ABBEY's STORY  

When you've read Abbey's story you
might like to read other articles relating to this subject.

Management Of Perianal Fistulae / Anal Furunculosis

Anal Furuncillosis Some questions and answers for owners

Dietary Management for Dogs with Lower Bowel Inflammatory Disease (LBID)

Bedwins Catja
June 94 – Aug 98

Abbey was as diagnosed as having AF/PAF

I purchased Abbey as a puppy, and through the first few years of her life Abbey suffered with skin problems, before and after her seasons. Rashes on her stomach, lesions on her feet, and loss of fur over her toes.  I was aware that she had a hormone problem around her seasons, which I was told made her immune level drop so low she would pick up bugs that would not normally accept her. The vet did suggest that when she had a litter, her hormones would probably settle down and she would be okay. 

Abbey had five puppies in September 97, and was put to sleep in August 98 at Cambridge Veterinary Hospital after suffering from all the symptoms mentioned in the AF/PAF article in March’s issue.  Within two weeks of having the litter, her skin problems escalated and took several months to bring back into control.  Then, we had days of constipation where she was so bad she would be stuck in the squatting position for long periods of time.  Then her motions changed to diarrhoea, and Colitis. 

In April 98 I attended my vets as she had large mole type lumps appear at the base of her ear. (Which turned out to be to do with her autoimmune problems).  On this visit, I was told she had an ulcer on her anus, which the vet burst and put her on antibiotics for.  They booked Abbey in to remove the lump on her ear to get it analysed, but in the mean time a friend came to visit and on showing her Abbey, she advised me that she had an AF lesion on her bum.  I returned to my vet the following morning, confronted the vet I had seen the night before, then insisted on being referred to Cambridge.

I attended Cambridge the beginning of May, Abbey’s AF was by no means bad, but tests were done for bacterial overgrowth, which were positive.  Abbey was on pills for AF, pills for the bacterial overgrowth, and then further pills, which all my dogs had the pleasure of taking as well for 3 weeks for a bacterial overgrowth in their stools.  I began to wonder at this point if my kitchen was going to turn into a chemist. Abbey also had to have her bottom cleaned daily, which was a two-person job, as she did not like it at all. 

Then in June, it was decided that for her own good she should be spayed, otherwise the season and hormone change would make matters even worse.  Unfortunately, the stress from the spay made matter worse, but her general mental condition improved.  She had been very stressed out since having the litter, and after the spay was a lot calmer in herself.   But after several visits to Cambridge, it was almost impossible to keep her stable on a diet, and she would go a week and be okay, then her stools would get slightly softer, and bang the AF got worse again.  In fact, it never cleared up, at any stage of her treatment.  It showed signs of small improvements then would get worse again.

It was at the beginning of August I decided it was not fair on her to go on any further, I was given the option of going onto Cyclosporin, but declined.  This is a very expensive drug, and even though she was insured she had already used a fair chunk of her allowance on these problems already.  Abbey hated the vets, and got very stressed out every time she had to go, which in itself did not help matters.  Her problem was going to be there for life, and with this in mind I had her put to sleep.

I have tried on a couple of occasion’s to write about Abbey, but found it too painful to put on paper.  I attended the talk by Dr R White, and was surprised not to have seen more breeders there, seeing as it was well advertised.

Out of the litter I had from Abbey two animals have been diagnosed with the Immune-Meditated syndrome that AF is part of.  Out of the two daughters I ran on from Abbey’s litter, one has shown no signs at all, the other has been showing signs since the age of 6 months (Ernie), and has been looked at by Cambridge and confirmed that she to has the Immune-Meditated syndrome.  She is constantly under the vet for skin problems, skin lesions to above her eye’s, ears, and on her feet.  She is currently on Prednisolone and will hopefully be being referred to Cambridge in the near future to try and bring the lesions under control. Both animals are now in loving pet homes and have been spayed but are insured.

AF/PAF as suggested in the article written in March’s issue, can be passed on from generation to generation as it has been in Abbey’s case.  Over the years the knowledge on AF has not been very good, but it is improving all the time.  I personally think that breeding from an animal with AF, or from animals whose parents have had AF/PAF is a very stupid move. I have spoken to people who have said, my dog had AF and has never produced it? I don’t believe the majority of pet owners contact breeders with problems, as the majority of pet owners I have spoken to believe that we are not interested.  The owners that I know have contacted their breeder to report a “problem” normally get told to get lost in not so many words.

The question you have to ask yourselves is, if you had a animal in your breeding programme that you found out to be from affected parents, and you knew that your animal had shown signs, would you keep that animal in your breeding programme.

I would like to think that the thought of doing something positive for the breed would be more important than the money obtained from either stud fees or puppies, but unfortunately I don’t have the faith to believe that to be so.  A lot of breeders like to think they are in dogs for the good of their breed, but the only time you will know who they are is when they get a problem and have the guts to drop and withdraw a line from their breeding programme, because they know it has a problem that will affect others.

It’s a lot easier to say you will, than to actually do it when the time comes. 

The only thing I ask is, if you have an animal with AF/PAF that you send a copy of the animals pedigree to Sheila Rankin, to be submitted onto the Breed database.  That way if enough pedigrees get submitted then a pattern might be formed.  Therefore, making it easier to see which lines are higher risks than other.