Slotpuppy, I hope your pup gets well fast, too. My dog was diagnosed with autoimmune disease a couple of years ago and she responded very quickly to steroids; but it sounds like your pup's condition is a little more serious. I also suspect that maybe my dog was misdiagnosed; when her symptoms cleared up, she was fine for awhile and then had a second bout that was diagnosed as flea allergy by a different vet in the office - and giving her a better flea treatment (the vet said that Frontline no longer worked, especially in our area) cleared it up faster (and cheaper) than the steroids did, once I paid for bloodwork.
Frankly, I'm beginning to think that diagnosing our dogs is a crapshoot. My dog's been in the hospital since Monday and she's there at least until tomorrow. Dangit, that's longer than I was in the hospital for a double bypass operation, and she's still just barely eating. At some point, I'm going to have to say she's 11 years old, I love her and whatever happens is in God's hands, because there IS a limit - because at some point I'm going to be forking over $1k to hear there's nothing they can do for her and I'm going to wonder why didn't you tell me that at $200 when it was an office visit and bloodwork? I'm so conflicted about this.
