CASE # 3


"K" was born 1 July 2008.  The middle of November 2008, she woke up one morning very sick.  I tried to move her and she screamed in pain.  She couldn't move without being in severe pain.  I took her to a vet who said she probably just had the flu or something.  He sent me home.  She continued to get so much worse.  I went back to that same vet and he put her on amoxicillan.  This did nothing and she went down hill fast.  No eating, moving, being in severe pain.  We couldn't even touch her by this point.  Vet had no idea.  I finally took her to another vet because I was going to put her down and wanted a second opinion.  He did some research and found BPS.  We started her on 20 mg of pred that day and by night she was doing much better.  We gave her 40 mg a day for about 3 weeks.  We tried to wean her off too quickly ( within three weeks).  Between the weight she had gained and trying to decrease her dose, she was back at square one.  Vet put her back on high dose and also added Immuron every other day.  So she takes 1/2 immuron every other day and takes 40 mg of pred every other day.  We are now down to 1/2 immuron every other day and down to 3/4 of a 20mg pred every other day.  I have been decreasing her dose of pred by 1/4 about every month.  If she can get all the way off the pred, then we will decrease the other med and see what happens.

I read a lot of articles on the internet about this disease after "K" was diagnosed.  I'm amazed at how many vets do not diagnose this right, and how many dogs have been put down because of it.   Thanks for your info.  I would appreciate learning all I can about this disease and if there is any other way to treat it.  "K is so fat because of the pred and that causes a lot of problems with her feet.  I wonder if there is a way to screen beagles for this.  I want to get another one but am really afraid of this happening again.