Brooker

Yes the cimda.co.uk forum has been absolutely fantastic & been such a massive help for me. It is a must for anyone with a dog with an autoimmune disease. Unfortunately local numerous vets and those at the animal emergency hospital I was using initially had no clue. I ended up diagnosing her myself. Even then I had to insist on the joint tap test to be done as they said 'no that won't be what's wrong with her'. I was adamant the test be run immediately. So glad I did because we got the diagnosis Christmas Eve & began pred. She had been hospitalised for two weeks, had a sky high temp, & wasn't eating or drinking. I hate to think what may have happened if it got to Christmas break when no help was available. Even after the diagnosis the local vet I was using I now know was not educated in the condition and made multiple bad judgement calls which affected her recovery. The same vet was the one who I believe caused her to get impa in the first place by prescribing her an antibiotic that was related to Cephalexin which my girl is allergic to. I always ask to make sure when she gets any drugs that it is not related to Cephalexin, which I did ask this time. Since her diagnosis I have read text books, research papers etc, anything I can get my hands on impa and al things related. So I have a much better understanding now to not let this happened again. As far as my understanding with the weaning it is only important in terms of their adrenal glands being giving a chance to produce cortisol again properly on their own (to avoid having an addisonian chrisis) when weaning steroids. The cyclosporine does not have the same effect on their adrenal glands. The slow weaning for cyclosporine is more in terms of gastro upset & my girl is also really sensitive. We also don't want to risk her relapsing so slow is better.

Thanks everyone. I really should have looked into this months ago, but at the time I was more concerned with just getting her better. Her medical bill since diagnosis at Christmas (including all tests etc) is Considerably more than that (x7), it pains me to think of it (or mention). But I wouldn't change my choice to get her better. I am just more educated now and may look into cheaper methods if I had to do over. Yes you are right Danois, there are only the drugs that you have listed to treat IMPA. The Prednisolone was enough to get in control of the IMPA on its own, but her body couldn't tolerate the steroids any longer. She was on the brink of irreversible liver damage & being a staffy had bad muscle wastage which began affecting her ligaments & joints. The specialist was concerned about weaning her too quickly in case of a relapse, saying that 6 months is the minimum remission time. She had only been on it for 3 months. So we had to add the cyclosporine. I personally think she may have been fine to wean at that point, but went with the specialists advice. The specialist ended up re-nigging & has now said she wants her on it for 2 years. After a lot of research and discussions with other professionals in the area I have decided to begin weaning her gradually now. But she is still going to be requiring it for sometime yet before we can have her completely off. Just to give her body time to adjust. Good news the vet has agreed to write me a script & I am on my way to pick it up now :) Thanks for everyone's help & handy to know about the comfort club etc. a There is no other medication choices for IMPA - it is cortisone, azathioprine and the chemo drugs like cyclosporine. I had a dog with IMPA but managed on cortisone alone with some azathioprine so cannot assist with cheaper sources. I know I was thankful for having pet insurance as I think I spent about $5k in around 21 months - and that was 7 years ago. Just wanted to wish you the best though.

Thanks for all your prompt responses, I truelly greatly appreciate it. I wasn't meaning to try do anything fraudulent. I just think the system is not right sometimes & there should be some way to be able to claim when you are in this situation. To me my dog is a family member, & not just a pet. They should be entitled to something, to help them. I know there would be a lot of people out there who wouldn't be willingly to go to such extremes for their animals. We went with the human version of the medication as it is a lot more easily available & we didn't want to be caught in the situation of not being able to obtain any in a hurry. I was also told it was cheaper... I found the online pet chemist Petceutics after posting (which raffikki has mentioned). I have tried emailing the information to my vet & asked if they would be willing to write me a script so that I can order online. The medication is half the price for the same brand. Hopefully we can go down this avenue and if so I wish I knew about this 7 months ago I guess if worse comes to worse & my vet isn't willing I could try another vet. Thanks. It has been virtually impossible to find info anywhere on this matter.

Hello, I have a pure bred English staffy who is 8 years old. She was diagnosed with immune mediated polyarthritis Christmas Eve 2014. She was on high doses of prednisolone for a few months before the side effects got too bad and we had to start her on cyclosporine. We have since been giving her a human brand of cyclosporine, neoral 100mg capsules. Which my vet gets from the next door human chemist each time I need them. The cost is $439 for a packet of 30 which lasts 15days (approx a fortnight) As you can imagine (or by by doing the maths) this is costing us an absolute fortune! She has been on this medication since march. We do not have pet insurance and it would not be possible now that it is an existing condition. The specialist wants her on it for two years! I am wondering if being a human medication that I can somehow claim it under Medicare? Does the vet write a script to get it from the chemist? And is this script written in my name? At $439 a fortnight I would quite quickly be over the Medicare threshold. Also would I be able to get a print out with this medication listed (under my name) from this chemist at tax time? To claim medical expenses for the year? Any thoughts or feedback would be a great help. I wasn't sure where or who to ask about this. As I'm sure Medicare wouldn't help if I tried asking them directly. I love my dog to bits & will find the money to pay for it for her as long as needed. But financially there must be something we can do to help.