Dog nose

Question
Hi,
Read your profile and understand that you are not a vet. Just looking for some guidance in steering me in the right direction. Appreciate your time!!

Recently, I have noticed that my dog had a little white spot on top of her nose. A few days later, I had another look and the left side of her nose was raw. She has been scratching her nose with her paws, rubbing it against the couch and ultimately making it bleed. I have also noticed that she has been licking her genetals and paws more than usual. We took her to the vet where he scared us by saying it may be lupus. He gave her an antibiotic which to date, I have not seen any benefit. Had a blood test done and results came back negative. Blood count is good etc etc...
Would you have any advise? Would a blood test concreately conclude that it is not lupus? She has been eating normally and acting normal as well. She is a 10yr old Jack Russel. We live in Canada and the temperature has recently turned cold quick. Dont know if this will make any difference.

Thanking you in advance


Answer
I would ask him if he did a check for Pemphigus vulgaris also. It is an auto-immune disease like lupus but it starts on the nose and lips. They get raw and bleed, look dried and cracked from it. It is hard at first to distinguish from lupus without a test. I do believe there is a test to rule out the lupus first. In my experience, pemphigus is much more common,.m but lupus is not uncommon. Autoimmune diseases in dogs just aren't see daily, thus considered uncommon.

Here are some articles for you to read and then you can decide to pursue this more fully. I don't think your vet is looking deep enough. You should have a biopsy done regardless and that will tell you definitively what it is and is not.

Regarding Lupus(explains all lupus):
http://www.petplace.com/article-printer-friendly.aspx?id=775

Pemphigus vulgaris:
http://www.vetinfo.com/dpemph.html

and here:
http://www.petplace.com/article-printer-friendly.aspx?id=83

I hope this helps some. Dogs her age with either disease can live out their normal life span with the proper medication as long as it's not stopped.

I hope that helps some and thanks for reading my profile! I wish more people did ;-)
Tommmy please let me know what you find out eventually.
Thanks