first of I'd like to say Hi, I new to the board.

I have 4 collies (all rescued ex-working dogs), except for my 11mth puppy who we bough from a farmer. The puppy is called Archie, and is just beautiful. About 8 weeks ago he had a really high temperature, and eas very lethargic verging on unconscious. We took him to the vet and his temp was 106, and they diagnosed a virus and gave him antibiotics, and he picked up very quickly over the course of a couple of days. 2 weeks ago again he had a very high temp (105.2), and was very lethargic, and wouldn't eat. We went back to the vets and they have now decided he has an auto immune disease, and are treating him with steroids - only now 2 weeks down the line is he starting to pick up.

i'm very concerned as they have been talking about long-term treatments and putting him to sleep, and they haven't even told me what kind of auto immune disease. he has had numerous blood tests which aren't showing anything. The symptoms are his temp his very high, he is lethargic, off his food, mucous membranes very pale verging on white, seems sore in the hind limbs.

can anyone help, provide advice we are getting desperate?

Thanks

Elaine

This comes from the Bearded Collie culb of Can.
http://bccc.pair.com/autoimmu.htm

here is another.
http://www.canismajor.com/dog/autoimmn.html

good luck.
Hope he gets better...

Wow, I'm so sorry about your puppy. I'm not a vet, but I'm a tech and I have to say that it would be really hard for me to give you advice. Those symptoms are very common in a lot of different diseases. But if it truly is an auto immune disease you're looking at long term care. They are not usually curable just treatable and a lot of times the treatment is steroids which can be hard on the body when used for a long period of time. Basically the body is attacking itself. Hence the term "auto" immune. Its not something easy to treat. I wish you the best of luck with it. I wish I could give you more advice, but there's not much else to say not knowing what the disease is. Hang in there! I'll send warm thoughts your way!

Thanks for the advice and kind thoughts - the links were very useful. I've been lucky in the past while all my other dogs are rescued they have all been physically healthy, just a lot of emotional and mental baggage which just takes time. i'm stunned over Archie and I've never had a physically sick dog before so this has caught me rather short.

I intend to give him the best chance possible, but the vet has told me he may have to remain on a low dose of steroids all the time, which will decrease his life expectancy.

i'm giving him a broad spectrum vitamin can anyone suggest any other supplements that may be useful?

Thanks

Elaine