Update: Sienna’s Auto-Immune Disease

Happy update!  We recently had our 2 week check up since Sienna was put on her treatment protocol for SLO (Systemic lupoid onychodystrophy).  You can read more about Sienna’s journey so far here. In this post I will be proving an update on Sienna’s journey as well as some of the lessons we have learned so far!

When we first learned of this disease about a month ago we were very hesitant to throw Sienna on a bunch of medications because I was afraid of the long term effects of the drugs, especially because she will likely need to be on them for a long time.  According to our vet, this auto-immune disease generally is worst between the ages of 3 and 8, when the immune system is at it’s prime.  Sienna has had enough problems in her life. We don’t need to add liver damage or anything else.

I was very happy when the vet prescribed antibiotics and a few supplements. 

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At our 2 week check up, the vet was really impressed!  Sienna looked to be improving, the infection appeared to be clearing and her paws didn’t smell anymore!  She was so impressed with her progress that she only recommended 1 more week of the antibiotics.  Apparently most dogs with this condition usually need at least 4 weeks.  

She thought that the combination of treatment plan given by our vet, accompanied by the chiropractic and swim therapy that we’ve already been doing because of the FHO surgery, and adding in the acupuncture treatments would have a really positive impact on Sienna’s auto-immune disease.

It’s only been a month, but I thought I would take the time to share some of the lessons we have learned with this rare disease so far. 

It’s Bath Time!

Even though we’ve been doing this for a number of week now, Sienna still hates the bath.  She won’t leave the bed when she knows it’s time.   It’s lucky that she’s only 50 pounds and we can carry her.  However, she has been visibly happier once she’s in there.  She wags her tail now, where the first few times it was constantly tucked, and she also moves around the tub, where before she was frozen in place. 

From day one, we have been trying to make bath time a good experience.  Here’s what we do:

• Make sure water is ready, the right temperature (lukewarm) and Epsom salts are mixed in before bringing her in to the bath
• Play classical music and/or sing calming songs while she is in the bath
• Stay with her the entire time, sometimes petting and massaging, other times feeding treats
• Save a portion of her daily food allowance to give to her during her bath (usually some of our homemade treats broken in to small pieces!  The homemade pyramid pan treats have been great for this).  A great idea that we haven’t tried yet is a lickimat that suctions to the side of the tub!
• Let her get out of the bath on her own.  Due to her hip issues we hadn’t previously encouraged it because we didn’t think she could.  Turns out she’s very good at it!
• Gently wipe her paws with a clean towel while in the washroom.  We find she responds better if she stands on the towel while we sit on the floor
• After her paws are semi dry, we go in to the bedroom and have a cuddle or some more massage while we let the fan gently finish drying her feet.  We tried the hair dryer first, but it was a massive fail.  She was very scared.  Since we’re only drying the feet, the fan is quite effective.  This also lets her feet get some more air circulation while we can prevent her from licking!

Sock Time!

We tried my socks at first, but I am a ladies size 9 and Sienna has tiny paws.  She’s a medium or large in dog socks.  It was hard to get my socks wrapped around her legs well because there was so much excess, and they would start to fall down and drag, even when we taped them just above her paw and above her ankle.

Sienna has been very good about getting her socks on, but she has become a master at taking them off herself.  We have experimented with different kinds of tape (medical, cloth, flexible, paper, strong hold), but she always manages to get them off.  If we wrap them too tightly it will cut off her circulation and/or cause her to limp, and if we don’t wrap it tight enough it is very easy for her to take them off. Our favourite tape type, and the type is see most often recommended is the cloth tape, mostly because it does have a bit of stretch and is less likely to cut of circulation.

We’ve started using self adhesive sports bandages to wrap the top of the sock all the way up to her knee.  She has managed to get off the sports bandage sometimes, but not nearly as often as the tape alone.  Added bonus: they come in awesome colours! 

Nail Trims