Perianal Gland Fistula Disease - Page 1

Just had a call from a friend whose 16 month old GSD has been diagnosed with PF. This is devasting to him because his first german shepherd ALSO died from complications from this after he spent thousands on drugs and surgery. He is heartbroken to say the least and what rotten luck to own 2 dogs to come down with this condition.

Anyone who has successfully gotten treatment for this please share what worked for you. I am desperate to give him some hope that this can resolve. He has changed the diet and has him on drug therapy currently.

My vet is familiar with this and she said it can resolve with drugs, diet change and possible surgery but each dog is different to how well it's immune system responds.

Apparently the cause is not known and it is not necessarily genetic and seems to target breeds like the german shepherd.

If anyone knows of current effective treatment please respond.

I have a 3 1/2 yr old with AF, the first two times it was suuccessfuly treated with a high dose of steroids & ABs, June 07 & July 08.  THis time it didnt work, but what I have ben doing  is cleaning his anal area twice a day esp after defeacating with Malesab spray on cotton wool, I have been doing this for the last 2wks, the inflamation as gone and his fur is startiong to come back under the base of his tail. At present I am not sure if this will work but there is a deffinate improvement.

Pam

The first thing I'd do would be to ask the vet if he recommends cauterizing the fistulas using silver nitrate.  It's a messy procedure but it helps many dogs. This was the treatment of choice when I worked as a tech.

My oldest female came down with this and she has been cured although I must watch her closely and I do a lot of special things to help prevent another bout of it.

How advanced is the Fistula? Has he caught it at the very early first stage of it?

Been there done this with two dogs..This site http://members.tripod.com/~perianal-fistulas/MainIndex.html is a wealth of information, and I highly recommend your friend join their email list if she has computer access.

PF's are rather complicated, first it's good to determine 'why",,in other words, both my dogs have had PF's due to infected anal glands..This I don't consider as true PF's..When they just "happen" that is true PF disease in my opinion.

The first gsd that had it,,happened many years ago when little was known about PF's. I had the glands removed, and radical cryo surgery done by a board certified surgeon who was not new to the disease. Complete recovery.

My second GSD had this resulting from a blown anal gland. I was ready for the surgical route again, but was asked by my vet to try the Cyclo route first.  He was on 3 months of cyclosporin and the fistula's disappeared, (tho we are ever vigilant for them to rear their ugly head.)  He had one flare up and at that time, a lady on the pf site had tried desitin (as in diaper rash creme) so I tried it, and it worked.  He has been in remission with no flare ups for almost 5 years.

Changing diet is not a cure, but helps, there are many options out there now and PF's are not necessarily a death sentence for the dog depending on alot of things.  Definately have your friend join the email list, there are many on the list who are expert on diet and can give options as well as support to your friend.

It's a nasty disease but can be managed pretty well for the most part.

Diane

This has been successful  the use of Tacrolimus oint.  Here is a link that might help : 

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1476229

It's known as Anal Furunculosis here (AF) and it's a horrid bloody thing.

Jack (one of mine, now dead) had AF.  He had his anal sacs removed and had 2 lots of cryo surgery.  It helped but it was no cure.  Eventually, I decided to allow another Vet to do a soft tissue cut; he found the remains of some of the anal sacs, cut everything out that he could find... and left an open gaping wound.  It was awful, Jack never complained when I flushed this out (several times a day) but I'd hear him whimper quietly when he was "doing poo" he was a brave and wonderful dog with a real zest for life!

The op' worked for Jack and he never looked back! 

I hear that cyclosporin (spelling?) works very well.

Hi, just reading everyones experiences about trying to manage this awful disease, it touched a raw nerve for me as we lost our 5 yr old boy with complications from a/f. He got symptons of it when he was 4, but the vet noticed it quickly and we went through the round of steroids, swabbing him down after going to the toilet which he really hated, and I even tried the homeopatic route as well, but nothing seemed to work. After a few months he was really suffering so he had surgery to remove his anal glands and to remove infected tissue, it was heartbreaking to watch him struggling to go to the toilet and crying in pain, also he was leaking from his bottom indoors and this really distressed him. The vet then put him on cyclosporin, thank God he was insured cos it was amazingly expensive, unfortunately he could barely tolerate the medication and was always vomiting but we persisted with it hoping it would work, but sadly over Christmas he became worse and had to have his prostate gland removed as he couldnt go to the toilet. Sadly, this didnt help, and we had to make the hardest deciscion we ever had to make and get the vet to our home to give him sleep. He was just 5 ys old, and the best dog we ever owned, he was my best friend and I miss him so much, I just wish there was a real cure for this disease, and I worry that my other Shepherd may get it, I dont know if theres a genetic link to this disease, but when I got my new boy I went for different bloodlines, as it was the worse thing I ve had to go through in 25 yrs of owning dogs. I wish you guys lots of luck with your dogs and hopefully theyll get over it, or at least be able to live with it ok, as I know lots of dogs do go on to have normal lives, I guess our poor boy was one of the unlucky ones. Think more research should be done into this disease tho. Cheers, Lissa