Weird skin case

RE: Weird skin case

Luca Poddighe — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 10:12:54 GMT

[quote user="Anita Fox"]The lesions were present from 9 weeks old and there was a sudden, marked deterioration at about 4 months old. [/quote]

Sorry I didn't revise the post entirely and I kept messing things up, I did forgot you had a diagnose of erythema multiforme after the biopsies.

[quote user="Anita Fox"]It would have been interesting to have done one, not because I doubt the diagnosis but perhaps there were comorbidities.[/quote]

Probably, and possibly steroids may have caused an immunitary breakdown but unfortunately you were in a situation lose or lose there for what I can see. Anyway it would have been interesting to have a PM.

RE: Weird skin case

Anita Fox — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 09:34:57 GMT

Luca, the puppy was born in the UK and never travelled abroad. The lesions were present from 9 weeks old and there was a sudden, marked deterioration at about 4 months old. His owners couldn't be persuaded to have a full investigation until then. I do wonder if the diagnosis had been made earlier if he could have been successfully treated. I didn't make it clear but it was at this stage I referred him as I was concerned for his welfare. He died at home and was buried so there was no PM. It would have been interesting to have done one, not because I doubt the diagnosis but perhaps there were comorbidities.

RE: Weird skin case

Luca Poddighe — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 08:46:05 GMT

Now I realized that I have messed up a bit the two histories, I was thinking about Leish probably more for Anita's one that has developed eventually massive lymphoadenopathy and not for the one of the OP. As Anita mentioned in the post above unfortunately that puppy died therefore will never know if my suspect could have been true. As per the one in the original post the puppy has any lymphatic change? I would definitely try to get a biopsy, probably the bridge of the nose would be easier, if the owner give his consent.

RE: Weird skin case

Fable — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 21:44:43 GMT

[quote user="Luca Poddighe"]

If the pet had been abroad in his life I wouldn't exclude Leishmania considering the skin lesions followed or concurrent with lymphadenopathy.

[/quote]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I am indeed in NZ and the pup has never been overseas

I have discussed with the owner and tried to persuade them to go for biopsy (partly from extreme personal curiosity as well!). They are going to think about it (unproven working dog, so often unwilling to spend much) and in the mean time I have given them some malaseb shampoo to use on the lesions.

RE: Weird skin case

Luca Poddighe — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 12:34:41 GMT

[quote user="Lucy Fleming"]

[quote user="Luca Poddighe"]If the pet had been abroad in his life [/quote]

Based in New Zealand I think, so history of previous foreign travel relatively unlikely given the dog's age and the difficulty of getting a dog into NZ!

[/quote]

Well, he's been abroad all of his life then! Going back serious, then it seems much less likely!

RE: Weird skin case

Lucy Fleming — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 12:09:10 GMT

[quote user="Luca Poddighe"]If the pet had been abroad in his life [/quote]

Based in New Zealand I think, so history of previous foreign travel relatively unlikely given the dog's age and the difficulty of getting a dog into NZ!

RE: Weird skin case

Luca Poddighe — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 09:00:08 GMT

If the pet had been abroad in his life I wouldn't exclude Leishmania considering the skin lesions followed or concurrent with lymphadenopathy.

RE: Weird skin case

Anita Fox — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 21:03:46 GMT

The biopsies were taken from the lesions on the limbs and dorsum as they were the most recent. He was seen by a veterinary dermatologist and treated with prednisolone and cyclosporine but developed lymphadenopathy, lost a lot of weight and was really miserable, the skin lesions didn't improve and unfortunately he died. It was very sad because he was such s lovely natured pup. Although some of the lesions were ulcerated and infected most of them weren't. They were alopecic and had a lot of thick scaling and didn't look like the classic autoimmune skin lesions. I think it's worth biopsying if the owners are willing as the lesion distribution is suggestive of autoimmune disease. He's the only Huntaway I've treated and as this case looks similar I'd be very interested in the outcome.

RE: Weird skin case

Fable — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 19:22:37 GMT

[quote user="Anita Fox"]

I saw something very similar last year in a young Huntaway pup.The lesions were present when the pup was purchased at 9 weeks old. it was slowly progressive initially and the owners only agreed to a limited work up and tried hypoallergenic diet, EFAs, shampoo, good parasite control and antibiotics when secondary infection developed. The response was poor and there was a sudden deterioration after a few months.The lesions were mainly periorbital, on the outer pinnae ( worse at the edges) and nasal planum with a few on the limbs and dorsum .They agreed to a full work up including a biopsy and the diagnosis was erythema multiforme.

[/quote]

Thank you all for your replies. Just out of interest Anita which area did you biopsy? I'm thinking the pinnae edges might be a bit tricky. How did your pup respond to treatment?

I was wondering about auto-immune conditions, but thought the lesions would be more ulcerative.

RE: Weird skin case

grumpyoldman — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 16:32:35 GMT

it maybe one of those situations where you can only get the demodex on histology of the keratinised plugs ,Seen it in a few DDB

RE: Weird skin case

Sammy82 — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 13:43:40 GMT

I would take skinscrapes or better biopsies for microbiology and histology. At the top of my list of differentials would be dermatophytosis (ringworm), bacterial infection (dermatophilus?) or an auto-immune condition. I saw a similiar looking case in a young Jack Russell 7years ago, she was also loosing some of her nails. It was diagnosed as immune-mediated cutaneous vasculitis and responded very well to Atopica (or press, I don't remember). If I remember right there were no biopsies done (problably due to costs, clients in this practice were never keen to spend more than £10 on anything) and we made the diagnosis just based on the typical distribution of the lesions.

RE: Weird skin case

Anita Fox — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 08:55:02 GMT