Hi, I have a gsd bitch that was diagnosed with this awful disease 2 years ago(1 year old). She has had surgery to remove it twice and has been on several courses of steriods and anti biotics. It has kept is ugly head down for the last 6 months or so but there is a big chance that it could come nback. I know this disease is known as "the silent killer" and I would like to hear of other peoples experiences with it or any stories that you have to share.

Thanks
Amy

Hello
My older gsd had this, he developed it around September last year the vet thinks it was bought on by the death of his brother, new puppy and food allergy possibly.  I was lucky he was 11 years old when he got this and only got 2 small pinprick size holes.  He was put on steriods and vet dog food so he would have a bland diet.
After three months of the vet food he was lethargic not wanting to move and really smelly with sludge like motions our vet said this was to be expected and would take around another 3 months to clear he also said that the anal furunculosis was not getting any better.
We I must admit did not take this vets advice and took him to see one I liked better she suggested I put him on his normal food Arden Grange and decrease the steriods.  She also stated with this disease it really was a matter of trial and error what works for one does not always work for another.

To cut a long story short by May this year this had gone and he was back to his old bouncy self.  One piece of information she did give me though;  was that it usually was not his type of gsd - he is one of the really overlarge bigboned muscly English types of gsd,-  do not in her experience get this as much as the german type.

One of the sideefffects of the steriods though is that he now looks hugely fat its like his three lethargic months have turned most of his muscle to fat,  I was worried about this though when weighed either at home or at the vets it was discovered instead of his normal 45kg of muscle he is now around 36kg.

He does unfortunately, now he is older having a catologue of health scares luckily none of them at a very serious stage so far, in the last two years:-
   Hip problems  though not dysplacia more to do with the spine he is treated with metacam for this.
   Large growth in his mouth    he has been put under the knife twice so far for this both times it comes back negative it has knock his front teeth out of alignment though and has given him a tendency to snatch food as otherwise it falls on the floor I blame this on the steriods though they made him extremely hungry.
   Ear problems and balance.
   Several fatty lumps
   One fall down a bank two cracked ribs
   No hair all over his sides and chest last summer he developed a skin allrgy BL**DY FOXES
  
I do love him though he is my baby and was given to me when I was 14 he is like a large teddy bear though he is not long coated.

Jane
  

Thats funny  Jane, my girl is also the really heavily built english type gsd. They say it can be brought on by the way that they carry the tail so close to the anal region. In that case I wouldve thought that the german type would get it more than the english type.
I have 4 gsd's 2 eng type and the other 2 german type (show dogs), the german type to me seem to carry their tail a lot closer to the anal area because of the way their croup falls, their tailset is quite a lot lower than the english type.

Has anyone else had any experience with this? If so was your gsd an english or a german type? It will be interesting to find out which type its more common in.

Please to hear your lad is still live and kicking Jane, despite the problems he's having, he is a good age for a sheppie :-)

Amy

AARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

I spoke to soon I have just taken him to the vets and it has reacurred.  Luckily the vet said it was spotted before it was really bad just 1 small pin prick now have to give 2 antibiotic and 4 steriods twice a day. Go back in a weeks time this is the only problem Roger has had that he has not liked going to the vets about but I suppoose I would be the same if I had fingers being stuck up my bottom all the time.

Jane

Oh no Im so sorry, hope he gets better soon Jane, Keep us posted with his progress please

Amy

That is rather strange, as all the cases I know of and it is quite a few, as I am friends with the lots of GSD folk in Pet and Obdience training, it is the English old type that have had it, and there definately seems to be a family predispositon to it.  Most of the dogs seem to have common ancestry.

We lost our beautiful German Shepherd to this terrible disease in July this year.  He would have been 6 years old in August.  The first sign of the disease that we noticed was that he was licking his bottom a lot and we thought he must have anal gland trouble.  We took him to the vet who diagnosed Anal Furunculosis in April this year and he put him on prednisolone steroids.   I had never heard of this disease before and I was on the internet everynight trying to find anything to help him although we had been told that there was no cure.   He seemed in pain  and used to pace about and wanted to go outside at 2.00 in the morning and just lie outside.   I asked the vet for painkillers and he said that he didn't need them because it was more of a chronic condition than painful.

We changed vets so that we could get better treatment for him.  They prescribed steroids and antibiotics and rimadyl to kill the pain.   He was on 100 mg of steroids at the end but nothing worked and we had to end his suffering on July 10th this year.  He couldn't even go to the toilet at the end and this was the reason for having him put to sleep.  It was heartbreaking watching him struggle and knowing that we could do nothing for him.  We really miss him and Christmas won't be quite the same this year.

I have been "lucky" and had 2 gsd with this , Jake (german) had this when he was about 2 years old he was given all the medication you are on , but also the vet did cryosurgery. They froze areas of his bum which literally whent black and fell away, he was on pain killers, but was obviously still in a hell of a lot of pain.  At one point the vet suggested cutting his tail off to allow the air to his bum i wasnt keen on that and glad i said no . I was told that when they appear on his bum , that is the end of the track, apparently they grow like a tree out into a branch like formation. This went on for the best part of 18mths with several operations. He is now 11 years old with a bum that looks like a war zone, he is absolutley fine and the most important thing , IVE STILL GOT HIM!!!
The second dog was Gemma my bitch, hers was exactly the same except it didnt matter what they did it just kept growing, sadly I lost her. My vet said it was rare for dogs to get this and for me to have 2 well "lucky"??  

Unfortunately with this disease I have read more bad than good. Jade has had this for 2 years now and has had a lot of other problems that have been triggered by it. She suffers from extremely bad anal gland infections and abcesses and also colitis. Next time the a/f comes back I have opted for her to get her anal glands taken out. This may not take the a/f away but could stop it from coming back so often. Its like a vicious cirle. Firstly she will get the infection, then the a/f comes along then she gets colitis. As you can imagine this is pretty horrible for her.
She is a very healthy 3 year old shepherd and other than every few months when it comes back,, she is living out a very good life.
I have spoken to my vet and although it hasnt come back now for 6 months it still could come back anytime. He has told me that with the operation to get the glands taken out, there is a very small chance that they could leave a little bit of tissue in there and it will almost certainly be constantly infected, there is also a chance that she could be incontinent.
He said that in about 300 operations that he has done, there has only been 4-5 where thishas happened.
Its a very small risk but Im willing to take the chance, if she comes out of this no better then as horrible as it sounds that will be the end for her. If there are no problems and all goes well then hopefully she will have no more infections at least.

Its now just a case of waiting for it to come back. I wont do anything until it does because I dont want to put her through another op just incase it never comes back.

Anyone else have any experience with this disease?
Has anyone ever had thier dogs anal glands taken out and what was the outcome?

Thanks
Amy

Friends of mine payed a fortune to have their GSD male operated on.  It has come back, but having spoken to another frreind who has Leonbergers, and has had 3 with this condition, they are treating the symtoms successfully using Aloe Vera and Echinacea.  He has a couple of sore areas, but the Aloe Gel applied topically, as well as the Juice in his food with the Echinacea seem to keep the inflamation/infection at bay.

The lady with the Leos found she could mangae the condition until old age took them.  The GSD boy is now 7 !/3 and has had no change in his condition (not getting any worse) for the last 4 years.

Hi Amy

My GSD (now gone, but not due to AF) had this. She was operated on and it came back. My vet referred us onto a drugs trial at the Queen Mother hosp in Potters Bar. The drug being trialled was called Cyclosporin. It is a drug used in humans to prevent rejection following transplants. It suppresses the immune system. It is VERY expensive. We were on the trial for 6 months, and Blue responded to it really well, and at the end of the trial it had gone. We discontinued use, and it came back. We then carried on with it, gradually lowering the dose until we were on about an eighth of the original dose. I kept her on that for another couple of months, and then discontinued it, and luckily it never came back, and we had her for another 3 years after that and lost her to something else entirely. Not all dogs on the trial (99% shepherds) responded, and I remember the day when a beautiful 4 year old was pts there because of it. I felt both lucky and guilty that we were doing so well on it. They were also at that time trying to see if they could use Cyclosporin as a topical cream, but I don't know what happened, as we had completed our 6month trial. You could try contacting them and see if they had any further developments. The chap running the trial was called Arthur House. Certainly though, if you can afford it I would try Cyclosporin. Just as an aside, I got it a lot cheaper by getting a private prescription from the vet and then shopping around to find the cheapest chemist.
Hope this helps, it's a horrible disease.
Their assessment on the trial is that 1) it's hereditary and 2) it is an auto immune response, so the stuff about cutting off the tail isn't likely to help.
I wish you both the very best, let us all know how you get on.
Kat

hi, my gsd was diagnosed with this 18 months ago, i refused to let the vet operate and after researching into this disease i found it can be cured by a vegeterian diet , and antibiotics and steroids(from the vet), the tablets are reduced over time , until eventually none are needed, as soon as i changed his diet and gave the tablets the condition started to inprove and after 15 months it was completeley gone!
my vet at the time refused to believe that changing the diet would work but my dog is living proof that it does work!
and it hasnt returned either after 3 months of being completley cured , he is still on a vegeterian diet , but takes no tablets what so ever.
i urge all to at least give it a try and see if the sores start to go  , as i promise you they will , as i have spoke to other gsd breeders who have the same problem and dealt with it very succesfully using this method ,what have you got to lose? you can only gain from trying , i would love to hear from anyone who's willing to give it a try,

Having had a dog with AF (gone now) I would be really interested to know more of the diet, as my vet has often referred other owners with the problem to me, and I would be happy to pass it on. I have 2 gsd's now, and pray god they will never get it, but you just never know. Can you post it somewhere or let me know where I could access it?
It was so sad when I was attending the Cyclosporin trials when a couple on the trial actually had their 4 year old dog pts the day I was there, because nothing was working and they simply couldn't control the AF
Kat