Pet Case Study: Moki

Moki is a beautiful Pekinese (2½ years, female intact) who was diagnosed with cell poor vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels). A cell poor vasculitits essentially means the skin is not receiving the blood flow and nutrition that it needs to remain healthy. Moki had two lesions of complete alopecia (hair loss) on her back with scaling at the skin surface. Intially, the lesions were pruritic (itchy). When skin scrapes for mites were negative, and culture was negative for a fungal infection, and a lack of response to antibiotic therapy was noted, a biopsy of her skin was collected and submitted to a pathologist who specializes in skin disease (dermatopathologist). It is a rare disease but most commonly seen after administration of vaccination(s). Moki had not been vaccinated but was severely ill (pneumonia and a lobe of her lung had twisted and needed surgery to repair) prior to the lesions developing on her skin. She received antibiotic therapy which may have been the culprit.

The after picture shows how the hair is regrowing and she no longer has scaling on the surface of her skin. It has been a slow process as she was diagnosed and started therapy in early June 2015.