Pemphigus foliacia

[Scott]

On November 9, 2003, I posted about our cat Sashi who was having problems with her nail beds. Specifically, she had a brownish/black accumulation in all her nail beds, and her feet were clearly in pain. After doing some research, I concluded that it might be Pemphigus. Our normal vet had no idea what it was, so we took Sashi to a clinic with 4 vets. It was decided that a skin biopsy was in order. The results were positive - Pemphigus foliacia. Fairly uncommon in cats, but requiring lifetime treatment with steroids. We bombed her with Prednisone and Leukeran to clear her up, and progressively reduced down to a maintenance dose of 1 mg Leukeran per day, and a Prednisone tab twice per week. We tried going solely onto the Leukeran, but she had a recurrence. Anyway, she is now happy, healthy and back to herself. The vet says that long term, Leukeran will have fewer side effects than Prednisone. Apparently, cats tolerate it much better than a human would under equivalent doses. We are happy with the outcome.

[jason]

thanks for the update (and the details), great to hear of this recovery.

[Auntie Debbie]

Thanks for such a wonderful update. I hope she will continue to do well with her treatment,
Here are some links I hope you will find helpful.


http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/depemphigus.html

http://www.tica.org/vet/pemphigus.htm

http://www.pemphigus.org/am_animals.html