Hello all,

This is my first post, so I hope I am doing this correctly. We adopted our Husky, Boone, in April when he was about 6 months old. Since then, he has become the center of our lives and I don't know what we would do without him.

About two weeks ago Boone broke his dewclaw while playing outside. When we took him to the vet to have it removed (it kept snagging on things and causing a lot of pain) we also alerted the vet to the fact that the white part of his eyes were a little red and he was losing color in his lips. The vet didn't pay much attention to the discoloration (research since then has showed this can be pretty normal during the colder months) but diagnosed him with conjunctivitis, aka pink eye. We take him to the dog park a few times a week and the vet explained it seemed to be going around lately, so he was placed on oral antibiotics for the foot and drops for the eyes.

After giving him the drops 3 times a day for 10 days, his eye problems only got worse. Not only is the white part completely red, but so is what used to be the bright blue parts of his eye. He has also lost all color in his lips and the front area below his nose (although not his nose itself). It used to be super dark black and now he looks like he got into mommy's lipstick! We brought him back to the vet and after asking what seemed like a million questions, he referred us to an opthamologist and explained Boone may have a genetic disorder called Uveodermatologic Syndrome.

After going home and Googling it, which is the absolute worst thing anyone can do, I'm now a nervous wreck. Basically it is an auto immune disorder and the less severe symptoms are depigmentation of the lips, paws and hair. The more serious issue related to it is glaucoma, retinal detachment and eventual blindness. I was wondering if anyone on here has ever heard of this or has any information as to whether this is something that can be often misdiagnosed or similar to a less serious issue? We have an appointment with the specialist next week but I am going crazy and was hoping someone could put my mind to ease until then. Any info would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!

Welcome and gosh am I sorry to read this!

We have a couple health gurus on the forums that hopefully will be able to chime in on this. Until that time I'll try and keep this bumped as much as possible so they don't miss it.

Providing a picture of the eye and gums, maybe even before and after, could help if you are so inclined. If not I totally understand, and please don't feel forced to do so; your explanation was very detailed and I would think adequate.


I would be a nervous wreck too.


You could always try and find another vet in the mean time, and maybe get a 2nd opinion on the matter? I'm not saying you have a bad vet, but maybe another one could give you some more insight into what is going on with Boone?

Either way I wish you the very best of luck.... This doesn't sound fun.
~Chris~

Welcome. sorry your having these issues good to hear you have an apt set up for next week, that is the best thing to do. i am no help on what it could be but like chris said, pics would help.

Thank you for your replies! Here are some pictures of before and after


Before


Some discoloration starting


Current - sorry it's a little blurry


Current (this is the eye that is the worst, although the picture doesn't really show it as clearly)

I would get to a vet that deals with an internal medicine specialty. If you are willing to make the drive, you could probably find answers at Michigan State.

Poor guy! We had a similar scare with Kitty about a year and a half ago. She was loosing pigment in her lips and around her nose. She was also getting some crusty scabbing around her nose. Our vet tested for some auto-immune disorders, such as canine lupis. They took a skin scrape and some biopsies. Thankfully, all tests came back negative. Our vets next guess was that it was some sort of contact dermatitis, but was unsure what was causing it. The only thing different in our routine was that a new dog park had opened, and we were going at least three times a week. While her nose was healing from the biopsies, we didn't go to the park at all for a month. During that month, pigment came back and her nose got better. As soon as we began going to the park again, the symptoms came back. Turned out that her contact dermatitis was from the tall native grasses that were found in the park! So while many genetic disorders can cause pigment loss, other not so awful things can cause similar symptoms. Good luck at the vet appointment, and keep us updated!

DVM school/clinic right in Philly:

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine



A bit of a drive but highly regarded DVM school:

Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

up up

Oh my goodness! I can not even imagine what your going through! Though i have not been through this with my Cash, i do agree with everyone that you should get a second opinion.. I hope you get good news from the specialist next week! Please keep us updated!

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for your responses and feedback! We went to the Opthomologist yesterday to get Boone checked out. As of now, we are still unsure exactly what the issue is. The specialist said there are white blood cells accumulating inside the eye, which could be a sign of either an infection of some sort (Lyme's Disease, etc.) or an auto-immune disorder.

His main concern was the pressure building inside the eye, which could lead to Glaucoma. He placed him on anti-inflammatory medication (injection in the eye as well as pills and drops) and wants to see him back in two weeks. If everything looks good then, he believes it is just an infection. If not, it's likely auto-immune and we will need to start a treatment regimen. Thank God we got pet insurance a few months ago!

Either way, he said he is optimistic that we caught it early enough to save his vision. Hopefully the little man is alright! Thank you again for your responses and kind words!

I don't know if this has been mentioned already, but Sibes are known to have ZRD (Zinc Responsive Dermatosis) which, I think, looks like the pictures of your boy.

More info about ZRD (with pictures) here: http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=162405

http://www.dermvetvegas.com/zinc_responsive_dermatosis.html

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to give you guys an update since we had our follow up visit at the Opthomologist. He said Boone looks remarkably better since he has been on the medication and drops. No more red eyes and all the color came back in his lips!

He does believe it is uveodermotologic syndrome, but said we caught it just in time that he shouldn't have any vision issues as long as we follow a strict medication regimen. Had we waited even one or two more weeks it could have been much worse but luckily we caught it early! Thank you all for your responses and feedback, I really appreciate it!

Glad to hear he is going to be okay!

Awesome that he's doing much better !