This condition is very rare. I wanted to share it here so that anyone whose dog suffers from this condition will know that help and support is out there.
Mouth ulcers in dogs - Canine Eosinophilic Granuloma
I’m posting/sharing this for a friend in Queensland, Australia. I just wondered if anyone else had experience of living with this terrible condition.
Charlie is a neutered Blenheim cavalier, born 6th May 2009. This condition was diagnosed in January 2011
Charlie gets chalky growth things in his mouth and throat, which when he puffs too much his tongue goes blue and his throat sort of closes up. He is also allergic to a lot of food; e.g. red meat, pork. The vets also said that Charlie scratches a lot, but to me it seems normal.
Charlie is on a special diet of chicken with vegies, more vegies than chicken.
When he was a puppy, Charlie was always sick. He would never eat, and was always dull. It was not until I told the vet that Charlie coughs like he has a hairball that they did a biopsy and found these growths. He was put on cortisone, the blue ones, which are 2 times stronger than the white ones, which resulted in weight gain. When he was placed on cortisone I just had to wave food under his chin and bam, weight gain. They did want to take his tonsils out, but he had to lose the weight first.
The medication he is now on even though it’s in a dog form is used in humans that have had transplants so that their immune system is suppressed - so their body accepts the transplant. I get it made up by a human chemists and in Aus $ for 50 mils costs me $99. They need to have 48 hours’ notice as it needs to sit and be distilled or something.
He is only allowed to do 20 minutes of exercise per day, which we do. He is alright, I just have to watch him if he gets a cut or something. When he had stitches late in 2012, his body treated the stitches as a foreign object and he started to form another abscess from them.
If I see a scratch, or he coughs more, or something then it’s straight to the vets. I feel like one of those mummies who is paranoid over a little cough as I am the same with Charlie. Also a lot of dogs, cavies can have this disease but in mild form and the owners would never know. I try and see in Charlie’s mouth whenever he yawns to make sure there are no lesions.
I sent his breeder an email informing them of his condition and stated that I didn’t want anything, just to let them know of the condition. I have not heard a single word back from the breeder - it is genetic.
I have spoken to other cavalier owners, and not one person has ever heard of it. I know the vet I was seeing in Atherton has only ever dealt with one other dog with this disease in her career. When I moved to Atherton I had to get my vet in Cairns to find me a vet who knew about this issue, as it’s rare
I have emailed the vet who did a paper on this condition, she presented it at a forum in Ireland 2 years ago. She lives in Melbourne. But she did state to me that unless she examined Charlie then she couldn’t comment.
He randomly gets red around his mouth. When he is having a reaction he gets very red and a little puffy on his lips and mouth area.
This is the paper that an Australian Vet presented to a meeting in Ireland
www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=WSAVA2008&PID=pr23852&O=Generic
In dogs, the lesions reported as eosinophilic granulomas histologically resemble the eosinophilic granuloma of cats, with marked collagen degeneration surrounded by a granulomatous and eosinophilic infiltrate. These lesions may be seen as ulcerated or vegetative masses in the oral cavity or, less commonly, as plaques, nodules, or papules on the lips and other areas of the body. Any breed may be affected, but Siberian Huskies may be at greater risk.
Charlie has the plaques/nodules one
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