VetNet®
VetNet® AIHA discussion forum
VetNet® Forum
Lifelong Learning Network
www.vetnetlln.ac.uk
Veterinary Recruitment
Premier Partner Program
Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - AIHA and now skin problems
| Hi - I posted on here back in August when my dog Bella was first diagnosed with having AIHA. She is now holding steady with a PCV hovering around 37 for the past couple of months. We have begun reducing her meds. However, she now has some sort of severe skin problems - red, raised areas all over. The areas are hardened as well. Has anyone experienced something like this with their dogs? Our vet could not tell me what it was and suggested that it could not be an infection because of the level of Prednisone she's been on. She also thought perhaps some other autoimmune issue like Lupus, but again, the treatment for that would be Pred and Imuran, which she has been on since being diagnosed. She is having a biopsy tomorrow to determine what the issue is. I'm hoping it's not something untreatable but am very worried since the vet could not determine what it was by looking at it. Thanks for any insight! Tracy |
| Tracy New Jersey |
| Tracy, I am so sorry to hear about Bella's skin problems. Chance has had allergies most of his life and so I sympathize with you. Dogs express allergies as skin problems and it can be very bad. I hope you will know more after the biopsy tomorrow. It's very possible that she has developed an allergy to a certain food she has been eating. Or it could be a reaction to one of the medications she is on. Without knowing the dosages of the meds she has been on its hard to say. Atopica (cyclosporine) can cause certain skin conditions. We saw Chance develop raised crusted areas that diminished when the drug was removed. He also had staph infections during his high doses of prednisone. His skin became paper thin and he lost most of his undercoat. What are her symptoms, does she bite and lick constantly or does she simply ignore it? It may be something as simple as a flea allergy. Or very dry skin. I hope you will know more tomorrow and write here what you found. my best patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Patrice: Thank you for responding. Shes been on about 45mg of pred and imuran (cant think of the mg) 1 a day/every other day. She does have allergies but it has always manifested itself as ear infections. I am thinking that the skin problem is due to either AIHA or the meds. We are reducing her imuran to 1 a day/every 3 days for a week and then removing her from it to see if that is the culprit. She was also put on baytril in case it was an infection but it has not helped. What scares me is that the doctor didnt look at it and say "yes, its allergies". She didnt know what it was...so of course just wondering if it is AIHA related or not... Tracy |
| Tracy New Jersey |
| Seems like skin problems and AIHA go hand and hand. Ren developed demodex mange after her first bout with the disease. Demodex are microscopic mites that live on ALL dogs. Their numbers are kept in check through a healthy immune system and therefore never present a problem. Since Ren's immune system was so suppressed, the mites started miltiplying and she developled skin lesions on her body. She went through six weeks of oral Ivermectine. I dreaded having to give her more meds but the only other option was daily dips in harsh chemicals. Always ask your vet to do a skin scrape for demodex. It is almost painless to the dog and is an inexpensive test. SUE |
| Susie Delaware |
| tracy- i feel bad fo you because im well aware of how terrible skin issues can be... sway had horrible times for about a year and a half before ever being diagnosed with AIHA... she would chew on the pads of her paws until she ripped the black coating completely off of them, and then she couldnt walk... this went away once AIHA started and has now officially started up again AS OF last night... we stopped all her meds (including pred) all together back in the first week of december and im thinking the resurfacing of these issues is linked to that. im afraid im gonna have to consider putting her back on her lowest dose of prednisone. im just wishing we could all catch a break or two... wishing bella well. |
| josh california |
| Susie: I also suspected mange but the doctor didnt think so because there is also hairloss related to that and Bella has none. But I am thinking its immune related and definetly hoping its not something worse... Biopsy tomorrow and I'm sure we wont have results for a day or so. It's so sad because she has been doing so well with her AIHA and I really hope that whatever this issue is won't be a dramatic setback for her. |
| Tracy New Jersey |
| Tracy, Maddie seemed to develop new allergies once she'd survived her bout with AIHA. She's been treated with Atopica and cephalexin,(which she's been on and off again a couple times in the last six months) but the main difference was a change in her food. She's now on a fish/potato only diet. One food we discovered she was allergic to was beef. I've been reluctant to add any other foods back to her diet since she's been doing so well on the fish/potato foods. I hope you can find out quickly what's going on with her and that it's nothing serious. Best wishes! |
| Ruth Aptos |
| Ruth - thank you. I do suspect an allergy of some kind, it just worried me that the Dr. did not suspect an allergy. Biopsy was this morning so hopefully the results will be forthcoming within a day or so... Tracy |
| Tracy New Jersey |
This thread was discussed between 14/01/2009 and 15/01/2009
Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) forum index
This thread is from the Vetnet archive. The live Vetnet forum is active now.
