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[Lauren88]

Hello,

My boxer, Ali, has recently been diagnosed with canine blastomycosis after she became suddenly blind. I was wondering if anyone knew if blindess was typically associated with the later stages of this disease? Or, is there no way of knowing what stage until the treatment process is finished? I have just recieved her bloodwork this week with the diagnosis and she will be starting a course of treatment for the next 60 days.

Thanks,

Lauren

[Harleys Mom]

Hi Lauren,

Sorry to hear about Ali's having Blasto, but you've found the right place for good information. If you haven't read the Newsletter post yet, that would be a great place to start. I'm not sure there is a definitive answer for what stage dogs go blind. It may just depend on where it starts. My dog had fairly heavy growth in his leg bone & lungs and it hasn't affected his sight at all.

What treatment has Ali started? You mentioned 60 days of treatment, I hope your vet has let you know, this could take longer than 60 days. My Harley just passed the 8 month mark on medication. I'm having a MiraVista urine test done on him next week & if the result is negative, he'll still be on meds for another month. I take him to the University of Illinois college of vet med animal hospital & the vets want him to continue med for a month after a negative result, just to be sure Blasto's gone.

Be sure to read the Blasto Newsletter post, I'll bump it to the top for you. Ask lots of questions, this Forum has lots of folks with first-hand knowledge of Blasto who can help.

Please keep us posted on Ali's progress!!

[paintubturner]

March 11, 2008 I came home from a school function to find my dog laying on the floor shaking with blood shot--squinting eyes and a 104 fever.  After NUMEROUS trips to the vet--one week later he went blind with retina detachment in both eyes.  As of today my dog is still on his meds and will be for atleast another week--even though he received a negative test result number from mira vista several weeks ago.  My dog is a fighter--his blindness NEVER slowed him down.  He is still living a normal--happy life chasing cats and the other dogs around.  I never move the furniture around--i always park my vehicles in the same place outside and all of my other animals--2 other dogs and barn cats--all have bells on their collars.  I also have a cow bell on my back door so he can hear it when it opens and closes.  I read alot of information about canine blindness and what to do to help my dog adjust.  As you may already know--60 days is a VERY short amount of time to treat for blastomycosis.  As you will read on this site alot of us have been treating our dogs for close to a year.  If ever in doubt with your vet dont hesitate to get a second opinion.  You will also find tons of info on this site about meds and where to get them MUCH cheaper than at the local pharmacy.  I used North Drug Mart and they have been wonderful.  I also tried Pet Health Pharmacy and the compounded meds but they were not near as effective with helping my dog.  I also use Pred eye drops and Trusopt eye drops on my dog.  Pred is cheap enough at the vet and Trusopt can also be gotten now at North Drug Mart for ALOT cheaper.  I am fortunate enough that I have not had to have my dogs eyes removed and he has no discoloration from his blindness until recently when he has developed a small cataract.  This is a horrible disease and you have definately found an amazing site and wonderful support group by coming to this site.  I sure wish I would have found this much sooner than what I did but I owe much of my dogs survival to this site and the wonderful vet I switched to.  This Saturday is my dogs Celebration Of Life Party!  My family and close friends will be there and everyone has been buying gifts for Gunner and of course he has a party hat.  He turns 5 on March 26 and has survived Blasto!  Keep all of us posted on your situation and if you have questions dont ever hesitate to ask.  Best of luck.  Gwen   

[Lauren88]

Thank you for the responses. The 60 day treatment is just the first step. We are waiting to see how well she responds to the medication and then go from there. As I said, this is very new and she has only been diagnosed this week so we are kind of assessing the situation as we go. I have already gotten a second opinion. We took Ali to the local vet and then to a specialist in Toronto (I am from Canada) where she had blood work done to give the diagnosis. Hopefully she will respond quickly and is still in the early stages of the disease. I am still learning about blasto and appreciate the responses. As for the blindness, she was pretty depressed at first because she did not understand why she could suddenly not see. She bumps into things sometimes but she has good instincts and is starting to adjust. I will keep you updated.

Thanks.

Lauren

[Judy]

Hi Sorry to hear about your dog's diagnosis, glad to hear that it was caught early, that is very good. You mentioned blood work that diagnosed blasto  - we are all learning from eachother here. What type of blood work?  Francie's mom

[Lauren88]

Hello,

In response to what medication is on it is called Sporanox. Are/have any of your dog been on this? Also, has it been effective? Thanks.

[Jen]

Hi Lauren-
   Sporanox is the brand name of Itraconazole, an antifungal medication used to treat blasto.  Many of us have used it with very good results, even though the road can be long and rough.  There are no guarantees, but we're seeing better results all the time.

   My girl Dirtbike was treated with compounded Itraconazole from Pet Health Pharmacy with excellent results. She has been clear of blasto ***knockswood*** since the end of October '07.
   Some prefer the brand name Sporanox, some prefer to use different pharmacies, some prefer not to use a compounded form. (At times it must be compounded, as it is not always available in the proper dosage for a dog's weight.) 
   If using Itra in pill/capsule form, be sure to give it with a fatty food in order for it to become available in your dog's system.  The oral solution doesn't have to be given with food. 

   There are other antifungals available, some (like Fluconazole) are prescribed to treat different situations, like eye or central nervous system involvement.  Your vet may have a preference.
 Many here have used this as well and have had good results.  Check our newsletter, there's lots of information about treatment, medications and tips about using them. 
Everyone here will help-
jen

[luvmyjacks]

Hi Lauren
I'm in Toronto and have had two dogs affected by blasto.  I have found most of the vets aren't too well versed in new info on the disease so have a good hard look at this website, make copies of the newsletter and make yourself the expert.  I lost my sweet Roxy because I was late catching it, but my little fat Will is a survivor.  We started him on Sporonox and switched to itraconazole after the first few weeks because it was far less expensive.  He was on it for one year and I still watch him carefully in case he has a relapse.  This is a terrible disease but it can be treated successfully.  You can contact me any time, and there are vets locally who have now had more experience with blasto than there were when I started out 18 months ago.  Good luck.  Lee

[Lauren88]

Hi,

Just wondering where I could find the Newsletter on the site? Thanks.

Lauren

[Harleys Mom]

Hi Lauren,

The newsletter is actually a post on the message board called "Blastomycosis Newsletter: Text-Only". It was created by Jen & has had over 7300 hits, lots of people have read it! I bumped it up by posting to it on March 19, 2009, 10:51:43 AM so it is near the top of the list that includes this post you started.

This newsletter has so much good stuff in it, I wonder if there is a way to get a permanent link to it. I'd try but I'm an accountant not a computer programmer

How's Ali doing today? Hope she's getting the hang of where everything in the house is. Hate to hear of any going blind from this thing, but dogs are very resilient & learn to adapt. Keep up the good work with her treatment.

[Jen]

The direct link to the newsletter posting is
http://blastomycosis.ca/forum/index.php/topic,256.0.html

or you can access it by clicking the "Blastomycosis Newsletter Text Only" topic directly instead of the last reply icon.  Keep in mind that it was written back last May, but not much has changed.  The biggest change is probably that MiraVista is now more widely used for diagnostics and monitoring of treatment efficacy.

AND, I believe that Eva had a great point about vets now saying that dogs may not have to lose eyes -
Do you have anything on that, Eva??  I've been lax and my attention has drifted since then, sorry.

I thought that I had put it on another site, but no - I linked that site to this one cuz it was too hard to reformat.
Me being lazy...
jen

[Harleys Mom]

Jen's link is pretty slick. I didn't know you could paste a link to a specific topic. Quess that's why I'm not a computer programmer.

[evayola]

So sorry it took forever for me to reply. What my vet learned was that there is no need for the eyes to be removed as long as they dont rupture. The eyes are no longer thought to be an area of the blasto to be hiding. For all you out there with your blind eyes in place, no need to worry. Well unless you are like me and then you will worry forever!

Eva

p.s. How is Ali doing?

[mhitesman]

It really is wonderful that there are new developments and research on blasto all the time.  It doesn't take the pressure off us, the owners, though, does it?  I mean, a number of years ago fluconazole was the treatment of choice as an improvement over ketrokenazole (I massacred that one I am sure).  Then came itraconazole which had fewer side effects.  The recommended treatment period in my recent Merck Vet manual says 2 months -- the period my teaching hospital vet recommended.  I treated for 4 months and wonder if it was long enough (it ended 15 months ago).  My Comet's right eye ruptured and was removed for that reason, but the vet wanted to remove it even sooner as she said blasto could "hide" there.  Now, the thinking appears to be that it doesn't hide there.  Another post indicates it can hide in the abdomen, though.   And my Comet just had an MRI to rule out a blasto mass relapse there.  The U of W-Madison is conducting a test to see if Miravista antigen tests can predict relapse.  Uh oh.  That's what I have been counting on to reassure me all these months since meds stopped for my dog.  This is such a terrifying disease.

We look for tidbits to make us feel safer.  But nothing will ever make me feel safe again.