Several years ago our dog Chloe contracted Blastomycosis. She was less than 24 hours from dying from this horrible disease. This is how we saved her life. #Blastomycosis #Blasto #huntingdog
I am sorry to say that Chloe crossed the Rainbow Bridge on March 14th of this year of natural causes. She lived to be over 15 years old and she gave us 8 more years than we expected after her dealing with Blasto. Until we meet again little girl.
Thank you for sharing Chloe's story. I am so glad to hear that she recovered. My 2-1/2 year old mini Schnauzer rescue has tentatively been diagnosed (the vet is almost certain based on lesions, symptoms & her basic knowledge of the appearance on the slides). We are awaiting results from the laboratory to confirm. Meanwhile, she began treatment with Fluconosol 3 days ago on 3/4/2024, & an NSAID for pain. He has several lesions, & 3 days ago, she discovered lesions in one eye. It had been tender for a couple of days. I am praying he survives. I adopted him from a rescue in KY mid November 2023.
My English pointer caught it in northern WI this summer. 95% positive on an exact lake you described. Lake John in Lakewood, WI. It looked like she was all clear after 7 months of treatment. She’s been off her meds for a month and a half and it just showed back up in her left eye. Between vet appointment Friday AM where they hoped it was pinkeye but didn’t rule out Blasto return to Sunday PM, she’s now lost her vision in her left eye. Started treatment back up today. Unlikely she regains vision and likely will need to have eye removed but outside of that she’s her typical self. When she first got it her breathing was so labored. That was really only symptom she had. Her chest X-rays were packed with the fungus. They prescribed her itraconazole then and now. Plus now she’s on darzolamide eye drops. Itraconazole retail is roughly $600 for 60 pills. If you use GoodRX app you can get it for roughly $60 for 60 pills.
My Loki boy is sick right now. He's been sick for over 3 weeks and the vet first said it was a ear infection possibly meningitis so they put him on a antibiotic and steroids. A few days later he wasn't getting any better abd he was tilting his head and was having a hard time standing and walking. At that point they thought it was from some kind of accident so more steroids and another round of a higher antibiotic. Then last Wednesday he started having breathing issues so once again i took him to see her again. She did an X-ray and told me it was either Blastomycosis or cancer. She did a urine test which had to be sent out and probably won't be back till after Christmas but she went ahead and started him on Itraconazole. She then told me there had been mutiple cases of Blastomycosis so with that being the case she should have caught this sooner. I live in Kentucky and from what I've read this infection is only in the mid west. Lucky us, right? Im just praying hard for my boy to get better. I just lost my 16 year old Yorkie on September 24. So i can't lose him too. 😢
I am sorry to hear about Loki. I'm praying he will be OK. I also live in KY, & adopted a 2 yr old mini Schnauzer from a local shelter in 11/2023. Tucker was fine when I saw him at the adoption event about 10 days before I adopted him. He was neutered on 11/17 & I picked him up on the 18th. Within an hour, I noticed he was coughing when he ran or barked while playing. It progressed from a choking sound to a honking cough (like a goose) within a few days. The veterinarian said he likely had the mysterious respiratory virus that was going around. Tucker went through 2 rounds of antibiotics, and an eye gel before improving. All seemed well until 2/2024, when I noticed a couple of lumps appeared on his back. He also had no appetite & strange feces. After 3 days of no appetite, I took him to a new vet. She was concerned with the lesions (although at that time they were flat & dark like his skin). She treated the symptoms (because I am on a fixed income & told her I couldn't afford much that week before payday). She asked me to report back in 5 to 7 days. I called her the following week because he stopped eating again. He went from 2 lesions to 5, & the first 2 had doubled in size & were "weepy". He had also had tenderness in & around one eye for 2 days before our appointment. She noticed the tender eye had lesions. She took a sample from the lesions & sent the slide to a laboratory for a definitive diagnosis, but is pretty sure it is Blastomycosis Fungus. She began treatment with Fluconosol & a liquid NSAID. Three days later, he still doesn't have much of an appetite. He has 7 or 8 lesions now. Yesterday he had a good day & he ate 3 small meals, but today he doesn't want to eat at all & is lethargic.
My dog was diagnosed with this about a month and a half ago. Although he was sick probably a month before because, almost same as your case, the vet wasn't knowledgeable and got to the point, same as your Chloe, just laid stiff and couldn't even touch him without yelling. Switched vets and he is doing much better. His back legs are very weak the past little bit..did your pup have issues with that? Such a horrible thing to watch. So glad Chloe is well ❤️
My dog is at the animal hospital with this right now. We’ve been bawling our eyes out. He is 2 1/2 year old sheepadoodle. We live in WI also. We are southeast WI. His breathing is so bad and he won’t eat. We went to visit him today and he thought he was going home. He kept going to the door. We don’t want to euthanize him but we spent so much on hospital stay. We don’t want to take him home until he’s well enough to eat and breathe without oxygen. But we can keep him in the hospital forever. The decisions of what to do are excruciating. My kids are very upset too. I just can’t believe this is happening to our dog.
My sweet pup has been battling this for a month now. I would have been furious with your vet for ignoring your concerns as far as your pooch possibly having contracted blastomycosis.
My dog has been sick for 3+ weeks. First the vet said allergies, then following week they said pneumonia, and she keeps getting worse. I live in WI as well and going to request this test tomorrow as we have another vet appointment. This summer we also visited a few lakes on our hikes. I am broken hearted until they can figure this out. She struggles to breath and coughs similar to kennel cough.
Waiting for the test results. Monday we should find out. Don't know what's worse, a heart issue causing fluid in my dogs lungs, or blasto. Wish us luck.
My dog is currently in treatment for blasto since June. The medication prednisone in particular is making him constantly ravenous which is making him aggressive and depressed. Did you notice any of that with Chloe? I just can’t imagine our dog suffering from this for 12+ months. Please tell me more about her recovery process. Any side effects from the meds, behavioral changes, etc.?
She was very lethargic for the first 4 months. She started to perk up after 4 months and she then started to eat one type of food instead of having to go from different styles of food. Her attitude and behavior stayed very stable throughout. We encouraged her to be strong every day and gave her lots of ear scratches and plenty of love to make sure we where behind her 100 percent. She was fairly even keel attitude wise. All dogs are different and just like people, when they are not feeling good…some can be owly and some can be nice. The key is I would just look for improvements on a monthly basis. Your dog may have 2 good days and one bad day. The key is from a macro level is your dog getting better. You have to be strong because your dog can sense weakness. You can do it.
Is it possible if I can speak with you some how? I live in Milwaukee, zues my husky got it in lake mills lake. Same everything literally as your dog. Caught it at decent time I think. My vet has zues on itraconazole not the one you had. My vet does know that it’s blasto though. I don’t now if it’s the medication that all these side effects. It’s been about 3 months of constant medication of 200 ml daily split into two servings. Sometimes he seems all good then later he gets very tired and nauseous. Next check up isn’t for a month yet
My dog was just diagnosed with this...we adopted him from Wisconsin....he is so sick.....how long once she was on the meds did she start feeling better and how was her appetite...mine does not want to eat...
