I have a 4yr old Shar-Pei bitch called Ruby who is having the fevers resulting in a swollen muzzel which is very tender to touch.
Last year we also had a male who eventually died after the fevers developed into Amyloidosis. I have read a lot about this subject on the Linda Tintle web site who has been reserching the subject for many years.
Is there anybody out there that has experienced this problem and do they know of any medication that would relieve the condition. I should also add that another part of the problem is an increase in urination and slow weight loss.
Before I take her to the local vet I was hoping that someone may have some advice for me, as my vet does not have much experience of Shar-Pei dogs, and was not able to do anything to help my last dog.
Many Thanks for any help.
Mike

Hi Mike sorry to hear you dog isn't well i cant help but Dizzy can i am sure, she might be on later hope all goes well for you both.

Hi Corso Girl, Thanks for your reply I will try to get hold of dizzy later when I come home again from work.

As you can appreciate I am very worried about her and would welcome any suggestions that might help her.

Once again many Thanks. Mike.

where in the country are you, theres a list of shar-pei frindly vets, ---they normally use a drug called coltichine [spellings prob wrong] i think it was developed for gout, but works well with pei suffering from fevers,

Hi Dizzy, We are in Ramsgate,Kent. I have done some reserch on this matter and you are quite right, it's correct spelling is Colchicine. Whilst I found this information of the Linda Tintle web site which is quite extensive I wanted to explore all avenues before confronting my vet. My daughter is a research doctor working on inflammatory diseases and has also told me of another drug they are using on humans that is a steroid for the prevention of amyloidosis which is called Prednisone, but whether that could be used on dogs is another matter. I appreciate your help and anything that I can do for Ruby I will.

Many thanks Mike.

prednisolone is a steroid that has been used by vets for many years-but it has major side effects, ---ones that wont do the problems a pei suffering from hock any good. -if you want to mail me i'll give you a contact for a vet thats near to you,

I will send you an email in a few minutes.

Sorry to hear of your problems and excuse my ignorance but what is this condition and is it peculiar to Shar-Pei?

SB

More or less more prone in Shar-pei than in other dogs,although the condition in bad cases lead to amyloidosis which can effect a lot of other breeds. The condition is:- swollen muzzel which can last 24/36 hrs swollen hocks, and the overall signs are, unexplained weight loss, increase in urination,high temperature,vomiting, diarrhea.
Not all cases of Shar-pei fever lead to amyloidosis, but, the chances are that they might eventually.
In my dog Ruby's case she only gets the swollen muzzel and sometimes the diarrhea. The last attack she had was over a year ago, and now she has had two attacks in the space of 7 days. I have found out through doing some research and from help by people on this website that a medication called Colchicine which has been used for treating gout in humans has been used with some success, the effect of this medication is to prevent attacks of the fever which in turn reduces the chances of getting amyloidosis. I am now in the process of trying to get my dog on this medication which hopefully will increase her lifespan, but without this it is a bit of a lottery as to how long she could survive if she keeps getting the attacks.
If you are interested in this problem you could look at the website for Linda Tintle who has been doing research on this problem for about 10yrs, anyway I hope I have given you an insight to this problem.
It does seem that the problem is genetic and hopefully one day they will be able to identify it and breed it out.
Thanks for your interest. Mike