ;)
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