A Visitor asked the following question on 9/7/2004
I have an 11 yr old female husky who presented, 3years ago with chronic rubbing and scratching around both eyes leading to hair loss, and open wounds. I had her biopsied with the result being 'zinc responsive dermatitis'. We started zinc supplements and changed her food. We also started her on a course of prednisone. This has been a continuous struggle with the symptoms waxing and waning. This past month I picked her up from the kennel and she was completely hairless on all 4 paws, up to the elbows and hocks. She had also lost all her fur on either side of her snout, up to and beyond her eyes. She has open, weeping wounds on her legs and face. Currently she is back at the vet for another round of biopsies and skin scrapings. Her blood work came back relatively normal and her vet was not concerned by anything he saw there.
I have spent days on line looking for any info and am only being lead to the liver disease, 'Superficial Necrolytic Dermatitis', which in most cases is a death sentence. Other than the skin, her health seems to be outstanding.
Anything would be helpful.
Thank you
Kari
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9/10/04
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Kari, I wish I could give you some helpful advise concerning this but I have never experienced anything like this personally in the 20 years we've been owned by Siberians. This sounds like a very severe case that you must work with your vet on. If you are not satisfied with her treatment, I would recommend getting a second opinion with another vet.
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Sheri
Bralin Siberian Huskies
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10/2/04
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Hi Kari, I would seriously look at a food allery. You said in you email that you changed the dogs food, however; does the new food still contain the same ingredients as the old food. Usually the culprit is wheat and corn. Most of the commercial dog foods are full of these fillers and there is little or no nutritional value. Look for a high end dog food that contains not wheat or corn. Maybe Nutro-they have a lamb and rice with no corn or wheat or I would highly recomment Canidae. A very good food with no wheat or corn and four meat ingredients. This is what I had to switch to for one of my dogs. She was eating plenty of food, but would not put on weight. Switched to Canidae and she is now a beautiful dog with a gleaming coat and is very active.
I personally don't like to give my dogs steroid anything. It will mask the problem but it will always come back. Maybe you could search out a homeopathic vet. They look at the whole picture and treat the whole dog, not just the
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Brenda
Sno Noz Reg'd Siberians
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