Home for Irish Setter Lovers Around the World
Eirecrest Moonlight Magic (BaiLee) Journey through HOD
I am going to record BaiLee's diagnosis, treatment and prognosis for all to learn - from Jim and Eileen Chesworth
BaiLee was a normal puppy until he turned 4 months old. He was his usual self the night before. He liked to romp and was enthusiastic about learning. He was attending doggie school where he learned that all dogs are not approachable, heel , sit, stay, down and walk on a lead. We learned how to deal with dominating, mouthing and pawing behaviour effectively. BaiLee loved his crate and house trained after 3 accidents in the house.
The cause of HOD is unknown to date, therefore I am recording what I know for sure. We had been taking our puppy to the dog park where he could play with other dogs and socialize. BaiLee was not fond of car rides from day one but we had hoped that he would overcome this fear. He would froth and vomit occasionally. I feel that doggy school may have caused him stress because he is very smart with words. When we said, "Lets go to BaiLee school?" he went and hid under the table. He was also given his rabies shot a week before the onset of his symptoms.
When he was about 3 & 1/2 months old I noticed his second eye lids were VERY red and had a grayish discharge. I also noticed his JOINTS in his front legs were ENLARGED. I did not know, at this time, that those signs are NOT NORMAL because we have never owned an Irish Setter or a larger dog before.
BaiLee eats fresh or frozen vegetables, fruit and ice cubes as a treat. He lespecially oves honeydue, watermellon, brocollini, green beans, carrots, grapes, and ice cubes.
His usual routine was: get up at 5:30 am, go outside to do his business, eat and sleep till 10 or 11 am. Then he came to life and all hell broke loose. He wanted to run and play. Then came the horrible day. We noticed our little puppy was not himself. It was around the end of January 2008. This day he did not want to come out of his crate, you could see he was uncomfortable, he went outside and came back and laid on his bed. He did not want to eat.
I could tell he was running a fever. That afternoon my husband took him to our vet. They did blood work and those tests came back normal. He was sent home. The second day he was still in a great deal of pain, he was not eating, he did not come off his bed and was still running a fever.
We notified our breeder immediately. Our breeder felt it was HOD. She emailed the new treatment protical to us and we gave it to our vet, however our vet was cautious at this point. Our vet has never had the pleasure of caring for an Irish Setter before. Our vet sent the xrays to a specialist who verified the HOD and sent our vet a copy of the new treatment protical for HOD which was exactly the same as the breeder had provided.
At this time it was imperative to keep this young puppy quiet. We stopped his schooling, took him for gentle short walks, kept him on a lead in the house and put him in his kennel when he was frisky.
The new HOD protical is as follows:
30 mg of Prednisone, Pepcid AC, plus Klavamox (twice a day for 4 weeks) for 4 days
15 mg of Prednisone, Pepcid AC plus the Klavamox for 7 days
10 mg of Prednixone, Pepcid AC plus the Klavamox for 7 days
5 mg of Prednisone, Pepcid Ac plus the Klavamox for 7 days
5 mg of Prednisone every second day, Pepcid Ac and Klavamox for 3 more days twice a day
In addition he had pain medication as needed: 50 mg of Tramadol ( it ended up being 3 times a day)
Initially we intised him to eat with wet food. We also hid his medication inside a ball of wet food. Then he became ravinous from his medication. This appetite along with his limited exercise routine resulted in weight gain, which is NOT GOOD for a puppy who has joint problems. We thought we would worry about the weight gain once he was healed.
BaiLee has finished his medications on March 22, 2008 and has had to have pain medication yesterday and today, March 23, 2008. He is limping badly today, even after the pain pill. His eye lids are still red with a discharge.
We are going to make an appointment with the vet for tomorrow. Stand by for an update.
Bailee seemed to doing well for a couple of weeks then he made a turn for the worst.
We went back to the vet and had to start treatment all over again. It was heart breaking
We were more determined than ever to keepailee quit so we olayed catch in the living room. his walks were on to do his business then back on the leash tied to the coffee table.
As the weeks passed you could see a definite improvent. By July our walk were 1 block and back. By August there was no signs of the HOD Bailee was once again back to his old ways. We kept his running to a minimum but he could walk all he wanted.
September we went back to the Vet for exrays. the swelling was down significantly in his joints andd the exrays looked good.
Nov 5, 2009 Bailee has made a full recovery and is now part of an HOD study being conducted at Clemson u on behalf of the Irish Setters of America. They have taken blood, DNA profile and a full medical history.
The one thing we know for sure is they don't know what causes it. Here is a list of things they are concidering
1. Rabies shots being given too early next time I would wait until my puppy was 1 year of age
2. Stress
3. Hereditary
BaiLee was a normal puppy until he turned 4 months old. He was his usual self the night before. He liked to romp and was enthusiastic about learning. He was attending doggie school where he learned that all dogs are not approachable, heel , sit, stay, down and walk on a lead. We learned how to deal with dominating, mouthing and pawing behaviour effectively. BaiLee loved his crate and house trained after 3 accidents in the house.
The cause of HOD is unknown to date, therefore I am recording what I know for sure. We had been taking our puppy to the dog park where he could play with other dogs and socialize. BaiLee was not fond of car rides from day one but we had hoped that he would overcome this fear. He would froth and vomit occasionally. I feel that doggy school may have caused him stress because he is very smart with words. When we said, "Lets go to BaiLee school?" he went and hid under the table. He was also given his rabies shot a week before the onset of his symptoms.
When he was about 3 & 1/2 months old I noticed his second eye lids were VERY red and had a grayish discharge. I also noticed his JOINTS in his front legs were ENLARGED. I did not know, at this time, that those signs are NOT NORMAL because we have never owned an Irish Setter or a larger dog before.
BaiLee eats fresh or frozen vegetables, fruit and ice cubes as a treat. He lespecially oves honeydue, watermellon, brocollini, green beans, carrots, grapes, and ice cubes.
His usual routine was: get up at 5:30 am, go outside to do his business, eat and sleep till 10 or 11 am. Then he came to life and all hell broke loose. He wanted to run and play. Then came the horrible day. We noticed our little puppy was not himself. It was around the end of January 2008. This day he did not want to come out of his crate, you could see he was uncomfortable, he went outside and came back and laid on his bed. He did not want to eat.
I could tell he was running a fever. That afternoon my husband took him to our vet. They did blood work and those tests came back normal. He was sent home. The second day he was still in a great deal of pain, he was not eating, he did not come off his bed and was still running a fever.
We notified our breeder immediately. Our breeder felt it was HOD. She emailed the new treatment protical to us and we gave it to our vet, however our vet was cautious at this point. Our vet has never had the pleasure of caring for an Irish Setter before. Our vet sent the xrays to a specialist who verified the HOD and sent our vet a copy of the new treatment protical for HOD which was exactly the same as the breeder had provided.
At this time it was imperative to keep this young puppy quiet. We stopped his schooling, took him for gentle short walks, kept him on a lead in the house and put him in his kennel when he was frisky.
The new HOD protical is as follows:
30 mg of Prednisone, Pepcid AC, plus Klavamox (twice a day for 4 weeks) for 4 days
15 mg of Prednisone, Pepcid AC plus the Klavamox for 7 days
10 mg of Prednixone, Pepcid AC plus the Klavamox for 7 days
5 mg of Prednisone, Pepcid Ac plus the Klavamox for 7 days
5 mg of Prednisone every second day, Pepcid Ac and Klavamox for 3 more days twice a day
In addition he had pain medication as needed: 50 mg of Tramadol ( it ended up being 3 times a day)
Initially we intised him to eat with wet food. We also hid his medication inside a ball of wet food. Then he became ravinous from his medication. This appetite along with his limited exercise routine resulted in weight gain, which is NOT GOOD for a puppy who has joint problems. We thought we would worry about the weight gain once he was healed.
BaiLee has finished his medications on March 22, 2008 and has had to have pain medication yesterday and today, March 23, 2008. He is limping badly today, even after the pain pill. His eye lids are still red with a discharge.
We are going to make an appointment with the vet for tomorrow. Stand by for an update.
Bailee seemed to doing well for a couple of weeks then he made a turn for the worst.
We went back to the vet and had to start treatment all over again. It was heart breaking
We were more determined than ever to keepailee quit so we olayed catch in the living room. his walks were on to do his business then back on the leash tied to the coffee table.
As the weeks passed you could see a definite improvent. By July our walk were 1 block and back. By August there was no signs of the HOD Bailee was once again back to his old ways. We kept his running to a minimum but he could walk all he wanted.
September we went back to the Vet for exrays. the swelling was down significantly in his joints andd the exrays looked good.
Nov 5, 2009 Bailee has made a full recovery and is now part of an HOD study being conducted at Clemson u on behalf of the Irish Setters of America. They have taken blood, DNA profile and a full medical history.
The one thing we know for sure is they don't know what causes it. Here is a list of things they are concidering
1. Rabies shots being given too early next time I would wait until my puppy was 1 year of age
2. Stress
3. Hereditary
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Comment by Susan Stone on March 24, 2008 at 4:07am
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Hi Eileen,
thanks for sharing - this is a disease I have not heard very much about (first on this site I think). I looked it up and found the following site: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?articleid=446 with more information.
Wishing you and BaiLee all the best and fingers crossed he will be OK soon!
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Comment by Judi Schuerman on March 24, 2008 at 3:39pm
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Hello Eileen,
Thank you for sending me information about visiting your site. I've read through your posting and found it very informative. Annie does not like to ride in cars either. I have problems getting her to get inside my car. She does everything to distract me so she won't have to go. I decided to use our bigger car and put a crate inside it. She likes the crate.
Also, the tissue underneath her eyes get a firey red at times, not always. She is going to her second obedience sequence now and wants to play with all the other dogs. She is getting stronger and I am using a chain collar now when we train. Annie is getting possesive and barks at noises at night. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Judi
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Comment by Eileen Chesworth on November 6, 2009 at 10:06am
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Thank you so much Camilla. One thing about the Irish Setter families is that we have a strong bond and desire to learn about our babies. I thank you for the material here. I will read it in detail when I get time. I believe HOD is rare and it may be more prevalent in North America than in Europe because most of the owners are not familiar with the disease in Europe.
I will certainly keep every one abreast of what the scientist discover about the disease. At this point there is just speculation of what might have caused the disease. When we brought Bailey home we let him run as much as he wanted to and for anyone who owns a puppy knows that there is no end to playing and running. The excessive exercise might have caused stress on the joints, he received his rabies shot, we took him to obedience school which was a strict regiment - this emotional stress may have caused the flare up. We just don't know. I guess we won't know till we do more studies. I don't know how long that will take but I will keep everyone updated.
Keep in touch.
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Comment by Linda Baldry on November 6, 2009 at 1:15pm
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Hi there, my dog Jet was affected by HOD after his initial vaccinations given late at 13 weeks, he could not stand and had a very high temperature, thankfully his breeder Rita Pike made me aware of HODs and with the help of my vet Jet was put on a drip for 3 days and followed the protocol previously posted by Camilla Ostman, he was xrayed and this showed his joints to be swollen, he was only allowed into the garden and for the second part of his vaccination course, was given the vaccine without the Distemper part. Fortunately Jet made a full recovery, he also had a slight reaction to his Rabies vaccs but nothing like the initial syptoms, I would just like to add in case you did not know - but NEVER give dogs grapes, rasins, currents or sultanas, they can cause liver damage and can kill a dog. Hope this information helps, good luck regards Linda.
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Comment by Cheryl Gorey on November 6, 2009 at 3:11pm
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Thankyou Eileen for sharing your journey with BaiLee on this disease. I personally have not ever heard of it, so it was very interesting.
Thank-you Camilla for this article, I will read and save it with my other dog health information and thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences. This is a great site for us all. cheers from Down Under
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Comment by Carmel Murphy on November 7, 2009 at 3:25am
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Thanks to Eileen and Camilla for all the info on HOD(I had never heard of it either) Hope Bailey is as good as new!!
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Comment by Dee Rance on November 7, 2009 at 5:29am
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Hi there Eileen, So glad to hear that BaiLee is on the mend...thank you for sharing you experience with us, personally I have never heard of HOD, (fore warned is fore armed) Thanks again and hope he keeps getting better and better
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Comment by Michelle Webster on December 29, 2009 at 12:53pm
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Hi Eileen,
I am so sorry to hear about your experience, but so glad that BaiLee is now much better. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I have heard of HOD before, but couldn't remember what it meant, so thanks for jogging my memory. I wish you well in the future with BaiLee and hope that he continues to be well.
Best wishes,
Michelle
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Hi there, just reading your story - my puppy Jet, who is now 2 and a half years of age, was diagnosed with HOD when he was a puppy - he developed a temperature and was on a drip for 3 days, we followed the protocol from the Irish Setter Club of America which my vet was happy to follow, we also had xrays done, Jet was taken ill just a week following his initial vaccination, and I believe it is the distemper in the vaccine, he has never been vaccinated since, he was also slightly unwell after his rabies vaccs, but nothing like the previous symptoms. He thankfully made a full recovery, and is now fit and healthy and enjoying the show scene, he qualified for Crufts last year and also qualified for this years Crufts. Before he has anymore vaccination boosters, he will be blood tested to check his vaccination status. Thanks for posting your story, I hope it helps anyone else who meets with this awful disease. Regards Linda
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