As several members have probably heard my lovely boy Cajetan Of Tonispada avec Khananstra has been suffering from a rare and debilitating illness recently. Both Hector and the rest of the family have been through a great deal of trauma these past few months and I would like to inform other owners to the devastating effects of this condition and the aggression with which it strikes.
It all started on the 11th of August, Hector began rubbing his eyes up and down the sofa obviously in discomfort, he was taken to the vets after suspecting that he had picked up an allergy whilst out over the fields, after a couple of days on antibiotics and no improvement, the vet switched his drugs to Prendisolone. Not long after this huge red blisters appeared on his muzzle and a few days later his lymph nodes were swollen all over his body. The vet suspected lymphoma, so he underwent a day in surgery where they took biopsies and actually removed one of his lymph nodes, when the results returned there was big relief all round that it was not lymphoma, where the life expectancy would have been poor, but the vet was at a loss as to the diagnosis of Sterile Juvenile Pyogranuloma Syndrome.
Basically we believe that something had entered Hectors blood stream some time ago and that the immune system had been activated to expel whatever it was but that now the immune system had gone faulty and was basically fighting itself. Not long after this diagnosis Hectors legs began to burst open with blisters that basically seem to explode from beneath the skin, they rapidly multiplied up his legs over the groin area and continued all over the face. We found this especially frightening as he had detioriated to this state from the healthy dog he was in only a matter of 2 weeks.
My local vet was at a loss and referred me to the University Of Bristol at Langford near Bristol; I have to say that from the moment I entered that building that the amazing staff there let me with complete reassurance that if there was anything that could be done that they would certainly attempt it. The first visit with Sue Shaw and I think she fell in love with Hec there and then. We underwent some more dermatology tests and they managed to force a drain on the sides of Hectors head to relieve the pressure in the lymph nodes that had now blown up so large that his ears stuck up at right angles to his face.
At this point Hector was starting to give up on eating, the huge holes in his flews and lips meant that it was too painful and he would just lie listfully on his bed and have to be forced to move(many was the time I would be frightened to go down stairs in the morning for fear of him not being there any more)
Our second visit to Langford a week later and the detioriation was evident to Sue, she said he would need to be rushed into intensive care and fed fluids and they would need to take more biopsies to determine if there was a secondary infection. The fact that the skin on his legs was basically being eaten alive meant that they would have to do some preparation work on them, but this could not be achieved until they had managed to stabilise his condition.
Sue was shocked at the aggression of the condition and was quite candid with me that we would have to expect a mini miracle for this dog to survive the next few days. It was a terrible feeling leaving him that day not expecting to see him again and having to say goodbye to him virtually unrecognisable as my beautiful Hector. For the next few days we were in constant contact with Langford, after 3 days Sue felt it was imperative that something should be done to halt the detioriation of the legs, so the decision was taken to anesthetise him and do the biopsies, the worry was whether he was strong enough to survive the operation but this was a last resort. We had an anxious night of waiting by the phone, very late evening Sue rang to say that they had just finished nursing him, that the operation had been a success but not to expect too much for the next couple of days. Luckily Hector was more than ready to give a good fight and after a few days was allowed to come home for the weekend. As the picture shows his legs were a pitiful mess and he was very heavily bandaged with specialist burns victim dressings on all four legs.
After visiting Langford on the Monday, the visits were regularly every few days for a couple of weeks until they allowed me to be responsible for the dressing changes every couple of days and then the visits dropped down to every week then every other week.
This picture shows one of the forelegs about 4 weeks after the operation - they are actually healing at this stage.
Initially the dressing changes were horrific, Hector would literally scream as we removed them such was the pain, but over time things got easier and I managed to get them off and on within twenty minutes or so, I was also daily draining the sacs in his head that would accumulate with pus and become swollen and sore, and washing him down with Hibiscrub. After about 6 weeks the back bandages, where the legs were less affected, were removed and then a month later, a great moment for us all, the front ones followed. The corticosteroids, antibiotics and steroids were gradually reduced and now I'm proud to say we have a drug free dog. Slowly we have built Hector's exercise up and he can now enjoy a couple of hours a day, only a few weeks ago it would've taken me half an hour to literally drag him around the block.
We had a few problems with the lymph nodes blowing up again but that now seems to have settled and now that he is off the steroids completely the shaved areas of hair are starting to grow again. It's likely that the skin on his legs and muzzle will never regain the hair but the skin is darkening now so at least he doesn't look as freakish as he did.
Many people I spoke to during this terrible time seem to have had knowledge or experience of immune system problems and many ( including some of the vets ) were amazed that I had decided to see this thing through to the end instead of deciding to have Hector put to sleep. Hopefully he will serve as an example that with grim determination and excellent veterinary care that this terrible disease can be overcome and your beloved pet will be returned to you once again.
Having said that, the dermatologist told me that had Hector not of had such a placid nature that most of the procedures they carried out would've been impossible. This just goes to prove the Curlie's true fighting spirit and determination
I would like to express my thanks to my many friends for their concern and encouragement throughout the past few months and heartfelt respect to Sue Shaw at The University of Bristol to who I am forever indebted.
More pictures
These were taken approximately a week after he was released from intensive care
University's photo lab about a month after the op
Nina Parker - Khanastra