Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Bob Russell — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 12:27:22 GMT

I have found these need cyclosporin for life but it is possible to drop the dose a bit in some cases.

Must try tacrolimus as it is used for atopic dermatitis in man. I doubt it would be acceptable until lesions come under control.

I have never managed to get owners to keep dogs on hydrolysed protein diets long enough to find out if they help!

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Anthony Todd — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 09:38:06 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]the anal sacs which is what I presume you mean by anal glands. [/quote]

Sorry for the confusion with nomenclature and thanks for bringing me up to date.

Trouble was, that in the more sophisticated areas of London "anal sacs", particularly in a colonial accent, caused much confusion and some embarrassment, so I just stuck with "anal glands" which everyone seemed to understand.

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

David Mills — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 09:38:06 GMT

We've a few of these maintained on preds and either metronidazole or oxytet, anecdotally the latter may be more effective. However preds don't seem to be as effective as cyclo, but our clientele are mostly priced out of the latter. Tried stopping the preds but they return pretty quickly - do people keep them on lifelong cyclo or look to stop it?

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Martin Atkinson — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 19:22:29 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]

When alsatians were fashionable we saw a lot of these and I wondered whether AG infection was the trigger 'cos they were always, concurrently, infected???

[/quote]That was always the theory but it was well and truly discredited. Unless by anal glands you mean the mucous secreting glands rather than the anal sacs which is what I presume you mean by anal glands. When I did radical surgery I used to remove the anal glands because they got damaged when hacking the affected tissue anyway but not because they were implicated in the problem.

One of my nurses put forward a theory she'd heard that it was due to hip dysplasia. I told her that while there is clearly no direct link, I understand the reason I see so few these days is that breeding has been a bit more responsible and not in-breeding to get the sloping haunches that was so desirable and probably led to a concurrent hip problem. Probably the selection of dogs for that conformation also led to selection for the anal farunculosis gene!

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Anthony Todd — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 19:12:19 GMT

When alsatians were fashionable we saw a lot of these and I wondered whether AG infection was the trigger 'cos they were always, concurrently, infected???

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Martin Atkinson — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 18:42:48 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Courtney"]A hypoallergenic or novel protein diet may also help, these dogs often have deeper IBD type lesions that you cannot see.[/quote]The previous vet put it on a BARF diet. Not sure if that will help or hinder.

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Nicola Lawlor — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 12:04:02 GMT

Another vote for cyclosporine here.

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

grumpyoldman — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 11:17:21 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Courtney"]s it my imagination or do we see this less frequently now? the last couple i saw were in a golden retriever and a collie cross.[/quote]

We still get 3-4 GSDs a year with this , same old same old , 4-6 years old , leave it until they cannot stand the smell , and no money , in the distant past I had no joy with Cryo , but pre atopica did cut a couple of guard dogs a new ring , they lived outside though. Life long Atopica or several months at 5mg/kg with possible relapses may point a few in this direction.

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Stephen Courtney — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 22:08:47 GMT

A hypoallergenic or novel protein diet may also help, these dogs often have deeper IBD type lesions that you cannot see.

Surgery on these is no longer done routinely but i have heard of people using it to clear up the last little persistent bits. when I first came to the UK I inherited a couple of these cases which had been cryo'd - ghastly mess, and i'd never seen the condition before.

Is it my imagination or do we see this less frequently now? the last couple i saw were in a golden retriever and a collie cross.

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

grumpyoldman — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 00:28:34 GMT

Pre -atopica pred 2mg/kg with trib 80s bid worked well if they had no money ,but it always reoccured when treatment was withdrawn.

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

emma o'connor — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 15:54:35 GMT

Cyclosporin is currently my preferred treatement as well, have had good success in many cases. Topical tacrolimus is good for smaller lesions but some dogs seem to find it painful on application.

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Bob Russell — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 14:06:54 GMT

Cyclosporin works well but is a cost issue for some. Tacrolimus would seem a pretty logical choice as well, perhaps for maintenance once the area has started to heal.

Nothing else has ever worked acceptably in my experience.

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Gillian Mostyn — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 13:39:12 GMT

Also had very good success with antibiosis and cyclosporin.

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Joyce Whitehead — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 13:21:04 GMT

I've had a coupled of dogs do well on Tactolimus ointment (a tip from here I'm sure). Easy to apply with a large cotton bud and gloved hands, doesn't seem to trouble dog, and they seem to have done better than with other treatments. Both of my cases were elderly dogs where the owners were unwilling to do anything invasive anyway, but I'd agree to avoid surgery if possible.

RE: Treating peri-anal fistulas/farunculosis

Robin Grimmer — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 12:39:05 GMT

Cyclosporin is my treatment of choice. Generally had good results. I haven't touched one of these surgically for years.