Blastomycosis aka Blasto

If you read about our girls you read that we lost Zara at a young age because she developed a fungal infection in her foot when up in Northern Wisconsin. We promptly took Zara to the vet when we realized she had a problem with her foot, where we were prescribed antibiotics. When those didn’t help, we were prescribed more. When it still wasn’t working I got another opinion from another vet, more antibiotics. All this time mind you I kept telling them, I did not think this is an infection…they wouldn’t listen! After tests upon images upon medications, nothing was helping and I couldn’t get an answer besides “try this antibiotic instead”. I was frustrated beyond belief. It wasn’t until I brought up the issue to the vet and tech who helped with her ears, Decorah Animal

Hospital, that I was able to confirm it was in fact fungal. By this time though, we had waited too long to start fighting it properly. In the end, we spent thousands of dollars only to lose the fight. This is a

horrible fungus that is ramped in the states, especially Wisconsin…and yet most of our vets know nothing about it. So I want Zara’s loss and her story to help others, to bring awareness and help you know the signs and know how to advocate!

While in hindsight I wish I’d done many things differently, I had also never heard of this prior and had no knowledge of what to watch for or prevent. Had I known what I do now, I never would have left her at the other kennnels property.

Blastomycosis is due to infection with the fungus

Blastomyces dermatitidis. The fungus that causes blastomycosis is found in moist soil and decaying wood and leaves, especially along waterways. Because we’re located in Wisconsin I chose an image that reflects Wisconsin infection site stats but the whole mid to east side of our country is a hot zone. Zara picked it up in the northern part of Wisconsin which you can see is a hot zone, at a property that contained a marsh and a lot of decay.

People, and pets, can get blastomycosis by inhaling fungal spores or by entry into an open wound. About 50% of people infected never show symptoms, most of us are able to fight it off on our own. For those who cannot fight it, the infection which most commonly starts in the lungs will spread to the brain, stomach, intestines and skin and can be fatal if left untreated or not caught early enough. 

In people it appears as crusting purplish warty plaques with a roundish bumpy edge and central depression. Around half of people with the disease have symptoms, which can include fever, cough, night sweats, muscle pains, weight loss, chest pain, and fatigue. Symptoms usually develop between three weeks and three months after breathing in the spores.

In dogs Blastomycosis can cause a variety of symptoms, including:

Respiratory: Coughing, difficulty breathing, increased breathing effort, exercise intolerance.

Skin: Skin lesions, pimples, pustules, rash-like lesions, draining skin lesions

Eyes: Eye inflammation, eye discharge, glaucoma, swelling, blindness

Bone, spinal, and nervous system: Lameness, neck pain, seizures, orchitis (testicular inflammation)

Other: Fever, weight loss, poor appetite, depression, lethargy, lymph node swelling

I think my dog has Blasto, now what?

Advocate! Trust your gut! Ask for an antigen urine test, which is typically done through MiraVista labs.

If your test returns a positive result, firstly I am so sorry! You need to be prepared for a fight, a potentially very long and expensive fight! Some dogs can fight it with help quickly, but most it takes years. Years of testing and medication. To put it in perspective my vet wanted to test Zara’s levels monthly but I got them to bi-monthly. Each test cost me $200. Then the medication she took monthly cost me a minimum of $100, it varied by pharmacy and if I could find a deal with something like goodrx.  Thankfully the medication is a common antifungal, so I did not have to obtain it direct through my vet and I was able to get it “cheaper“ through a regular pharmacy. There are also x rays commonly involved, and if your dogs spreads to their eyes which is incredibly common you will also run into optomology bills and potentially surgical  removal of an or both eyes. The common antifungals prescribed are Itroconazole and fluconozole. 

For us the medication was causing Zara more discomfort than the fungus, and our wallets simply could not maintain the continued support.  We loved Zara dearly but we had to make the decision to stop the medication and let her fight as long as she was able.  She remained happy and comfortable for a couple of years, but then we began to notice her becoming more sluggish and tired.  She was not as interested in activities like fetch, and we knew it was time.  The decision broke our hearts but we did not want her to suffer. We have her the best life we could for as long as we could. 

Our first indicator that something was wrong with Zara was that her foot and leg swelled up immensely. This all started with a lesion on her pad, that lesion allowed the fungus to enter her blood stream. She also developed pimples, and eye goop. I remember bringing up the pimples and goop to my vet and was shrugged off with ”that’s normal”. It was not normal, it was a sign!

My gut told me that this was not an infection, and I kept saying as much to the vet. But they ran blood work which didn’t show anything, they did x rays which didn’t show anything, they did laser treatments on the foot which did not make a dent in the swelling, they threw multiple antibiotics at her. We tried foot soaks, do you have any idea how hard it is to get a 125# stubborn horse of a dog into a bathtub?!  I remember them testing the site and saying there was bacteria, so it was an infection. But seriously, it’s a foot! I bet if you swab my foot right now you will find bacteria!  Second opinions even at an emergency clinic, “oh it’s an infection”.  WRONG

I should have pushed more, researched more, done more!  Once I heard that it could be blastomycosis I called Decorah because I remembered the tech talking about it happening to her dog. They were so kind and helpful, they pointed me in the right direction and sure enough the urine test was positive.

We started her on anti fungals immediately, but they were clearly making her feel worse.  We tried it for a few months but she was not herself, she was not the girl we knew and loved.  We made the decision to stop the meds, and she returned to her perky stubborn self.  The only thing was her leg was swollen but it did not seem to phase her she was happy to run after a ball all day every day!  Until she wasn’t, when she started to slow down again we knew that it was progressing and we had a tough call to make.  We said our goodbyes and gave her all the goodies she normally wouldn’t be allowed to have, then we took her in and stayed with her holding her and telling her we loved her while she drifted into a sleep.