GBSD Medical History

Chief (a Weim) and Oscar, Son Of Chief is a GBSD (Weim / Lab)

Weimaraners, and other large breed dogs sometimes suffer from an inherited immune deficiency syndrome' (ID) . About one of our puppies in eight suffers from a very mild form of this syndrome. We cannot find a proper name for our syndrome but we know that the immune deficiency problem it is common to Weims. We simply call it ID and we do know how to treat it.

Recovery: All puppies treated properly have recovered from the symptoms of ID, within two or three days of treatment. Despite a remarkable recovery in days if not hours, the treatment must be continued in some circumstances for as long as three weeks. Our puppies seem to grow out of this problem however, if a puppy is not treated properly upon the onset of ID, the problem can follow the puppy into maturity. ID has only occurred in puppies under about one year of age.

Symptoms: The early symptoms of the ID syndrome are lethargy, loss of appetite and energy, a temperature and often swollen lymph nodes. A puppy that usually cycles regularly between play time and sleep time that gets our ID will not play, wants to sleep all day and will not eat or drink properly. The ID syndrome is sometimes caused by vaccinations or other unknown environmental stimulus. Other later symptoms are: blood in urine, blood in feces, blood in mouth, face sours or pustules, mouth sours, hard bumps on bones, swollen lymph nodes behind the ears, joint pain causing limping, difficulty getting up, difficulty lying down.

Diagnosis: What starts ID is mostly a mystery. At the onset of ID the immune system of a puppy shuts down allowing one or more different kinds of infections to start. The infections can manifest themselves in many different ways fooling everyone, vets included, into thinking they know what is going on. If the symptoms look like its an XYZ infection, vets will often attempt to treat that infection with an accepted treatment regime for XYZ. The problem may go away temporarily but then come back or the problem may go away and shortly afterwards a new problem emerges to take its place. There is no end to the infections that emerge if the puppy is left untreated. ID will allow an unlimited number of problems to get started, one after another. The infections that emerge can effect every organ, structure or biological system in the dog. The problem with ID is that there is no test for it, only a treatment. The treatment is to give the puppy a steroid called Prednisone, 5 mg two times per day.

Treatment: We have found this condition in some of our puppies between six weeks and twelve months of age. The condition is treated with an inexpensive steroid, Prednisone and an antibiotic called Clavamox. When treated early, one or two 5 mg Prednisone pills will sometimes reset the immune system. The puppy returns to normal within 24 hours and no further treatment is needed. More often, treatment for three days is enough. If that doesn't work, then a full treatment for two weeks is necessary and the Prednisone dosage is reduced slowly for another week or two after that.. The puppy must be weaned off the steroid slowly. The sicker the puppy when treatment is started, the longer the treatment must be applied. The longer the treatment, the more difficult the weaning process. In severe cases the weaning of the dog from the Prednisone must be attempted and readjusted over and over again. You must experiment with reduced dosages until the right weaning schedule is found. If the weaning process has been started and signs of ID re-emerge, the dog must be put back on a full dose of Prednisone for three days and a much slower weaning process should be attempted on the forth day, reducing the Prednisone dose more slowly and over a longer period.

Despite our warnings, some puppies have become very sick because the root problem was not treated with the steroid. They have been given antibiotics for weeks but become weaker and weaker. Showing blood in their stool, urine and mouth and gums. There have been times with we received our first notice about the sick puppy that has been sick for weeks or even months. Despite the condition of the puppy, we have been able to save all of them by starting the Prednisone treatment.

Weaning From Long Time Prednisone Treatments: Time, patients and experimentation has worked for us when weaning a dog off long time Prednisone use. Even in the most severe case where initial treatment for ID was delayed and the dog was so sick the vet had given up and suggested putting the dog down. In this case, we became involved at the last minute. The dog was on deaths door, could not eat, drink or even stand. The dog was put on Prednisone and Clavamox immediately. It was on its feet, eating and drinking on its own within forty-eight hours. It had to stay on the Prednisone for many weeks so it could recover. Weaning was attempted many times but failed. We had the dog brought back to Black Bear Farm and we took over the weaning process. After four or five attempts at weaning the dog we were finally successful at finding a weaning formula that worked. It took about three months of attempts, failures and experimentation but we were finally successful and the dog became strong and healthy and was no longer dependant upon the Prednisone. This was a severe case caused by delaying the Prednisone treatment for months!

Prednisone affects the dog's immune system by further lowering its effectiveness, perhaps giving the immune system a rest and time to recover. Because of this the antibiotic called Clavamox is given at the same time to stop infections. Its quite possible that because of the nature of the initial infection that emerges, a different antibiotic may be required to replace Clavamox or to be used in conjunction with Clavamox. It depends on what type of infection emerges and your vet knows best.

Severe ID Symptoms

Later symptoms, starting in a couple of days or more include a fever and diarrhea. A week or so later you may see drooling, pustules on the ears and face, bumps on the dogs body or bones, swollen ears, blood in urine and feces and feces will becomes watery. Aches and pain in the joints and weight loss will occur and the dog my not have the strength to get up, eat or drink or even open its jaws.

Once the Prednisone / Clavamox treatment is given, severe ID symptoms are reduced dramatically within twenty four hours of treatment. The condition has always disappeared within two weeks or sooner. We have found that the sooner a puppy is treated, the shorter the treatment time necessary. The ID problem has not re-occurred in the same dog after being arrested and the problem has never occurred or reoccurred in dogs over one year of age unless the problem was not properly dealt with in the beginning. However, ID left untreated will allow infections to flourish that eventually will kill the dog. Before we understood ID was the cause of our problem, we did loose a puppy.

From the literature we have determined that our version of this immune deficiency problem is a very mild manifestation of the condition. Our vet, Dr. Marc Marin, Chelmsford Animal Hospital, has suggested that our problem is a condition not a disease, as time and maturity has always overcome the condition.

Dealing With Your Vet: In our experience vets treat the first symptoms of ID as a common bacterial infection. This approach is not successful for ID. Left untreated, the underlying immune deficiency problem worsens and new infections get started. Vets do not generally issue prescriptions to treat any problem without first being sure of a diagnosis. In our case there is no test for ID. If your puppy suffers from an infection caused by ID your vet will want to give your puppy a battery of tests in search of a diagnosis. There is no test available to diagnose ID, only a treatment. The test treatment for ID is simply a two day treatment with 5 mg of Prednisone given twice a day with Clavamox. If the puppy shows a miraculous recovery within twenty four to thirty six hours, its likely ID. When an unexpected problem develops with your GBSD or your Weimaraner from Black Bear Farm, your vet has to be encouraged to suspect the ID problem as the root cause and to treat your puppy with Prednisone and Clavamox accordingly.

ID is tricky and can disguise itself as a dozen different unrelated kinds of problems. If other obvious infections like Parvo are eliminated as suspects, ask you vet to consider an immediate two day test treatment with Prednisone. In four years and over 100 puppies, we have had very few other problems with our puppies so when there is a problem with a Black Bear Farm puppy, your vet must suspect ID. In any case, please call us if you suspect your puppy is sick. We may be of some help in dealing with your vet. Above all, ask you vet to read this page and test treat your puppy for ID first.

Canine Worms And Parasites

Canine worms and parasites occur in our puppies as we are in a forest location. We de-worm all of our dogs every other month and we treat our puppies for parasites Coccidia and Giardia before we deliver them. Sometimes the worms or parasites persist. Some parasites like Giardia and canine worms can infect humans. You must have your puppy tested for worms and parasites within a day or two of delivery. This rule applies to buying any puppy from any breeder, big or small. Make the vet appointment for the day after you take delivery of your puppy. As a general rule, never allow your puppy to lick you. Wash your hands after handling your puppy and be sure to disinfect any area contaminated by puppy droppings. Disinfect these areas using a mild solution of water and chlorine bleach mix to a ratio of 30:1. Add a small amount of dish soap to the mixture.

Testing

Please show this page to your vet an your first vet appointment for your puppy. We make every attempt to deliver a puppy to you that is healthy and free of worms and parasites but sometimes we fail. Please take two fresh puppy poop samples to your vet contained in doubled Zip Lock bags and ask your vet to test your puppy for worms and the parasites mentioned on your first appointment.

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