Well, when I took him in, we did a skin scraping (negative) and gave him a shot of steroids and put him on an antihistamine and an antibiotic. He cleared up REALLY well within a week. Now, he's just as bad has he was when I first took him in, and nothing has changed - still on meds. The only thing that changed is that the steroids have worn off by now...not a good sign when you're thinking autoimmune. Sooooo I'm taking him back in tomorrow. I'm hoping his owner will go for biopsies this time (last time he was clearing up so we cancelled the biopsy appointment). We've had a couple hard freezes so we were hoping it was allergies and by now it's all gone. But apparently not.
Doc was asking me about what autoimmune disorders are common in collies. I KNOW discoid lupus is common - that's why they call it "collie nose" after all. I have real issues trusting this vet, which is why I hope his owner goes for biopsies. I definitely don't think it's just allergies anymore. There are lesions all over his feet, around his eyes, and on his nose where the black of the nose leather meets the white/pink of his skin. He's not licking his feet AT ALL so they're not red and nasty because of licking.
