Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - 11 year old mini dach

I am starting a new thread for Jeanne, jeanne, texas, jcconkright@mac.com My 11 year old mini dach was diagnosed on Monday - she will be coming home from the critical care unit tomorrow morning - I am finally breathing a little easier, yet from what I am reading I realize that we have probably just begun the fight - but with everything I've read so far, I have hope. Matilda is a fighter - and full of spunk - so I'm hoping we beat the odds. Thanks to everyone for their stories. jeanne

Jeanne Texas

Jeanne, I am sorry your Matilda has been diagnosed but you have come to the right place for support. Hold onto that hope it will help you get through the days ahead. Wishing you the best. Penny

Penny Lytle Creek Calif

I just wanted to update on Matilda and ask for advice & opinions. When I took her to the ER on Sunday evening - March 16 - her PCV was 18, she was started on Doxycycline & prednisone. Monday morning it was 17, by Tuesday it was down to 11. She went to a critical care hospital on Wed, March 19, where they confirmed the diagnosis and gave her a transfusion and added Cyclosporine and Azathioprine to the mix, as well as baytril since she also had a bladder infection and prilosec. She responded well. her PCV went up to 34 after the transfusion, and by the following Sat, March 22, her PCV was at 33, and she got to come home. She had bloodwork done last Wed (March 26) and her PCV was up to 37, and everything else "looked great" I will be taking her back for another blood test tomorrow - and will be getting copies of all her reports so I can start a log. My question is - what do I do about heart worm/tick/etc prevention? My vet says - go ahead with the Advantage multi - but I'm afraid. Does anyone have any info or suggestion? I don't know if I'm just leary from this weird disease, or if it really is my "gut" telling me NO. thanks for all the encouragement and advice in fighting this awful disease - and my condolences for all the losses. Matilda is fighting hard and doing well, and we are taking one day at a time.

Jeanne Texas

Jeanne....there are several folks on this board who love their mini doxies too! Please, please DO NOT USE THE ADVANTAGE. A flea control treatment put my mini dox right into a four-tranfusion, pcv of 10 and many months of recoop. These treatments for small dogs are a disaster aiting to happen. The vets tehmselves do not appear to be knwledgable about the potential side effects effecting many dgs. Try the homeopathic treatments. The flea treatments are all pesticide base, full of toxicity on your pet's system. Take a read of this website strictly focusing towards adverse reactions from flea control products. You will, after reading, never use them again. http://www.elversonpuzzle.com/biospotlettersv11.html Jan

jan philly

Hi Jeanne, Welcome to the list, I am so sorry to hear about matilda, but you have come to the right place. I cant tell you whether to use heartworm or flea products or not, but I can share that at this point we do not use them. I'm pretty sure that on the label it says to use on 'healthy' dogs, and though I am not sure that frontline or heartguard contributed to Kents AIHA, we are not taking a chance. An alternative to heartguard is Dimmitrol - can order it from canada with a vet prescription. It is what used to be filabits in the USA and not here anymore due to lack of demand. But it was used for years here til the monthly treatments became available. It must be given daily, and you must have a heartworm test first. Since not treating kent for fleas, he has not significantly more fleas than before. He gets a bath twice a week and combed, and thats it. Like you, i am weary about giving these products but I cant say what is best for you. On another note, it is very important to start tackling diet and nutrition as soon as possible to minimize the side effects of pred etc. Please check out the other threads about feeding and diet, and supplements. Best, Christine

Christine Fl

Hi Jeanne, I too have a mini doxi who is the love of my life! She has been fighting AIHA since September 2007. She had a rough go for a couple of weeks after her diagnosis, but pulled through and came home after 2 weeks in ICU. She is now stable with a PCV of 45 and is on a low dose of pred and cyclosporin. As far as flea/tick and heartworm preventions go, she is only on Heartgard. I was terrified to put her back on this but her vet insisted because we live in an area where mosquitos are very prevelant. I'm unsure what to do about flea/tick prevention. I'm scared to use any topical treatment on her for flease because of the toxicity in them. I will probably try a homeopathic treatment for this spring. Also, if Matilda is not on something such as Pepcid, you may want to start her on in it to protect her stomach from the harsh doses of prednisone. You can buy OTC pepcid as famotidine. A low dose of aspirin may also be a good addition. This will help with the complications of blood clots to Matilda's organs. I hope she continues to do well at home! Please keep us updated. Layla & Tipsi

Layla Brantley Raleigh

Here's my two cents worth! My dog didn't make it but if Matilda was mine I would be finding and reading every piece of literature I could about homeopathic treatments. Actually this is one of the reasons I haven't rushed into getting a new dog - I need to be prepared to say no to all that poison we've been told that is okay to dump into our beloved animals. Anyway, I can't tell you what to do, but I just needed to add my opinion. Take care, Gail

Gail SD

I'm not sure about the heartworm pills, but I know what to do about flea. I spray my yard with triazinon. You can get it pre-mixed in a hose end sprayer. Once it's applied keep animals and children off the area until it dries. Once it is dry it is completely safe (except if you're a bug). Triazinon not only takes care of fleas, tick, but and a bunch of other unpleasent insects as well. I've never used anything else for fleas, and Calamity has always been flea free.

Allie Virginia

Hi Jeanne, We also have Holly, mini dachshund, and she has been fighting since March 2007, please do not as others have said, give her any advantage!! In our case with Holly we are not exactly sure as we adopted her in Dec 2006, but they did use Advantage on her when they took her in so we are assuming it cause her IMHA> Linda

Linda Sapphire

Thank you for you comments and suggestions. I guess I have just had this gnawing feeling that the Advantage Multi is what might have caused this to begin with. Our vet put all of our dogs on it in January (2 mini dachs & 1 Australian Cattledog) I only used it once, and that was 2 weeks before Matilda got sick. My vet has told me to continue with it - that it is safe - but I have resisted. I will continue to research holistic ways of dealing with fleas and heartworm, etc. My prayers are with all of you that have been touched by this awful disease, your courage and wisdom helps so much. jeanne

Jeanne Texas

This thread was discussed between 22/03/2008 and 03/04/2008

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