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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - ? about reducing prednizone
| Last Tuesday Wylie was put on 30 mg of pred, she weighs 50#. Her latest test yesterday showed her up to 38 form a low of 32 yea. I noticed on the prescription, they have her reducing after 10 days. This sounds kind of soon. I sthere some kind of rule, that ie they are better for a week/2 weeks, month that then then reduce? Maybe reducing is a good thing since they want to take her spleen out soon |
| Laurie CA |
| laurie, Since it appears that Wylie is getting better, why is it they still want to remove her spleen. It may be very wise for you to get another opinion from a veterinary internal medicine specialist in regard to the spleen removal possiblity. You might also want to get another opinion from a specialist on the fast prednsione reduction. I do have some information that might be helpful to you in regard to the prednisone reduction. This information is from a Magazine called “Veterinary Medicine” subtitled clinical solutions for practicing veterinarians. This is the June 1999 issue. In the article called “Managing immune-mediated hemolytic anemia in dogs” by Stephanie J, Lifton, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM which was peer reviewed before publication we find the following information and I am quoting here: “Once the disease is in remission, the dose of prednisone can be lowered by 25% to 35% every three to four weeks until the lowest dose that keeps the disease under control is reached. This can be accomplished by either decreasing the dose or the frequency of administration (e.g. twice a day to once a day then every other day then every three days and so on.) If the dog is receiving more then one immunosuppressive drug, change the dosage or frequency of only one drug at a time.” End of quote. Even though this is a from a source that is several years old, this is the prednisone reduction schedule that many of the veterinary teaching hospitals follow in regard to AIHA/IMHA |
| Joanne MN |
| Just some further info from the article I mentioned in my last post and I quote “The level of medication should be kept constant until the PCV is normal for at least three to four weeks. If the dog is having severe side effects from the prednisone (e.g. polyuria or polydipsia, panting, exercise intolerance) the dose can be lowered slightly after two weeks or another medication such as Azathioprine can be added to the treatment regimen. Remember this medication needs to be given two to three weeks to take effect before the dose of prednisone can be decreased.” End of quote |
| Joanne mn |
| I had my vet consult with an internist from UC davis yesterday and they recommend the spleen coming out. 2/3 of growths in the spleen turn out to be cancer so if this is the case and we caught it early enough good news. And he also said that benign tumors can leak blood out causing problems. So we are sheduled for next Wednesday. The vet thinks this isnt the cause of her anemia though, that 3-4 weeks sounds more in line with what I was thinking. I will ask him to revisit this with the internist, especially since "praying" that she has had good results without any serious side effects so far and not reduce it too fast to cause it to go down. Laurie |
| Laurie CA |
This thread was discussed on 29/04/2008
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