It has been well over a year since Corky's official diagnosis of UVD and today he is looking and feeling great. His hair has mostly all grown back and it feels healthy and soft as it had drastically thinned back in September when his thyroid level dropped too low due to medication side effects. The pigment around his eyes, nose, and lips have stayed normal black for almost four months now.
We must be reminded of how serious and extreme Corky's symptoms were back in December 2009 (scroll down to earlier posts) and the long rollercoaster ride it took to finally get the disease into a sustained remission. Looking back we have endured two minor flareups and one major flareup in July 2010 which took a dreaded extended course of high dosage prednisone to bring the disease back under control. In addition to the numerous side effects from this episode, including hairloss and lowered thyroid, Corky had to undergo a major dental surgery in early October due to a deceptive cracked tooth which led to an abscessed carnasial molar that had be removed. This of course triggered his autoimmune UVD syndrome symptoms but after the surgery it calmed down and, to our great relief, has stayed in remmission ever since. His recent lab results came back healthy normal aside from his T-4 which seems to be oscillating between 1.7 and .5 so we have increased the thyroxine to .4mg twice daily. In addition to the thyroxine he is on a maintenance of prednisone every other day at 10mg alternated with 15mg EOD with a day of no pred inbetween. Niacinamide 500mg and Doxycycline 100mg twice daily. Azathioprine 50mg once daily. Prednisolone Acetate eyedrops twice daily. Other supplements include organic kelp powder and Veterinary Immune Tabs (professional strength) two tabs daily four times weekly. Taste of the Wild salmon/sweet potato grain free kibble and canned wet food for med adminstrating.
The good news is that Corky is happy and enjoying life as we are thoroughly enjoying him. Although his drama will always continue... he had developed a slight limp in his left front leg a couple months ago which he is still struggling with. The vet thinks he might have injured a shoulder ligament and since we are very cautious about using anesthesia for diagnosis we are not doing xrays at this time. Instead we have restricted his activities and giving it time to heal, expecting the healing to be slowed because of the pred usage. In fact, it may have been the pred that weakened his muscles making him more prone to injuries. It is a fine line any way you see it. Now since he is banned from chasing balls and frisbees which help with muscle tone, he is confined to walking only. He has gained a couple pounds putting more weight on the injured leg even though I've cut down on his calories. Then just when I think we're making a little progress he manages to gobble up a WHOLE LOAF of banana bread behind my back... aaaagggghhhh... so you get the picture...
One more new issue we are dealing with... he now has a ulcer in his left eye. Stopped pred acetate in that eye and are administrating two new serums and antibiotics... to be continued...
Meantime, a few recent photos of our beautiful Corkster:
a good looking eye:
a good looking nose:
Corky and Lulu... best buddies:
