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[weluvmoose]

Hi everyone - I tried posting this once and failed - hopefully it will not show up twice!  I have some questions and here is our story.  My one year old Havanese, Moose, woke up last Thursday with no energy and no appetite and carrying a back leg.  We were given an antiinflammatory by the vet.  After the weekend he was no better and coughing some after drinking, ect.  Took him back to the vet and he had 103.8 temp - given batryl.  On the drive home I thought about the fact that in July we spent a month in NW Ontario where a couple of years ago my friends dog died of Blasto.  I called the vet and told her this.  We do not see Blasto in our area so she called my friends vet in Canada and decided we should do a blood test on him which we sent off on Tuesday.  In the meantime we starter him on Sporanox.  This is his third day on that.  Last night his left eye was cloudy and tearing and still is.  I also noticed a soft lump in his leg he was carrying.  Leg is better now as far as walking.  He is eating canned dog food and real meat now but still won't eat dry food.  His energy level is better some.  I am convinced he has blasto after all I have read even though the test is not back and may still be negative I understand.  ONE BIG QUESTION - can humans get this from dogs.  I am giving him his pills - putting them in his mouth and treating his eye.  He doesn't have any open wounds yet so I am mainly concerned with saliva and eye drainage.  I have children and I don't wnat them to get it.  I hope we started treatment in time - he had symptoms for four days before we started it.  Is there anything else I should be doing??  I wish you all well with your dogs and thanks.

[Jen]

Blasto is not commonly transmitted from pet to person (not that it couldn't happen of course), but it IS possible to be infected from the same source as the pet.  They say it's pretty endemic to certain areas, but there have been people here from all over the country; it's everywhere. 

I think it's a good idea to start Sporanox to be safe, and hopefully you won't be needing it.  The symptoms, however, do sound pretty classic.  Dirtbike only had lung involvement w/skin lesions.  She was treated for about 5-6 months with Itra and then tapered off.  She's now a huge bouncing-happy hound, but we were lucky that it was caught fairly early.  Treatment is not fun or easy, but it can be less expensive - our meds came from Pet Health Pharmacy in Arizona. 

Keep him eating at all costs; we were afraid DB would starve to death while being treated, but she's been eating to make up for it.  She needs a diet... or maybe I could get her some tusks and pass her off as a very tall spotted walrus.  Whatever it is, we'll be thinking about you guys and hoping for the best.  And if it is Blasto, we're all here to help as best we can.
Good luck-
jen

a couple of links:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1557&articleid=401

http://www.canismajor.com/dog/blstomyc.html

[evayola]

From everything that I have read you cannot "catch" blasto from an animal or human. I have another dog and three cats and they are all doing well as is Marge. Good thing that you caught it early because that is most important! Moose's story sounds pretty close to Marge's. She also developed a lump on her rear leg which has since gone away. She has lost vision in her one eye but we are still treating that eye. Stay positive and keep Moose eating because like Jen said that is very important. Marge is definitely not out of the clear yet but we like to hope that she will survive this and still be our big baby for years to come. She is doing great and stories like Dirtbike's and Wilson's really make you hopefully. There are so many people on here that are struggling with this disease and it has been such a great support system. Best of luck to Moose. I will be thinking of him.

[weluvmoose]

Thank you --- thank you to you who hava already replied - it is so great to know people who don't even know us care - I have been preoccupied with this all day - not being able to get anything done - I have to quit worrying and you all have helped!  Thanks!

[Wilson3]

sorry to hear you have to join us but happy you started the meds already
wilson had horrible draining lesions and i could never cover them because he would just rip them right off the chance is 1 in a million on getting from moose
i did how ever if i had an open cut on my hands cover it and antib otment i uesed just to be safe and made em feel better and washed my hands a lot
wilson3

[luvmyjacks]

Where were you in Ontario?  I originally thought my two dogs had contracted blasto in Collingwood while the old dump was being resurfaced but now I am looking at Honey Harbour in Georgian Bay.  There is a lot of blasto in nearby Parry Sound, Pointe au Baril and Muskoka - all great cottage country full of unsupecting city folk who go home with sick dogs to vet who have never seen blasto outside a text book.
I too have children and other dogs and cats and have no concerns about catching the blasto other than from the same original (or new) source.  It does change from spores to yeast in the body.  I am glad you have started treatment:  timing is critical.  Keep us informed and yes it does take over your life for a while.  I am still cooking fresh meat every day and Will has little interest in it.  Poor Sadie and Harry look at their dry food in dismay and disgust.

[weluvmoose]

We were near Lake of the Woods in Ontario.  We are on the fourth day of two a day Sporanox - tomorrow we go to one a day.  Moose sleeps all the time but will still eat canned or fresh meat pretty well.  That was our scenario - my vet here has never treated it.  We called the vet in Fort Francis Ontario who treats it all the time Dr. Dan has been wonderful.  I now think our friends from Canada who have a dog with many cysts has this too.  I am going to tell them about it.  The vet in Canada says many relapses occur when the dog is exposed to the fungus again in the same environment.  We don't have it here that I know of - vet never sees it so if Moose survives this he probably won't be going back to Canada!  Thanks and good luck to you!