cedar’s blog

Cedar August 15th, 2008

Clara was diagnosed with a severe case of hypothyroidism (symptoms include obesity, hair falling out, lethargy) in May, and she will have to be on synthetic hormones for the rest of her life.  She’s gotten drastically better since we’ve started treating it.

But just these past few weeks, she has begun hobbling like a little old woman, and has gradually lost her appetite.  Her personality has changed–she cries a lot, about everything, and seems depressed.  The vet thinks it is something unrelated to the hypothyroidism, and right now we are waiting for blood tests to get back.  We do know it’s not Lyme disease.  It may be something called Immune-Mediated Polyarthritis.

Today it is so bad that she won’t get up at all–I had to carry her outside this morning.  She refuses to eat anything, and we have to force-feed her pills to her to make sure she gets her medicine.  (In addition to her thyroid medicine, she’s on pain-killers and antibiotics. )  The only thing I have gotten her to eat today is 6 dried chicken treats–better than nothing, but not substantial food.  She is painfully thin.  I can’t bear to see her so sick.

You don’t even want to know how much money I have spent on vet bills these past few months.  I know that sometimes dogs just get sick and die (as do people) but I’m not prepared for that and I’m really scared.  I love her like a child–if you are a dog person you will know what I mean.  If you say a little prayer for Clara, I’m sure it couldn’t hurt.

(That’s her toy elephant, which she carries around and sometimes sleeps with.)

Update: One Month Later

Everybody, thank you so much for all your expressions of concern.  Clara is doing much better.

After many types of tests, we eventually took her to a specialist, where they sedated her to do a joint tap.  They analyzed her joint fluid and confirmed our suspicions–she has Immune Mediated Polyarthritis.  Like her hypothyroidism, this is also a chronic illness that we will have to deal with for the rest of her life.  Thankfully, it can be kept in remission with the help of corticosteroids like Prednisone.

Immune-mediated joint disease is a condition in which the immune system is stimulated to cause an inappropriate inflammatory response in one or usually multiple joints. The condition is sometimes termed idiopathic immune-mediated polyarthritis, reflecting an unknown cause of the condition that involves multiple joints.

Inflammation of the lining of the joints causes an increase in white blood cells in the joint fluid. This causes joint swelling and pain.

As with most diseases of the immune system, female animals are at increased risk of getting the disease. The disease is also most commonly seen in younger to middle-aged animals. All breeds may be affected.

Long story short, Clara’s joints were being destroyed by her own immune system.

We put her on a high dose of Prednisone and saw immediate and dramatic improvements.

Her appetite has returned, and she will eat anything you put in front of her.  She has gained back a healthy amount of weight.  Her coat is thick and shiny.  Her eyes are bright and she is acting like her old self.

And best of all, she can walk again!  She is supposed to be taking it easy until she is completely healed–in another couple of weeks she will be allowed to run again, which we’re looking forward to because we have really missed playing fetch at the park.

Prednisone commonly has side-effects in doses this high, and she has developed some infected cysts on one of her legs as a result.  So she is now on antibiotics for that, and the cysts seem to be slowly going away.

I hate that Clara needs drugs to live, and that we have to give her pills that cause problems that need to be treated with more pills.  But it is a necessary evil.

The past 6 months have been so distressing for Clara, and for us, as we’ve felt helpless watching her suffer one health problem after another, paying huge medical bills as the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong.

But now, thanks to synthetic thyroid hormones, steroids, and antibiotics, our dog is once again happy, healthy, and fully alive! 

Clara today:

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