Marquire
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any experience of the autoimmune disease Pemphigus foliaceus?
My poor pony may have it
It started of innocuously enough with a couple of lumps on his side before Christmas whcih came and went and now he has dozens on his tummy and neck and some patches are really big and scabby now with the scabs flaking off to reveal more scabs underneath. he fine in himself, no loss of appetite, the spots/scabs are not itchy and don;t seem to bother him at all.
My vet gave him a course of antibiotics which finished yesterday to see if it was a general bacterial skin infection but there's been no change. The vet is back this afternoon. But the vet said last week when he saw him it looked like this autoimmune thing and if so he'd need skin biopsies to confirm iit, tehn treatment with cortosteroids and gold powder long term with no guarantees that it'd improve it. Plus the side effects of long term steroid use are not good.
I've been researching on the internet (big mistake) and have now scared myself witless as recent research shows that 80% of horses with this disease are euthanised within 12 months of diagnosis.
God it is such a nightmare.
Marie
My poor pony may have it
It started of innocuously enough with a couple of lumps on his side before Christmas whcih came and went and now he has dozens on his tummy and neck and some patches are really big and scabby now with the scabs flaking off to reveal more scabs underneath. he fine in himself, no loss of appetite, the spots/scabs are not itchy and don;t seem to bother him at all.
My vet gave him a course of antibiotics which finished yesterday to see if it was a general bacterial skin infection but there's been no change. The vet is back this afternoon. But the vet said last week when he saw him it looked like this autoimmune thing and if so he'd need skin biopsies to confirm iit, tehn treatment with cortosteroids and gold powder long term with no guarantees that it'd improve it. Plus the side effects of long term steroid use are not good.
I've been researching on the internet (big mistake) and have now scared myself witless as recent research shows that 80% of horses with this disease are euthanised within 12 months of diagnosis.
God it is such a nightmare.
Marie