Anal Furunculosis

sidesaddlegirl

sidesaddlegirl

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Took my 5 year old German Shepherd/Border Collie cross to get her annual jab and health check the other day and to get her anal sacs drained as she had been scooting about and licking her bum excessively for the past month. I noticed that her bum had been a bit swollen looking too. The vet had a look and first question asked was if I was insured :(

She drained her sacs which were full and said she strongly suspected anal furunculosis and to give it a few weeks and come back if no improvement with the draining. Well, my dog has been licking her bum again and I had a look today and there are 3 ulcercery looking spots at the top of her bum where she's been licking :(

She's not insured and googling this disease, the meds and ops sound VERY VERY expensive (costing more than our mortgage each month!!).

Does anyone have any experience with this? It's not looking hopeful unfortunately and I've not told my 12 year old what the vet said :(
 
Oh poor you. I had a German Shepherd with this complaint years ago - it seems to be one of the quite common GSD ailments. We hadn't had him a few days when I noticed a problem, but we were attached to the dog who had been in kennels for months.
I am talking about 1986 and the treatment then for the dog came to just over £1,000.00 He had to have cryo surgery to freeze away all the affected area, this meant he was constipated terribly and the smell of the literally rotting flesh was dreadful. He had to have frequent vet visits to 'clear him out' during this phase and then surgery again to widen his anus, which was tight through the cryo surgery. It was frankly a nightmare few months. He did recover.
Would I go through it again? Probably not, I am sorry to say, unless there are varying degrees of the disease and it was a very mild case.
My poor dog looked like someone had slashed his bottom with a knife when we got him - we had got him from a homing kennels and we thought he had been abused :( Obviously the vet put us straight and warned us to return the dog, but we were softies .
 
This is the same scenario that I've been reading over and over again and when the first question a vet asks is about insurance, it's generally not good. And now that 3 ulcers seem to have popped up in a matter of days is also not good. I'm going to ring the vets today and see what they say :(
 
Good luck OP. I don't know if there are drugs available today to help to keep the condition stable for a time? It's a horrible decision and we would all love hindsight. I had a little cat that sustained a tail fracture and it had to be amputated. She was insured - her bowel ceased working (slight paralysis) and the vet suggested removing her large intestine - this meant she would be 'loose' all the time. I agreed and 2 operations later my cat was seemingly ok. However the 'loose' poo was terrible - she couldn't be let in the house as she soiled so much. She looked in 'good condition' I would say for 2 years and then lost condition and I sadly lost her. Again had I not been insured I think she would have been euthansed and actually it would have been kinder.
Sometimes insurance can be a curse and it can rule your head over matters.

I just looked at some advice regarding it and medical intervention via drugs - interestingly - Cyclosporine - which is a drug precribed to my son for his excema (it's an anti rejection drug for organ transplant patients). That was an expensive drug £65 for a month's supply. We actually still have some - so ask you vet what strength if you go with that treatment and I will look out what we have left.

The prognosis reads quite positively I think on this one site

http://www.willows.uk.net/specialist-services/pet-health-information/soft-tissue/anal-furunculosis

Medical treatment:
At least 95% of cases will significantly improve following medical therapy, with lesions reducing in size between 60 and 100%
Up to 85% of patients go into complete remission (lesions disappear) using medical therapy
Approximately 40% of cases that achieve remission can suffer recurrence of the disease. If recurrence occurs it usually does so within 6 to 8 months after treatment is stopped
Those cases suffering from recurrence often respond to additional courses of medical therapy
Approximately 4% of cases do not significantly improve on medical therapy
 
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I lost my last GSD with this. He had it mildly to 12+ years of age and then had a major outbreak (I use this term with reason) whilst I was away. My Mum took him to the vet who PTS there and then as trying to treat such a painful condition on an elderly dog was not an option.
If it is mild you may be able to manage with diet and antibiotics. Long term the prognosis is not good though and this condition is painful even with expensive treament. Don't be pressured into drastic measures.
 
Cylclosporin can be used topically - mixed into fuciderm or aqueous cream - depends how serious things are - first step is to get rid of any infection and go from there.
 
I lost my five year old GSD to this condition in January.
I won't go into gory details but the fissure that developed was huge and very painful.
He was PTS on the same day that we realised the severity of the fissure, he'd had enough pain and procedures in his five years and we were not prepared to have him endure any more.

I know the owner of a male who has the same dam as his dam (if that makes sense!! - would be his doggy uncle?!) who spent thousands on cauterisation (the fissures just keep re-opening) and drugs and special food and to be honest she was just prolonging the inevitable and personally, I would not have persevered in the way that she did. Her dog was ten years old though.

Best of luck with whatever you decide, thinking of you and your girl.
 
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SusieT said:
Straight back tot he vets-this is a condition that needs addressed sooner rather than later.
Click to expand...

What is the point of saying that when the OP just said she is taking the dog back to the vets?
I'm sorry OP, it sounds like an awful thing.
 
SusieT said:
Straight back tot he vets-this is a condition that needs addressed sooner rather than later.
Click to expand...

This is why I got her in for tomorrow morning instead of waiting the 2 weeks that the vet said on Monday as her bum has gotten worse :(

She has been on the couch all day with me so I can stop her licking her bum, it breaks my heart. My OH has taken the day off work tomorrow too just in case :(

Vibes that it's just something that can be easily fixed with some cream and a collar.
 
My first GSD had this in later life, it’s a horrible condition. I opted for surgery to remove the lesions and glands but I would never put another through it. He did subsequently recover and had no further problems until his heart packed up 12 months later. Good luck at the vets, treatments progress all the time so hopefully your girl can be helped.
 
My gsd has it, he is 11 and it has just flared up, which is apparently very rare. He doesn't have any fissures though, which is very good news. Vet put him on 10 days antibiotics, steroids (prednisolone) and a cream called protopic.

So far, (and I am keeping everything crossed) he has responded really well to treatment. He has finished the antibiotics and we are currently reducing the steroids, so far so good.

We are keeping the area clipped, cleaning with warm water and cotton wool when necessary (to clean any faeces away) and put the cream on in the evening.

We have also changed his diet to a type of protein he has never had before.

Good luck at the vets.
 
Went to the vet's this morning and she definitely has Furunculosis :( She had two vets look at her and it def is. The vet said that the Atopica (think that is how it's spelled) would be about £200 a week for her so that is out of the question for us unless I win the Euromillions this week! They've put her on steroids and I also bought some Preparation H ointment from the chemist on a hunch, to sooth her bum to stop her from licking it so it heals while she is on them. So far, she hasn't been too bad today but we have to go back in a week to reassess. Vibes/prayers/jingles that it works :(
 
Someone up above mentioned Protopic - might be worth asking your vet if they think they could prescribe it for your dog OP. I've prescribed it for a few dogs with furunculosis who I've treated and it's worked well. It's not cheap (about £100/tube with us) but will last a fairly long time and work out cheaper than the Atopica- it can make a big difference and might reduce the amount of steroid needed.

The other things that may help if she will tolerate it is cleaning her bottom area with dilute hibiscrub - wash, allow 5 mins or so contact time, rinse and dry. Baby powder around the bottom area (avoiding any ulcerated patches) to help reduce humidity in the area sometimes improves things too.

Good luck :)
 
Thank you, the vet did mention Protopic today but they didn't have any left in stock at the surgery so was going to ask on Thursday when we go back. I also found some online animal meds websites that sell Protopic and Atopica less than what the vet charges but on POM so may look in into that too but fingers crossed, because we caught it early, the steroids will work.

I will try all the tips everyone has suggested and also heard that Sudacreme for AF is good too?
 
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I work with a German Shepherd rescue and we had a dog with anal furunculosis which is now in complete remission. She was treated with Atopica and we actually have quite a stock pile left so if anyone does have their dog on Atopica and would like to purchase from us at a reduced price let me know.
 
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