Post
by Georgiapeach » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:03 am
grammy, I want to encourage you about Daisy having auto-immune disease. I had an adorable cocker spaniel that had auto-immune back when they had great difficulty diagnosing it, did not know how to treat it, and knew very little about how it even effects dogs. The vets said Dover was their guinea pig with it. A specialist put him on Prednisone in a very high dosage intially, then backed it off a great deal. We only had to "bump up the dosage" periodically when he'd have a "flare-up" that was brought on by different things. Dover lived until two months before his 19th birthday!!! And he did not die from auto-immune. He developed an aggressive cancer in his jaw, and the surgery would not have given him but a couple more months and he'd have been in pain, so I did the "right" thing for my little guy. The vets know a lot more about auto-immune now than they did then. Dover lived a full and happy life, and had auto-immune for 12 years of that time...and he lived almost twice the normal lifespan for his breed! Just wanted to encourage you about this.