Hi! I made a post back in 2018 about my horse, Gracie, who eventually got diagnosed with Pemphigus Foliaceous. I saw a pemphigus post recently so I thought I should give an update.
Gracie is still here and doing well! I have been monitoring her condition and adjusting her prednisolone dose as needed (she is on an apple flavored compounded powder, 300mg per scoop). We have been everywhere from 1/2 scoop to 3 scoops, which is a LOT and I don’t recommend! I have never weaned her completely off despite recommendations to try because studies show that every new flare is harder to manage than the last and she has been really stable on 1/2 scoop, and she shows some discomfort around 1/2 scoop so I just don’t go further. We have done hoof xrays within the past year and she is looking fabulous there. She has dropped in her hind fetlocks about a year ago but she is also quite round and was diagnosed with Insulin Resistance which may or may not have had anything to do with the steroids, she is now managed with a grazing muzzle and some daily Equioxx and quite happy with life (I don’t ride her anymore due to the fetlocks).
I am going to try to post a before and now picture, not sure if I can! Before has hives and some winter coat, now is in 90 degree weather and a summer coat but other than a couple bug bites she is looking really good.
I am lucky Gracie is a hardy girl who can handle the steroids, but I just want to put a positive post out there for anyone dealing with this. My vets consulted many other vets and no one has a cure or great advice but this has been working for me so I wanted to put it out there as resources are so limited and so generally negative.
