Expert: Marie Peppers / The Boston Terrier Lady - 9/2/2011

Question
Hello Marie,

I have a approx 12 year old female BT that I got from a rescue group 6 years ago.  Other than her teeth being in bad shape, she had no other health issues at the time.  About a year after we got her she started having accidents in the house.  She was then put on a prescription for incontinence (proin).  Since then she has had a few more teeth removed and had to have her anal glands removed as they were constantly getting infected. She was getting blood tests every 6 months to monitor her liver enzymes which were slightly elevated.

Then, about 18 months ago, we noticed areas of her skin red, inflamed and seeping.  Mostly in her armpits, on her belly, and around her vulva.  She also gets red bumps on her face and has redness on her feet and toes. She was also getting lots of ear infections (bacterial and yeast) too.  The vet cultured the skin seepage and it was determined that she had a staph infection. With antibiotics it cleared up but then recurred just weeks later.  Since then, it's been coming back consistently.  The vet thinks that it's auto-immune in nature since it keeps recurring.  To complicate matters, last November I noticed that she was drinking a lot and needing to urinate a lot.  More tests later and the vet came up with a diagnosis of glomerular nephritis.  She is spilling lots of protein in her urine and has very dilute urine.  Her blood levels, however are fine.  Normal BUN and creatinine levels.  She is now on a prescription diet (k/d) and on an ACE inhibitor.  She is also now on DES for the incontinence and also on Fish Oil supplements as well as an antihistamine.  Today, she is also starting a course of prednilosone as well as another course of anti-biotics as I fear she is in pain and we needed to do more to slow down the assault of her immune system on her skin.

My questions to you are: is there an auto-immune skin disorder that also causes glomerular disease?  Are the two afflictions related?  Is there anything else that we can do to help her?  Please help me.

Thank you.

Answer
Wow Camille,  I would love to help but don't think that I can.  Sounds to me like you need a good holistic Vet:  Your situation is too complicated for me.  My training is just not extensive enough for your situation.
Please look here for a Holistic Vet in your area.  
http://www.holisticvetlist.com/