After a couple months of testing we heard the sad news on Lola yesterday that she has Canine Discoid Lupus. Discoid Lupus is an uncommon autoimmune disease of the skin. Not only is this a rare disease, it is even more rare for a Labrador. Commonly affected breeds are German Shepherds, Collies, Husky's, and Spaniels. Our vet said he has never seen this happen to a Labrador.
One night at the beginning of October we discovered that her ears were puffy and swollen. We took her to the vet the next morning and they said she was probably just having an allergic reaction to something. They treated her with a strong dose of anithistamines and the symptoms went away. The next day they were back, so I treated with Benedryl at home and they once again went back to normal.
Within a week after her swollen ears, her nose started to scale and the pigment became discolored. Her nose was not longer black. We gave it a few days, but after no improvement, we took her back into the vet. This time, they thought it was a reaction to the antihistamines because they can dry out the skin.
We waited another few weeks and with still no improvement, we decided it was time to proceed with testing. First, they did an auto-immune blood test to see if she had any sort of auto-immune disease of the blood, organs, etc. Thankfully this came back negative. The next option was to put her under and biopsy her nose to so they could specifically diagnose the disease.
This Wednesday was procedure day. They took 3 different samples from her nose, stitched her up, and a few hours later I picked up my very drowsy baby!! The vet called yesterday to give me the news that she has the Discoid Lupus.
What does this mean?? Well.....we have to start treating her with steroids as well as high doses of Vitamin E and DHEA. Our vet is hoping the steroid treatment won't be any longer than a couple of months and then we can transition her into a non-steroidal drug. Lola will more than likely be on some sort of medication for this for the rest of her life, but the good news is......as long as we get the disease under control, this should have no effect on her lifespan.
We start treatment on Monday and the Vet said we should see substantial changes within a couple of weeks. I will keep you posted. We call her our "Special Child" because things always happen to her....she doesn't have very good luck!! Say a prayer for a healthy recovery for my baby, WE LOVE HER!!
I don't know if you can see this very well, but this is a picture of her diseased nose.....so sad :(
(From Left: Lola, Casey, Jacks, Rusty)
(Well...it was fun while it lasted...a whopping 2 minutes)!
(EXHAUSTED!!)
