Vets All Stumped-Severe Nasal Mucus

Hello,
I've never used this site, but we are at our wits end with our poor dog, and the vets are all stumped. So here goes...

We have an 11yo dog, aussie mix, neutered male, pound rescue a 2month old. Always had autoimmune problems; allergies, rashes, etc. Low thyroid 3 years now, on twice daily thyroid med with good result. All shots, heartworm, etc. Symptoms started as runny nose. Got really bad, huge amounts of mucus comes out all the time. Developed cough that seems secondary.

First 2 Vets: Cough, turned into pneumonia per x-rays. Put on 2 different antibiotics (at different times), pneumonia gone, still has cough though (seems secondary to nasal problem), nasal mucus unchanged. Did scope through front of nose thinking sticker or foreign object. Pulled bad looking tooth. Kept on antibiotics. No change in symptoms. Sent to specialized vet out of town.

2 Specialized Vets: all blood work good. All tests, (x-rays, endoscope with biopsy, ct scan) along with symptoms, ruled out: cancer, fungus, foreign object, tooth problem, sinus infection. Assumed diagnosis: autoimmune related, severe chronic auto-inflammatory repsonse. Put on prednisone and another antibiotic. No response, symptoms unchanged. Weaned off prednisone, put on another family of antibiotic. No change. Stumped.

This has been going on for about six months now! And thousands of dollars later, still no one has a clue. We have seen 4 vets at two hospitals, and all 4 have talked to many of their collegues, and no one has even an inkling of an idea left. Now their only advice is to take him to UC Davis California, the veterinary teaching hospital, to be looked at there and see if they can figure it out.

Problem is, I can't drive that far, and since we've had many deaths in the family this year no one can take the time off work. Plus we're out of money...and the holidays are here to boot. Sheesh! So that's why I'm here on this forum!

ANY INPUT, IDEAS, ADVICE, HELP, IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!
THANKS ANYONE!!!!

FYI-talked to vet 2 days ago and he has been talking to all his collegeus about this. He said one of his collegues has a sister out of our area, who has a dog with same symptoms, stumping her vets also. So I'm wondering if there's something new out there, not yet widespread and thus far pretty much unknown?? (You can see we're all out of ideas!)

Have you investigated vaccinosis ??? Since you're saying your dog's had all his shots, it might just be the problem.

I've never heard of such a thing, so did a quick search to read about it. From what I've read, very little thus far, if that were it, it should have followed vaccination, but it didn't. It came on many months after his vaccinations boosters. Thanks for the idea!! I'm open to any ideas about this!!

Has the mucus been cultured?

Actually, the symptoms could appear much later. See

http://www.drpitcairn.com/talks/looking_at_vaccines.html

and especially the table where both the acute and chronic forms of canine distemper are compared.

I recently read an article about a dog virus that is making its rounds in the US. Here is one of the many articles that you can find on the internet:
http://www.petplace.com/article.aspx?id=5618

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for the ideas, we really appreciate it!!!

Okay, to catch up here.....

I'm almost positive it was cultured. From what I understood when they were explaining it all, the culture helped rule out fungus, because it usually takes a combination of tests to rule this out.

About the new virus going around; the vet told me this couldn't be the problem or our other dog would have gotten it, and if that were the case it would have run it's course long before now.

I'm really not sure what to think about vaccinosis. From what I've been reading, there are widely varrying theories, and the symptoms don't really match. If I've interpreted correctly, there are usually skin problems more than anything else. The symptoms just don't quite seem to match. But I'll keep reading until I'm positive one way or the other.

Thanks again everyone!!!

Inverness has a good point...over-vaccination IMO is quite dangerous. When pets get sick at an older age, lots of vets will stop vaccinating them because they recognize that the dog has built up a resistence from having yearly vaccinations. When my last dog was diagnosed with cancer, my vet said "no more injecting her with foreign vaccines". There is quite a lot of evidence that vaccines do in fact debilitate the immune system.

Over-vaccination can cause numerous health related illnesses and could be at the very least a contributing factor to your dog's mucus.

What are you feeding your dog!?

Have you considered researching homeopathic remedies!? There is a lot of information out there...if you are interested, I will post some info from a few of my books about possible treatments...

Is there really ever a vet that posts on these forums? Or is it a pipe dream? :confused:

Here's more info. on the dog virus. Its looks like an H3N8 that has 'shifted' from equine to canine. Here's a CDC transcript of a discussion on this virus. If you read through it, you may be able to glean other places to look for info on this virus.

http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/transcripts/t050926.htm

I'm not sure exactly how you'd test for it, but i know in humans they use a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test for viral pathogens.

I vet posts here maybe once a month, so don't hold your breath for it.

This forum isn't for vet responses. It's for you to speak with other users here about your pet's problems, and to see if anyone else has a solution.

Has your vet rulled out allergies? Could be environmental or food. Has an allergy test been done?

As a human, I have a runny nose 24/7 and have had it all my life. It's because I'm allergic to almost everything. Nothing to really be done about it. A runny nose can cause pnuemonia because the mucous drains into the lungs easily, causing it to become stagnant and grow bacteria.

Vaccinosis is when a dog has an autoimmune response to a vaccination. Many dogs can get it, and it doesn't have to be right after the shot. Basically, the body reacts to having the vaccine, either right after, or later on, and the bodies immune system is permanently screwed up (so to speak). My dog had a reaction to vaccines so we won't be getting them either. He also has food allergies to beef, wheat, and lamb.

A bit about food allergies. The most common allergies are corn, wheat, soy, chicken, and beef. If you are feeding a food with one of these, I suggest switching to one without any of these. Also, you can add pure honey comb to the dogs diet which he can chew on and ingest, as honey and the honey comb are excellent sources of amino acids and shown to help with environmental allergies.

Also, you might want to consider giving your dog a tsp of plain unsweetened 2% fat yogurt with each meal to help replenish the good bacteria in his gut that was killed by the antibiotics. Yogurt is fine for dogs and good for them to have every day.

Ask your vet about raising the glutathione levels in your pet.