Dog health

Question
QUESTION: I know you are not a vet and am not looking for diagnosis to rely upon. I am wanting to know if this is something you have ever heard of before and if you have any suggestions. We have a 5 year old mixed breed. Dad was chocolate lab and pit, mom black lab and rot. He just turned 5 last month.
About 3 months ago 2 small 'wounds' appeared, one on the back of each leg to which I thought someone shot him with a beebee gun. Took him to vet. They said not to worry and sent us home. 2 weeks later, the wounds were quite worse, about a dime in diameter, puckered around the edges. Vet performed surgery, completely cutting the affecting skin off and closing the wounds. About 2 days later, noticed a small bump on his rib cage, thought maybe they dropped him or he pulled muscle trying to get comfortable laying down with his stitches, so brought him back to vet. They did surgery immediately and opened him up and thought it was cancer and said a palm-sized growth had formed. They removed as much as possible, and sent off sample to lab.
Results came back negative for cancer, and not knowing what kind of infection it was.
He has been put on a variety of anti-biotics. The lesions on his legs have healed, the bump on his rib cage has gone down, still slight drainage which is clear and according to vet, nothing to worry about.
He has since developed a limp which pain medication and anti-inflamatories had helped. 3 days after stopping these medications, his limp is worse, seemingly both his hind legs now unable to really support him, he puts more weight on his front legs.
New veterinarian has prescribed, and we are giving him a lot more anti-biotics, $500.00 worth. They want xrays done, which we are taking him in tomorrow to have completed.
We seem to be going round and round and I just need some insight from someone who has maybe seen or heard of this crazy round of symptons.
I love this dog and I don't want to prematurely give up hope, regardless of the xrays if this is something somebody has heard of before, or experienced. If it means long terms medication treatment, so be it, I don't care what it costs, but I do love him enough to not want to prolong his suffering if there really is no hope.
I don't know how to explain what I am asking for. I am not looking for you to diagnos nor to sway my decisions.
Just looking for someone with any amount of familiarity or knowledge of what this could possibly be. I don't want to give up over bad xray findings just to have someone say, but yeah, given time and medications there ispossibility that it would have gotten better.
I am not holding you responsible nor your reply as gospil, we are seeing veterinarians and taking their recomendations.
Again, just another opinion or thought.
Thank you so much for your time and for being here to ask questions to, I cannot tell you how much this is appreciated.

ANSWER: Hi Patricia,
The problem with these kinds of things are the sometimes they are regional. In other words, if you live in the south, he could have a lot of things that are tick borne but only occur in the south such as Ehrlichiosis.
Dogs get less common things such as pemphigus. There are three kinds of pemphigus:
Pemphigus, bullous pemphigoid:

Rare autoimmune condition, most often seen in Collies and Doberman Pinschers -80% of dogs have oral lesions; vesicles in groin area and underneath front legs-Steroids and other immunosuppressants

Pemphigus erythematosus:Less severe form of pemphigus foliaceus, an autoimmune disease; exposure to sunlight may play a role in its development    Pustules, drainage, and crusts; usually on face and ears-Topical and oral steroids; other immunosuppressives

Pemphigus foliaceus: The most common form of pemphigus in the dog; an autoimmune disease; some breeds are at increased risk    Often affects feet and head; starts with pustules and progresses to severe crusting; depigmentation of the nose is common; itching may occur; if footpads and nails affected often see lameness; symptoms wax and wane; severely affected animals may have fever and loss of appetite-Corticosteroids, other immunosuppressive therapy, gold injection

That's by no means all it could be. Has he been tested for Lymes? I would make sure that was done.

It sounds like he has a systemic staph infection, causes can be anything from a weakened immune system to a bite wound, poke from a stick etc.

It sounds like that is what it is, but Patricia there are so many things that can cause skin lesions.

Here is the page I got the above from:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1593&aid=426

You will that there are so many things that they can get. The thing that worries me (and I am sure the vets as well) is the sudden weakness of the hind legs.
I am wondering if they are looking into panosteitis now, which is a very painful bone disease of young dogs. He could even get it from the infection, as they are unsure of the cause of it.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1561&aid=466

I am only throwing some things out there for you Patricia. To be honest it's better to just let the vet do their research and determine what this is. An xray will show them what kind of shape the bones are in and if they are inflamed. I bet that's what they are looking for.

But ask them. Don't be afraid to question them. Ask about rickettsial diseases and panosteitis. Rickettsial diseases are those that are tick borne or insect borne.

Skin lesions are sometimes very tough to beat, but with some more sleuthing around I am sure your vet will find an answer.
Good luck and I hope that the answer is soon and that he recovers well.
Please let me know how he does.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for offering suggestions and giving me things to ask the
vet.
I can't tell you what a roller coaster of emotions I have been on and to be
quite honest with you, I don't know how I will go on if we lose him.
It is so very frustrating. Something to have started as suspected beebee gun
shots to turn in to his loss of any stability of his hind legs. It makes me so sad
to see him struggle to walk to go out to go potty, but I am really struggling
with 'what if I give up too soon'. We have had Bodover since he was born, and
he is always happily waiting for me to get home from work. He has been just
spectacular with our children and grandchildren and I just know there is no
replacement for him.
Again, thank you for being an outlet where people can turn just to get
thoughts and ideas, and for me, things to ask the vet about that maybe they
haven't thought of.
Do you know how valuable this site is and how wonderful you are for giving
your time here?
I just cannot thank you enough.

Answer
Thanks for the kind words Patricia. I do understand how upsetting this is. Any disease in our beloved pets is hard to bear for us. You are not giving up yet so don't even go there.
If it gets too unbearable for him he will let you know when he is done. You will know by the look in his eyes.

Right now, however, you just concentrate on doing some research yourself. Look up lameness in dogs online and read what you find, take notes but don't start thinking he has everything you read about. Don't read sites set up by lay-people either. Other dog owners in other words. The problem is that they will tell you their side of the story without knowing what the real medical issues were, so be careful.

But never be afraid to ask the vet a lot of questions, but write them down before you go in there. Our emotions get the best of us and we can't think straight, so you forget to ask. Also you might want to ask about some pet insurance at this point. This could cost you a lot of money so maybe you can still get some.
Vets are human too, so they do not think of every angle sometimes. It is not a bad thing to have some knowledge, but ask, "Are these symptoms indicative of.... fill in the blank." Or have you tested him for Lymes? etc etc... that helps.

I wish there was more I could do. My ability is limited because I am not a vet and cannot diagnose, but I can suggest things. And as I said, he could have something that we don't see in California so I might not even know the symptoms of what he could have.

You are welcome and I wish I could help more. Please keep me posted on his progress.