I CANNOT thank you all sufficiently for your professional and kind approach.
Fran
Wayne, PA
Rudy, an 11-year-old male neutered Dachshund, saw his primary veterinarian in mid-April of 2009 because of vomiting and diarrhea. At that time, he was diagnosed with gastroenteritis and prescribed medications for his gastrointestinal system. It is important to note that at that visit, Rudy’s skin was completely normal.
A week later, Rudy started to have some crusting on his ears; the following week, he developed much more severe crusting on his ears, foot pads, and abdomen–and he was still vomiting. Antibiotic therapy had no effect.
So, on April 28, 2009, Rudy visited the Emergency Services department at Hope VS and was referred immediately to our Dermatology department. The dermatology team did skin biopsies, which revealed an immune-mediated disease known as Pemphigus foliaceus (PF). Also during Rudy’s visit, the team learned that Rudy had been on Promeris, a topical flea/tick medication.
Rudy was prescribed prednisone (a steroid) and azathioprine an immune-system suppressant), and by the end of May of 2009, he showed dramatic improvement. By September of that year, Rudy was able to be weaned off the azathioprine and maintained on the prednisone. Rudy last visited the Dermatology department at Hope VS in May of 2011, and he is still doing great!
Promeris, the topical flea/tick medication Rudy was on, was removed from the market in 2011 because it had been linked to causing PF in multiple dogs. Rudy is extra special in that he was the Dermatology department’s first case of Promeris-related PF, and, clearly, he counts as one of their most successful cases!
