severe canine rhinitus

[aalvarez]

Anyone have experience with this condition? We went ahead and took our newf for a CT and rhinoscopy for his recurring nasal infections which included extusis. CT scan showed a nasal tumor, but biopsy came back negative for cancer cells. The vet is still concerned because the CT showed some bone destruction which typically indicates cancer, and feels that there still could be cancer cells in there. The only way they will really get a good biopsy is if they do surgery and take out as much of the effected tissue as possible. She did not reccommend surgery, nor did we want it, because although it would provide a better biopsy, it is very invasive, a difficult surgery, and he could come out facially disfigured. She would not reccommend it even for her own pet. So, now we are doing steroid treatments in two week cycles, increasing/decreasing meds as necessary. He is on prednisone (3 tabs, 2x/day) and doxycycline (antibiotic, 6 tab, 1x/day). Good news is the nose bleeding has stopped and the mucous discharge has lessened. Vet says the steroids will cause extreme hunger and need to urinate. What have your experiences been with prednisone? I think this will be an ongoing battle for him. It is not a cure, only a means of keeping him comfortable by decreasing the inflammation and nasal discharge. I guess the tumor could continue to grow at some point.

 

[migrandl]

Pred will definitely increase hunger and urination. To help keep the weight off just add some frozen or canned veggies to his food - he'll feel fuller and won't add unnecessary pounds. I had a GSD who had nasal issues - don't recall the name Doc gave me, one of those 64million dollar words, but it was some sort of auto-immune thing that GSD's seem to be prone to. Moose was on Pred for almost 2 years before we helped him cross due to severe arthritis at 10 years old. The one thing that we ended up doing for the last 6 or 8 months was to add thyroid replacement to his regimine, because I guess long term pred can whack out the thyroid. You will eventually find the right dosage of the pred - once we got Moose to the right spot the nose bleeds stopped altogether, and he was less nasally.

 

[Bluedog]

I'm so sorry you and your boy are going through this.

Yes it will make him hungry, and urinate more, because he will be drinking more water. Do not restrict his water intake though, as he needs that extra water to stay hydrated and flush the drugs out of the kidneys. Angus was on an immune suppressant dose of pred for juvenile cellulitis at 21 months of age, and Emmy is now on an inflammatory dose, which is a bit lower, and we are beginning to reduce it. She also has chronic nasal infections, but hers are due to a condition that causes her to regurgitate food into the sinus cavity.

One other thing you should watch for is muscle mass loss and rapid weight loss on pred., especially with Newfs on a high dose. Do not be tempted increase his food to compensate for the muscle loss, it will only add fat and not muscle which will be harder on his joints and mobility overall. You may want to give food that has more "punch" or protein if he does lose muscle mass, and that may help. If the pred pills are 20mg pills, that's 120 mg per day a relatively high dose to start. Both of my dogs lost quite a bit , which caused severe muscle weakness in Angus and eventually poly-neuropathy, to the point that he could not get up on his own. He lost 30 lbs in the first 2.5 to 3 wks. Once we reduced the dose and got him off of it, the poly-neuropathy went away, and the muscle mass gradually came back, but it took two yrs. to get the muscle strength back. As Marilyn mentioned long term usage can cause other neuro-musclar type symptoms, like addison's or even MG. The pred can also cause infections to become worse or harder to treat, so don't be surprised if the nasal discharge comes back once you finish the course of antibiotics.

Hugs to you and your boy, and sending good thoughts that the tumor stays under control, and the pred and antibiotics give him some relief.