Calcinosis Cutis from Prednisone

[Tommy's Mom]

Hi. Tommy is a 6 year old Olde English Bulldogge. I have to say that we may not be the perfect fit for this forum but this is as close as I've found for finding anyone that might be experiencing this and that could help with suggestions other than a vet.

Tommy has severe allergies. Both food and external. As a result, he has been on only foods that don't contain what he's allergic to, he gets allergy shots, and was on prednisone for almost two years. We have started him on Atopica back in January and he is now on week 7 of that. He was one of the first dogs to try Apoquel after it came out in December at the Colorado State University Veterinary School...and I have been told is the ONLY dog that did not respond to it. The Atopica appears to be helping but not to a completely manageable level.

Tommy's current problem stems from the prednisone. The dermatology vet from CSU diagnosed Tommy with Calcinosis Cutis about two months ago, and also said that he most likely has Cushing's disease as a result of the prednisone as well. We didn't do any confirmatory tests as the vet said he knew exactly what it was as soon as he saw Tommy. The calcinosis spread very quickly and now covers most of the top of his neck and portions of his head, and there are also three spots on his chest. It seems to show up wherever he has excess skin, or as I would say, on his fat rolls... He was taken off the prednisone when diagnosed and switched to Temirol-P (sp?), along with the Atopica, ketaconozole (to increase the potency of the Atopica is my understanding), and we were sent home with DMSO to speed up the calcinosis healing. The Temeril-P was given with the understanding he had to slowly be weaned off it since it is also a steroid, which is what caused his condition to begin with.

This was all manageable until about a week and a half ago when Tommy's calcinosis got to the point where the scabs were ready to start falling off. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, this was also right around the time I had managed to wean him down to one Temeril-P pill a day, from the 6 a day we started with. Since then, he now has had terrible itchiness and open wounds that are very difficult to stop him from opening and reopening. I have him wrapped up in scarves the best I can as it is the only option I've found to work at the moment, but when I take them off to change them he has managed to reopen some before I can stop his hind leg from flying up to itch it. I've woken up to him scratching in the middle of the night and he had blood pouring down his neck...an awful way to wake up... The scabs and areas where the calcinosis are seem to be so incredibly fragile. It seems like I can just touch them and they can start bleeding again which makes the scabs bigger.

In contacting the vet I explained the situation and he told me I needed to first stop the itchiness and essentially I needed to increase the steroid again...which I know will prolong his healing from the calcinosis and so entirely frustrating to me, but I don't know what else to do so I listened to him and increased it for the past two days.

I don't know what to do and am so frustrated. I have so many suggestions I've looked at for what to do for him topically to make him less itchy, more comfortable, and to stop the bloody oozing. I want to be able to do what is the best solution without wasting all this time trying 50 different products with him miserable until I find the best one. What is the best way to handle it?

Any better suggestions on what to cover his wounds with? I feel like I've tried everything and nothing works great...t-shirts, bandages, scarves, etc.

Also, does anyone have a dog that this is a result from terrible allergies? How do I deal with this when I'm not able to get his allergies completely under control so it seems impossible to wean him completely off the steroids?

Any help that can be provided I am all ears. Thank you.

Tommy's Mom

[Squirt's Mom]

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[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and Tommy!

Your membership approval has now been finalized so your posts will now be publicly visible just as soon as you write them, please just disregard the confirmatory email from us.

Gosh I am sorry you are having these issues with your boy, and certainly understand how worried and frustrating it can be.

We do have members that are experiencing calcinosis cutis with their dog with success. Improvement with calcinosis cutis is slow, and the treatment that works for one dog might not work for another dog.

I am providing you with links to other members threads that are dealing with CC:

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5873

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5850

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5908

I have no experience with CC but I am sure those members that do will be along shortly to share their advice. In the meantime, again, welcome to our family and we will help you in any way we can.

Hugs, Lori

[Renee]

Hello and welcome from me! I am one of the pet parents dealing with the dreaded CC as we call it!

Yes, the CC can be caused by the steroid use, but the good thing is that getting your pup completely off the steroids should help things move along and heal. I hope you will be stopping the Termeril-P as well?

Unfortunately, the CC gets much worse before it gets better, and it sounds like you are at the very lowest point right now. That delicate, bloody, oozing stage is by far on the of the worst! And, I completely understand what you are saying about it constantly breaking open. Tobey's sores cracked open and oozed a lot. Huge chunks would break off and just weep.

I did not find the DMSO helpful at all, and stopped using it after a few weeks. The only thing that helped was getting Tobey's cortisol down. We are still dealing with many CC lesions, and her cortisol is not quite low enough, but we have emerged from the bloody/oozing stage, and most of her lesions are drying up rather well. A good course of abx also helped in clearing up some of the infected areas.

While your vet is technically correct that the steroids will stop itching.... he is completely incorrect in prescribing steroids as a treatment for the CC. You have to get the cortisol reduced in the body to see any long-term improvement in the CC and steroids will never allow that to happen. You'll have to find another way to reduce / manage itching, frustrating as that is.

There is a spray, trichlozor (sp?) spray that can be very, very helpful. You can get it on Amazon. Dawn has had really good success with it for her Buttercup. I would also suggest you give him some benedryl to help the allergies/itchies. It can't hurt and may provide some relief. Also, many people don't think about it, but the CC is painful. I gave Tobey tramadol in the evenings when her CC was at its worst.