3 yr old female skin darkening on sides

Submitted by suthern1 on May 19, 2011 - 12:54pm

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Gracie is my three year old Bullie with some recent medical problems. The reason for my posting is she has developed, what seemed at first, a black tint to her side (as if she had gotten dirty from being outside), with further looking, her skin is turning black. It was on one side and now it is both. Her hair is thinning some in this area but it is on both sides. Also, she is loosing hair on her tail with some scabbing. She loves to "sit and spin" in circles and this is a habit that she has had for a year now. But... the hair loss is on the visual top surface of the tail and it was also on the side as well. With one of my vet visits (more story follows below) the vet was aware of this and gave me Neo-Predef w/ Tetracaine Powder to put on it (not really seeing any difference). I wanted to reach out and see if any other families have experienced anything like this or can give some advice.

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Below is a small bio of Gracie that may/may not be related. Any advice for the below would be greatly appreciated as well.

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She went in for her yearly checkup, which included all shots and blood work, and three days later she became ill with a high fever and no energy. After a couple of vet visits, x-rays, blood work, antibiotics and even seeing a specialist, nothing was really diagnosed other than she had an upper respiratory infection. The fever went off and on for a week and 1/2, her activity level decreased 90% (only got up to use the restroom and when I had to prompt her to eat and drink), she lost weight and was just not feeling well. She was started to be a little better but... something just wasn't right and with spending over a grand in vet bills with no luck, I decided to take a trip to MI to have Gracie seen by my Sister-n-law, who is a vet. With one visit and one additional x-ray taken it was determined that she had severe arthritis, both hips were bad (right one more severe) and bad both back knees that kept on popping out of place. Both knees and hips need surgery. Before this, Gracie was (or appeared to be) a very active, healthy, thriving bulldog with no findings of problems from the vet or myself.

Gracie was given some pain medicine and some joint support chews to help. Since - she has picked up her eating back to normal with her energy level rising but she just isn't the same. :(

Hi there.

Submitted by onslowsmom on May 19, 2011 - 1:10pm.

I can tell you what the thing is on her sides. Its called Seasonal Flank Alopecia. Its not dangerous, more cosmetic. I attached a picture and a link for you to

http://www.vetslovepets.com/articles/94/1/Seasonal-Flank-Alopecia-lack-of-hair/Page1.html

As far as the arthritis, you may want to look into injections for her. Some people here have used Adequen (I have not) and claim it works very well. Here is another link.

http://www.caberfeidh.com/Adequan.htm

I would suggest you look around for a bulldog knowledgeable vet (if not your relative) and get rid of whoever you were going to in the beginning. This website is a very valuable tool, glad you found us and hope your baby gets some relief from her arthritis.

Best wishes.

Lisa (Onslowsmom)

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Oh and about the spinning

Submitted by onslowsmom on May 19, 2011 - 1:12pm.

she may need her anal glands expressed or her tail pocket cleaned out. Does she have a bun tail? My boy has a straight tail and even with it being straight sometimes poop will get stuck in the crook near the base, it needs to be cleaned as needed and kept dry.

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Thanks...

Submitted by suthern1 on May 19, 2011 - 2:36pm.

She goes every month to have her glands expressed. It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it :)

Yep, that's it!

Submitted by suthern1 on May 19, 2011 - 2:45pm.

YEP! That is it!

I am in the process of looking for a different vet here locally or within a 30 mile radius. Hopefully I can find a crediable one, just have to do my homework.

Thank you so much for the information. :) What a valuable site :)

There is a

Submitted by onslowsmom on May 19, 2011 - 2:47pm.

vet list on the homepage of this site. It is currently being re-vamped but you could check to see if any bully vets are near you ;)

Glad to help :)

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a thought

Submitted by RobinandLeo on May 19, 2011 - 6:02pm.

If Gracie had not exhibited any limping/stiffness suggesting arthritis prior to the Annual vaccinations, I might suspect she had a bad reaction to the vaccinations. Here is the logic behind it - arthritis is a manifestation of a compromised immune system and what do vaccinations do but whack the immune system?

For her comfort defiantly try the Adaquan injections, and do what you can to boost her immune system, such as; yogurt, Vit. C, very high quality food.

same problem here.

Submitted by diesel2 on May 24, 2011 - 12:09pm.

Hi. Wow this sounds just like what my 3 year old male bulldog is going through. He has lost fur on both sides and it's black. He seems very tired the past 3 days and is sleeping all the time. He usually loves to go outside and get a 30 min. walk every day. I'm not sure if it's his Lyme coming back or maybe a thyroid problem. I'm going to watch him again today and see if he gets better. Is your dog better? Is there any other way to know if it's athritis?

any better?

Submitted by suthern1 on May 24, 2011 - 2:26pm.

I am not sure if she is getting better but she is "coping" with what is going on, I think the best that she can. The darkening on her sides have spread some. I am in the process of finding a vet who is more "bulldog" knowledgeable but for now, I took her in to get her nails trimmed up and told her vet of this. The first thing he mention was the thyroid. She is active when she wants to be. My sister n law (who is a vet in MI) looked her over and actually was the one to let me know what was going on with her, took an xray of Gracie standing up, as if she was looking down on her. With that, unleashed a lot of information that no one seemed to think of before. That with a physical, looking over her recent blood work - she came her to conclusion. Gracie is taking something to help relieve the pain and "Flex 2500 Soft Chews" by Vedco - a joint supplement - this seems to help. She can get up and off the couch now. But it was recommended that she have a ramp. She will run around the yard but that quickly ends. She isn't the same and I can tell that she is very limited on what she can do.

I will look more into the thyroid (of course, this would be after I get in touch with my sister n law) and she what she recommends. I hope that he gets better. It is hard for us to see them go thru something like this. Has he lost weight? or has his appetite changed?