Has Anyone Had a Pet Diagnosed with Blastomycosis? to Treat or Not to Treat?

I've had experience with Blastomycosis, not personal experience though. I've seen several dogs with it. I recommend treatment, assuming it is Blasto. . . Therapy is expensive, but if you do some digging, you should be able to find cheaper therapy from Canada. It does require long-term therapy, the dogs I've seen do improve with time (over 3-4 weeks). Some strains can be very difficult to treat and the prognosis is generally guarded. If you can afford therapy, it may be worth a try.

Hi M.-
We had a Rottie that at about 9 was diagnosed with a tumor on her hind leg. At the time we were living about 45 minutes from Champaign, IL and took her to U of I because it was a rare tumor. We were willing to drive her all this way, pay outragious amounts of money only to find out they wanted to do thousands of dollars of radiation on her. We had to make the heart renching decision to let her live out the time she would have, as we just couldn't afford the cost it would entail. She got to the point where she couldn't lift her head to eat and we had to take her and have her put down. It was VERY hard, but keep in mind lifespan for a Rottie is 8-10 years. Your precious pup has had 8 wonderful years with you, and you don't want him to suffer the last part of it. Our second Rottie we ended having to have put down at about 10 1/2 because he was starting to have all of these "ailments" and had quite a bit of internal things. It is partially the breed. What ever your decision, our thoughts and prayers are with you. It is so hard to make these kind of decisions. GOOD LUCK!!

Hello M.! So sorry to hear about your fur-baby. I've worked in the veterinary business for more than 10 years & can tell you first hand how scarey blasto can be. It is a very serious disease that even with the most aggressive treatment can still be fatal. However, I have seen very sick animals become well after extensive therapies. It is a lengthy process, he won't get better over night but if you're determined it's worth a try- & you're right, is very pricey @ any vet office. Unfortunately, unless you can exactly pinpoint where he got it, the possibilty of reinfection is very high since its a fungal disease that lives in the soil. So, knowing where he's been & keeping him away is very important otherwise you're looking at a very expensive treatment that may or may not work to reoccur once he's better. I know there is treatment for your yard- I'm not sure the ratio but I believe its a bleach solution or digging out & replacing your soil. But like I said, we've had many criticaly ill patients recover from this disease. Please let me know if I can help further. Good luck!!

M., do you know if you have fungus in the house anywhere or could he have picked it up from the outdoors. There is a website called www.knowthecause.com where you can find some answers or www.longlifeunlimited.com they have some wonderful people there, you are very fortunate to know what it is booth Drs. and Vets aren't usually knowledgeable on fungal diseases or infections at all.

I am so sorry M.. It's very hard to watch your pet suffer. I haven't had a dog with this disease, but I did have a dog who had a mast cell tumor on his leg. He had that removed and while he was recovering in the animal hospital, it appears he aspirated while under anesthesia and developed pneumonia. I know it's not the same as what your dog went through, but we went to every aspect of trying to save my little Gus and he ended up dying anyway, by himself, in the ER. I didn't make it there in time to even be with him. If I could go back in time, I'd minimize his suffering and had him put down while I was holding and comforting him. The doctors told us he might not make it, but we kept pushing to try and save him.

Get a second opinion, but realize that by putting him to sleep, you are doing what is best for him. It's a difficult decision and my prayers are with you.

Hi M.,

When our golden retriever was 2 he developed blastomycosis. We, at first, thought he was showing signs of glaucoma. He did NOT have it in his lungs when we took him to the vet. She immediately suspected blastomycosis and referred us to an veterinary opthamologist. She was amazing and worked through the University of ILlinois Vet School. When we saw her, we had to make the decision on the spot...save his life or euthanize him. We chose to have surgery to remove the eye and put a prosthetic in place. We then treated him with aggressive, and expensive antibiotics for close to a year. We ended up getting the medication at a significant cost savings through a location in India. The specialist is the one who recommended the site to us. It was legitimate, and I am happy to report Peyton is a healthy, happy 6 year old dog who has had no long-term side effects from the fungus. THe specialist told us that many dogs such as retriever males acquire this because it usually exists around water and their noses are constantly to the ground. We live near a lake and constantly walk the lake so that made a lot of sense to us. Good luck. For us, we didn't go with a financial decision. Instead, we treated him like we treat our children...he is a member of our family.

Our dog is going through a fungal infection right now. It's not of the lungs, but of her toenails. She has lost all her nails in the last month. I know how expensive antibiotics can be to treat fungal infections. I wanted to let you know our prayers are with you.

M.,

I don't have experience with that specific fungal infection but I had a dog that had a type of infection that ate away her skin... it wasn't flesh eating disease though. it was pretty slow, but disgusting and painful. In spite of treatment she ended up losing her quality of life. I often say we are kinder to our animals than humans in that respect. We can opt to euthanize and end their suffering, but we'll sit and watch our loved ones die slow painful deaths and wait until nautre takes its course :( I watched my mother die slowly, and VERY painfully. It was at that point I wondered if Dr. Kavorkian (sp?) had it wrong...

anyway, only you and your vet can decide the prognosis but in my opinion it doesn't sound good. I would suggest getting a 2nd opinion though... before a decision can truly be made.

Good luck to you...

I spoke with my husband who is a vet, his reccomendation is first make sure it is a difinitive diagnosis of blastomycosis. Unfortunatly if it is then there is not much you can do. You can treat with long term antibiotic therapy with may still fail and has side affects(ask your vet about those) or euthanize the pet to minimize suffering. I do not mean to be harsh in saying that but from what I read in one of his texts if untreated (and sometimes when treated) symnptoms get much worse and the pet suffers greatly, which is also why he reccomends a definate diagnosis, or possibly a second opinion if you are in any way unsure.

A vet named Dr. Karen Becker is amazing. http://www.drkarenbecker.com/nav_sets_04/set01.htm

Hello M.,
Oh I feel your pain. My beautiful german shepard Kasey was just one week shy of turning 11 when she started having breathing problems. She started out not wanting to get up and acting not like she normally does. Took her to the vet right away. They did an xray and saw it all her lungs. Thought at first it was lung cancer but it was growing way to fast and ended up being blasto.
She lived two weeks after we found out. I tell you that time went so fast and I miss her so much every day.
I would have done ANYTHING to help and keep her with me. I ended up putting her down on July 11. It will be two years this July.
I live in aurora and this area I have found out that has high levels of blasto in our dirt. So any time they go out even if its not in your back yard they will engest it.
I can't believe there is nothing we can do.
I do have another 11 year shepard (just turned 11) and he is healthy as a horse!!
The vet said they don't know why some dogs get it and some don't.

Im so sorry and I wish you all the best. Make lots of memories every day with your with your rottie because ya just never know whats going to happen.

E.

www.canismajor.com/dog/blstomyc.html) I went to this site and if that is what your dog has you have a better chance of the dog living if you treat him. You may want to get a second opinion. According to the site it doesn't seem like a midwest disease for dogs.

Best wishes
J.

Dear M., Hi my name is T.. I am a veterinary technician and have been in this field for 10 years. Unfortunately, Blasto is a very deadly disease. It is very difficult to cure and very expensive, especially for the size of your rottweiler. Also, I have only seen one dog come through and survived after months of antibiotics. I hate to bring you this bad news, but I wanted to let you know that the chances of survival are grim. If you want to try then by all means try, but you have to do everything the veterinarian wants to do, such as x-rays, IV fluids and IV antibiotics and hospitilization. Also, you might have to have your dog stay at a 24-hour care facility. If you don't want to try or feel as though your dog is suffering too much then the best thing to do is euthanize. I am so sorry for you and your family. I know how difficult this is. Also, you will need to watch your other dog. Blasto is commonly found in the soil (it is spread by fungal spores). Also, if you dog has what is called draining tracts (your vet can show you if your dog has them) it can be spread to humans also. Talk with your veterinarian and best of luck with everything.

T.

Hope I'm doing this correctly, I just signed up and this is one of the first messages I read!

I have a French bulldog who will be 4 years old this month. She was diagnosed with blasto last August. She went from limping a bit, to barely walking, to barely breathing, VERY quickly. We go to Blum Animal hospital. They were able to diagnose her and save her. She was on an anti-fungal for about 6 months and now we just have to watch her to make sure she won't relapse.

The whole thing was very stressful and very expensive (about $3500, our VPI only paid about $650 back).

I could go on and on, but please, feel free to message me if you have questions since I just went through this awful illness with our sweet dog!

K.

I wanted to add, this website was invaluable when my dog was going through the worst parts:
http://blastomycosis.ca/

Hi M.!

I am so VERY sorry to hear of your dog's diagnosis!!! Sadly, I have been in your shoes and It was an extremely difficult time for myself and my family. 3 years ago tomorrow our golden retriever died of Blastomycosis and it rocked our world! He was only 5 years old and began with symptoms of: arthritis worse than normal, lack of energy, and coughing. He then lost his appetite and became absolutely lethargic with labored breathing. During a four week time period he was in and out of the vet and emergency clinic with different diagnosis's. By the fourth week he was finally diagnosed correctly and hospitalized. We started the VERY expensive meds. that we had flown in from New Zealand and prayed each day. For two weeks we visited him and brought him food and encouragement. We kept in contact with our Vet several times a day and it looked like after 13 days in the hosp. he would be coming home. The next call we got was the next morning and our beloved dog had died. We still grieve for him!!! We spent almost $10,000 in hopes to save him, to no avail. We do not regret our decision to spend this kind of money, but we DO regret having allowed him to suffer the way he did. It was a very difficult choice and probably a selfish one on our part, but he was truly part of our family and we were just not ready to let him go. I am so sorry for what you are going through and hope that things go better for you than they did for us. I believe if we had caught this earlier the outcome may have been different. Good luck to you and God Bless!

Hi M.,
My best friend's dog had this terrible disease you're talking about. It apparently is rare in this area, with dogs possibly getting it from digging in dirt that may have been brought in from other areas of the country, like bags of potting soil, mulch, etc. Yes, the treatment is VERY expensive; they kind of went in debt over it, he was such a beloved member of their family. Their vet even paid for part of the treatment so he could use it as a case study. I wish I had better news, but unfortunately, the outcome was not good. Their golden retriever died of it, even after treatment, and he was only about 7 years old then. (This was about 3 years ago I believe, so I doubt the treatment has changed drastically for it.) He was very sickly, like you described with the labored breathing, lethargic behavior, and so on. I'm very sorry to hear that your rottie has it. Best wishes and prayers to you and your family.
Shelly B.

Hi I live in Wiscosnsin and last week Tuesday my 6 year old Rottie was also diagnosed with blasto. His limbs were swollen and he had it in his left eye also. He wasn't eating much and was very lethargic. He was put on fungal meds that day. I'm sorry to say that today he lost his battle to this horrible disease. It just took over his body. His breathing became very heavy and he wouldn't eat at all. We were taking him to the vet this morning and he died on the way. We are just devastated. It happened so fast. You know your dog, if you know he is suffering, then be his friend and put him down. I wish I would have done it before the weekend so he would not have died on the way to the vet. Gook luck with everything.