Discoid lupus erythematosus ( DLE)

Oh dang, that's a hard one. 

Query?  How'd they diagnose if if there are no lesions?

What meds is the dog on?

Diet, etc is going to depend on the answer to what meds is the dog on?  Because there will be some foods that are easier on the liver (which may suffer if the heavy immune-suppressing drugs are used).  Unforunately most of the immune suppressing drugs can wind up worsening the skin (oh yea, unbelievable right??) as a result of the body trying to throw off the toxicity of the drugs.  But the drugs are to help hold back the disease.

You may also need to modify the diet to keep it really easy on the stomach because many of the immune-suppressing drugs are hard on the gut in the extreme.

I don't have specific experience with Lupus, but I do with auto-immune stuff (both with Billy and with my own psoriasis and arthrtiris - both of which are auto-immune). 

Are you open at all to alternative stuff to help lessen the pharmaceutical load on the body? 

I realize how incredibly overwheming this is -- My prayers and good thots are with you.

He had Marsi and he was having a hard time fighting it. I know that its a tough one to get rid of but he was showing other signs of skin issues. we live in wisconsin so our weather in a little unpredictable. This summer we haven't had a lot of hot sunny days yet, but the first sunny day we had I of course had the kids (my four dogs) out to play in the sun. Norton wasn't out there for no more then 10 min. and the discoloration spot on his nose started with very small blisters. like I said he doesn't have open sores, but the discolored spot on his nose is the size of a 1/2 dollar.

 We are lucky it is disoid Lupus and not Systemic (sp?) so at this time we are avoiding steroids. I was told he is sunlight sensitive so he is not allowed outside between 10am-3pm and he needs sunscreen otherwise. we do have a topical ointment. (I will have to get back to you with the name.)

Yes I am open to alternatve stuff.... we feed our dogs raw diet and thats why I was looking to see if anyone changed things in the diet. I added coconut oil to his diet. it gets that on his food and also on his spots.

I am open to ANY SUGGESTIONS!

myNorTon

Yes I am open to alternatve stuff.... we feed our dogs raw diet and thats why I was looking to see if anyone changed things in the diet. I added coconut oil to his diet. it gets that on his food and also on his spots.

There are a couple of schools of thot on that -- part of the purpose of a raw diet is to maximize the immune system.  *But* you've got a situation where the immune system doesn't know when to 'shut off' -- so I'm not sure a raw diet is still sensible.  Simply because it continues to expose them to things  (like bacteria, etc.) that the immune system *has* to respond to.

That's one of those medical "opinion" things that no one is going to agree on.  I have nothing against raw ... but you might want to consider home-cooked.  Monica Segal might be a superb one to contact -- she works with both raw and homecooked.  http://www.monicasegal.com

Since this is minimal at this point -- I would suggest you try homotoxicology.  It's not common yet but it can help SO much to tip the body balance back to "normal".  Email me if you want more info -- you can use the AHVMA vet list to find someone (I can help you look if you want). 

myNorTon

I was told he is sunlight sensitive so he is not allowed outside between 10am-3pm and he needs sunscreen otherwise.

For periods when he is outside have you considered a basket muzzle with a covering over the nose area?  That might help if he won't leave the sunscreen alone.

myNorTon

I added coconut oil to his diet.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=2470&S=4&SourceID=62
"Oral vitamin E and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can help, but several months of treatment are needed with those supplements before any effect can be seen."

Dogs absorb animal oils better than vegetable oils, so you might want to add some fish (body) oil to his diet.  Capsules are best since the oil deteriorates rapidly when exposed to air.