7/29/11: Meet Petie, a young male owner surrender in Choctaw Co. Mississippi. Petie is being transported to the big city tomorrow morning. He has been at a private, vet run shelter for the last month for treatment of allergies and resulting skin irritation. He has apparently been in three homes in his short life, all relinquishing him because of his skin condition. Afraid that he might be adopted into a home that AGAIN would not be able to care for him, Dr. Morris asked for our help. Petie will arrive tomorrow afternoon and we’ll begin our magic!!!
Update 7/28/11: Petie is now in our care. With the help of our friends and volunteers, we were able to get him to safety. Petie is 4 years old and by all accounts has suffered with skin problems all his life. He was repeatedly treated with antibiotics, prednisone and medicated baths, only to have the skin issues return. We were told he was allergy tested and was “allergic to everything”. He’s a white bulldog, they usually are. On examination, his skin is red with patchy fur loss. The fur feels very waxy so he’s probably suffering from yeast infection at this point. We have no record of scrape for mange and will do that ASAP (doesn’t really look like mange though). For now, we’ll change him to a good quality grain free food and taper his prednisone. Also begin treatment with antibiotics and anti fungal medications. I’m sure we can get him looking better in no time. He will need to be neutered. He is UTD on vaccines and is heartworm negative.
Update 8/5/11: Pete’s skin scrape for mange was negative. He’s on multiple medications, including ketoconazole, to treat his skin. He is now on grain free food. Hoping that after his skin clears he will never have this issue again. Petie remains at our vet but we anticipate transfer to his foster home very soon.
Update 8/13/11: He is looking A LOT better than he did two weeks ago but he still has a skin infection and he is still missing hair. He is pretty scabby, flaky and itchy too. Poor guy! He loves… his new food, Taste of the Wild – Pacific Stream! His skin is looking less pink. We are hopeful that he will be feeling and looking better in a week or two; at least enough to get neutered and moved to his foster home.
Update 9/22/11: Picked up Petie from the vet yesterday to take him home and get him ready for his debut at Paws in the Park on Sunday. He is such a sweet boy! No matter how bad he looks or feels his little pink hairless tail is always wagging! He has made some progress but still has a long way to go. Dr Ross took him off steroids last week. We will wait another two weeks then do allergy testing.
Update 10/6/11: Petie went to Riverside Animal Hospital yesterday so they could draw blood and do allergy testing. We should have the results in a few weeks. He is getting weekly baths with medicated shampoo. I think they are helping. He is less waxy but still scabby and a little itchy. He was feeling good yesterday! He was jumping and bouncing around so I let him out of his room to visit with his foster brother and sister.
Update 10/11/11: The allergy serum has been ordered and he’ll begin allergy shots as soon as it comes in. Allergy test range from 1 (very low level) to 6 (ultra high levels). Here is Petie’s list: rabbit 2 yeast 2 rice 2 pork1 turkey 2 peas 3 barley 1 lamb’s quarter weeds 2 sagebrush weeds 1 russian thistle weeds 2 walnut trees 2 privet trees 2 bermuda grass 2 timothy grass 3 june grass 3 cat dander 2 sheep wool 2 d. pteronyssinus 2 aspergillus mold 2 cladosporium mold 2 mucor mold 2 hosefly 3
Update 3/13/12: Petie had his appointment with Dr Joel Griffies at Animal Dermatology Clinic. Petie is covered in bacteria! They took blood so they can run some tests, just so we can eliminated a few things that might be causing his issues. We also two took swabs, one from his ear and one from his skin so the lab can do cultures. This will help us determine the best drug possible to kill all of the bacteria. He is getting keflex until we get the results back from the lap. The plan is to treat the bacteria infection aggressively until it is all cleared up. He will continue his allergy shots and continue eating Taste of the Wild, Pacific Stream. Instead of once a week baths, he will be getting every other day baths for the next few months. He is up to 51 pounds! No matter what this boy has been through and no matter how horrible he feels or how itchy he is, Petie is the sweetest, most well behaved.
Update 3/21/12: Peties blood work came back normal. But his cultures were pretty stubborn when trying to come up with the best medicine to treat him with. Dr Joel Griffies decided to treat him with zeniquin for his skin and amikacin/dex/saline for his ears. We go back in three weeks for a check up. Wish us luck!
Update 4/10/12: Petie had his follow up appointment with Dr Griffies. The bacteria infection is all cleared up! Which is great news but we are concerned because Petie is still very pink, scabby and crusty. Dr Griffies took three pieces of skin to send to the lab to do biopsies. Fingers crossed we can get to the bottom of this soon. He does have a yeast infection on his belly which we are treating with Ketoconazole. His ear infection is looking much better but it is not completely cleared up yet. We will continue to treat. He is still getting baths three times a week. We will update as soon as we get the results of the skin biopsies. He has gained even more weight, he is up to 55 pounds. He must be feeling better!
Update 4/24/12: We finally got the skin biopsy results back for sweet Petie. After suffering for years, he has been diagnosed with an auto immune skin disorder called Pemphigus Foliaceus. He began high doses of prednisone today and we will keep our fingers crossed that we can get this disease into remission. He will need to be on prednisone for the rest of his life but at least now we know the enemy and can get this dear fellow on the road to recovery.
We would like to give a special thank you to Mr.and Mrs. Ken Craft of Damascus, GA for the recent donation of $1000 to help with Petie’s his vet care.
Update 7/20/12: Peties skin looks, feels and smells a 100% better than it is did in March of this year. He is not in remission yet but he continues to make progress. We had a slight set back; he scratched his eye a few weeks ago. It is almost completely healed. We also put him on a special diet to see if that can help take him to next level. You can tell he finally feels well; he runs, jumps and plays like a healthy happy dog should!
Update 11/13/12: Unfortunately Petie had a pemphigus flare up. We had to increase his prednisone to one full pill every other day. Which is actually two steps backwards from where we at. We were finally down to 1/2 pill twice a week but his body could not deal with so little prednisone. We will monitor him at this dosage for a weeks week then go down to 1/2 pill every other day. If he has another flair up then we might have to add atopica to his drug regimen. He is still happy and playful though, so that is all that matters to us!
Update 2/27/13: Petie had a three month check up with Dr Griffies. Things are looking good for Petie! We changed to a different shampoo to help cut the greasiness. He goes back in six months for a check up and hopefully then we will be able to drop his prednisone down to 10mg twice a week. If we can do that; they Dr Ross would be comfortable neutering him.
Petie saw this old friends; Ken & Phyllis Craft at the Bully Ball again this year. They donated another $1000 towards his care. Thank you Ken and Phyllis!
Update 7/20/13: Petie had his annual check up with Dr Ross. All went well but he does have a small mass that she wants to remove. Our challenge with Petie having surgery is that the amount of prednisone and azathioprine can affect his ability to heal after surgery. But if we stop both medications, even for a short period of time, we take the chance of his pemphigus flaring up. We will consult with Dr Griffies next week and come up with a game plan. And we will neuter him them too!
Update 8/29/13: Petie was neutered, had his teeth cleaned and had a small mass removed from his leg. He is recovering from surgery just fine!
Update 9/5/13: Petie is doing well post surgery. He started to get some park pink spots a few days ago that have gotten red now. But he started back on his drugs today so hopefully that will put and end to the redness. Surgery incisions are looking good!
Update 11/11/13: Poor Petie has another joint infection in his wrist. He is on meds but feeling pretty crappy. Please keep him in your thoughts.
Update 11/25/13: Now that Petie has been neutered and his pemphigus is manageable he is officially ready for adoption! BUT…Petie is a very important part of GEBR so his adopters will need to be local, promise to bring him to events (and let Stephanie have visitation rights), and will need to continue taking him to Dr Griffies; his dermatologist in Marietta. If everything is going well for him then he would only need to see Dr. Griffies every six months. A regular visit will cost approximately $250.00. He is no longer on allergy shots, but he is on prednizone, azathioprine, ketoconazole and gets weekly baths with medicated shampoo. These medicines costs approximately $250.00 a year. These costs are on top of the regular costs of owning a bullie. These numbers are not meant to scare away potential adopters, they are merely for your information. He is going to be more expensive than most bullies. He has grown from a sick, miserable, suffering bullie to an amazing dog with a lot of love to give. He does not mind getting a bath, his nails trimmed, or when you pick out the hair that gets stuck in between his teeth. He loves to be rubbed on his back side but never his belly. His nipples are still swollen from the five years of infection and scratching, but not nearly as bad as they were two year ago when he came into rescue.
Update 12/17/13: Petie went to see Dr Griffies because he is suffering from another bacteria and ear infection. He is on antibiotics and ear medicine. This poor guy will always be prone to infections because his immune system is so weak.
Update 7/29/14: Petie has another joint infection! He will be fine with some medication and rest but at the moment he can not walk. It sucks to see him like this. But on a lighter note, he had his 6 months check up with his dermatologist Dr Griffies last week and his skin and blood work look great. He decided to drop his prednisone from every other day to twice a week. Hopefully this will not negatively affect his skin and it should also help decrease the amount of joint infection he gets in the future. He likes dogs and children but is allergic to cats. If you have a cat please do not apply. approximate age: 9 approximate weight: 55 pounds likes dogs: yes likes cats: no – also allergic to them likes children: he has met many at GEBR events and has done great with them food: Taste of the Wild, Pacific Stream life long medications: Benadryl, ketokonazole, prednisone, azathioprine, medicated shampoo, medication ear rinse
GUARDIAN ANG
ELS: D Weiss
K & P Craft
P Kasparek
R Balkam
G & J Bethenod
D Taylor
Sponsors:
M Parece
E McBride
D & B Howell
G & J Bethenod
T Anderson
D Gastinger
R & S Rice – In memory of PorkChop
F & M Tobin
C & K Walker
J Swift
C Jarvis
C Still
We would like to thank the following for participating the one item auction to help with Petie’s surgery costs. Sally’s Bits of Clay for donating the hand made clay figurine of Petie . Darlene Taylor who bid $280.00 and even though she did not win the auction, donated her bid amount. Daniel and Tammy Payne for placing the winning bid of $310.00. Patrick M for donating $500.00.
October 24, 2017: Pletie crossed over the rainbow bridge today. Rest In Peace Petie. We all love you and will miss you very much. You were a perfect poster boy for GEBR!
Click photos to enlarge
