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Hi All,

Recently I have noticed a couple of postings on gluten & lactose
intolerances in animals.  I thought I would add my bit with this interesting
story.

About 1982 my dog, a black labrador cross called Lucy, developed a
nasty inflammation on her nose.  The skin was irritated and was breaking
down and she was obviously distressed.  The vet did a biopsy and the
result came back as malignant melanoma.  She (lady vet) referred Lucy
for a course of radiotherapy and gave a fairly dismal prognosis.

When Lucy turned up for her radiotherapy appointment, the vet who
was to do the treatment  looked at her inflamed nose and said he had
some doubts about the diagnosis.  He arranged for the biopsy slides to
be sent to a university lab for a second opinion.  A few days later Lucy
had a new diagnosis - Dermatitis Hepatiformus - supposedly very rare
but not fatal as we were expecting with the melanoma.

That was the first I had ever heard of DH, or for that matter Celiac
Disease, even though I was suffering the symptoms of undiagnosed CD
at the time.  Lucy was treated with steroids which helped, but did not
cure, her condition.

My own CD was not diagnosed until 1987.  It was another two years
before I became aware of the link between DH and CD  and tried Lucy on
a gluten free diet (remarkably easy with dogs).  For the last four years of
her life Lucy was gluten free, and guess what?  No more sore nose and
no steroids!  The vet was most intrigued as Lucy was the only case of
DH she had ever come across.  Lucy died in 1993 as a result of an
accident.

Regards to all,

Barrie Woods
Christchurch
New Zealand