Hi everyone
Does anyone know anything about A/F My 2 year old bitch has got holes around her anal region which are not healing she had what the vet said was colitis, lots of straining and loose stools ,no blood thoughthen she had constantly blocked and absessed anal glands which were removed on the 1st April this year snce then holes are appearing around her anus,i can get my pinkie finger in two of them!!!! they arent infected.....yet but are weeping blood stained fluid and it looks like there is another four starting she has had creams of different types and to no avail, she is on a hypoallergenc diet, salazopyrine ,intracol on her bottom she has been on various tablets and antibiotics in the last two months.
my vet has been tryng her best but she says it isnt furunculosis??!! My girl has been very stoical and she is an absolute treasure this is so upsetting Does anyone have any ideas? im seeng the vet this coming week but feel like getting a second opinion.

I would go for the second opinion.

A Friend of mine uses Aloe Vera and Echinacea to manage AF in a male GSD (now nearly 11 years old) that recurred despite cryosurgery.  The dog has managed this way for the last 7 years.  This was advised by another Friend who had several Leonbergers with AF.

I'm so sorry your girl might have this dreadful disease!

My old girl who we lost last week had AF.
We too were first told she did not have AF but in the end the vets had to admit this is what she had.
Hers started when she was 4 and she lived a happy life until she was nearly 10(which is a good age for my breed)

We tried everything, Aloe, loads of different creams, (3 different vets), homeopathic medicine... nobody really knew what would work!
In the end I researched and researched and then told the vet what medication we want to try!!!
This is when (after about 2 years of different treatments, some working for a little while, some useless) she went on sandimmum neoral (later Atopica Vet) and that cleared the problem.
We were at the point of trying this and if it did not work we would have had to let her go and put her to sleep.

I wish we had known and started this medicine straight when the problems started, before her bum area(possible insides too) was scarred as this obviously made the caring of it more difficult with deep scarring etc!
She still had odd time the holes would start to return (seasons) but bringing the dose up for a while cleared these.

It is pretty expensive especially when the treatment starts but the amount does get cut down and the up keep dose can be pretty low after a while(depending of the dog).

good luck getting this sorted, if I hear anything about it I will let you know...

have looked at autoimmune as well, but again don't know enough about it to be sure

give your girl a gentle hug from me :)

Thankyou so much for your posts Ill let you know how we get on but ill ask her about atopica see what she says, Brainless is the aloe and echinacea cream ?isnt it awkward telling your vet you would like a second opinion? she has been really good even popped in when i wasnt expecting her to see how my girl was but i realise this cant go on, so thanks again
Given her a "gentle hug" from you Dearlady!

Im going to vet this afternoon had a word with her this morning and she has suggested atopica before i had a chance to say anything so fingers crossed she still doesnt think its A/F thoughif i could post a pic i would but may not be brill to look at!!!!