Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Anyone have problems with swollen legs?

Hi, I appreciate the response to my first post on medications & a wondering if anyone has had problems with their dogs legs swelling up? I first noticed Cali's leg right leg swollen on Thursday & called the Vet immediately. I took her in & he didn't seem that concerned at this point because he claims it could be a number of things. Especially since it is the leg they have been taking blood from almost daily for over a week. He gave her another antibiotic and said just to watch it. Her other back leg is also slightly larger today, but not nearly as bad as the first. Anyone have any experience with this? What was the diagnosis? He said he could give her a diruetic, but with the prednisone that would only make her drink more & probably become dehydrated. I am trying not to freak out since she is still eating & drinking & it doesn't seem to be bothering her. Thanks Dee & Cali

Dee Wisconsin

My dog Salome experienced leg swelling after a relapse a month into treatment. None of the ER Vets had a clue of cause. Unfortunately we had to let her go due to other complications a week later. I wish I had an answer for you but I don't. I think a few others on the board have experienced something similar and maybe they will post how it resolved itself. Good luck to you and Cali. Penny

Penny Lytle Creek Calif

Tasha has had the same problems with her legs swelling. While she was in the hospital and had accumulated alot of additional fluid in her abdomen we noticed that her legs were swollen. Dr. Daugherty used heated saline bags and laid them on her legs 3 times a day for 5 minutes each. Today we noticed again one of her rear legs had some excess fluid in it and we have started to repeat the heat therapy treatment on that leg. Hope this helps, Steve

Steve Va

My puppy has also had swelling in her leg. We gave her antibiotics but was not told what the swelling in. Now her stomach is really distended. I am taking her back to a new vet today to see if I can get any answers. I am not sure what this is. My puppy will be 4 months old soon and this is really scary for me. She has tested negative on both Coombs and ANA test. Does anyone know if the ANA test can have false negatives also?

Ann Ormond Beach

Thanks for your comments. The heated saline bags may be helpful. I took her back today because she has excess fluid everywhere at this point. Her tummy looks like it has sagging skin & even her jowls look puffy. All her blood work came out good & her PCV was even up to 25 today. (It was 15 a week ago & 9 at its low point 2 weeks ago)Even my Vet said he'd have to do his homework on this one. Other then being a peeing machine she seems fine. (Every 2 hours like clock work). He decided to back down her prednisone since the problems started after he doubled them. Hopefully this will work. We go back Thursday to make sure her PCV doesn't drop since we are lowering the prednisone. Keep your fingers crossed :)

Dee

Dee, Tasha had the same symptons. Dr. Daugherty had to remove 2.5 liters of fluid from her abdomen once. Her legs, abdomen, and brisket all were swollen with excess fluid. She actually gained 13lbs of just fluid. We also tried to lower the prednisone and she started to relapse. Some other meds were added to help her liver function as this is where we though the fluid was coming from. Adventually she got rid of the next 3.5 liters on her own. The problem with draining the fluid is that there is alot of protein in it and you do not want to just let that go as it is an important ingredient to them. If you would like to contact Dr. Daugherty she may be able to help your doctor with this problem. Please feel free to contact me and I'll get you her email address. Steve

Steve Va

Update on Cali: The fluids have gone down quite a bit by just dropping the prednisone. You can actualy see her toes today. She looked like she had lobster claws before. Even better her PCV was 26 today up from 25 on the double dose of pred. The Vet feels her numbers should be getting higher, but as we all know every dog id different. She also lost 2 pounds which I'm sure was all water weight. At this point I am guarded, but optimistic. Good Luck to all going through this. Dee

Dee WI

My puppy has a very distended stomach, I did not want to stop the pred like my vet wanted because I want her PCV to go up. Steve, if you could email me your vets email address for my vet to discuss any meds that she may take to help the swelling go down I would appreciate it. Email address is amatto@cfl.rr.com. She currently is on pred and clavamax. Thanks

Ann Ormond Beach

Dee, you have mail

Steve va

Thanks steve for the email address. I have emailed her. Do you think she will reply? Also where in va. do you live? I plan to move there in the future. Smith Mtn. Lake do you know where it is?

Ann Ormond Beach

You are very welcome. Yes she will answer your email but will probably want to speak with your vet. I live in Chesterfield which is just south of Richmond. If you heard about the tornadoes earlier this week, that was about 3 miles from my home. Smith Mountain is about a 3.5 hour drive west near Roanoke and is a beautiful part of Virginia. You will love it there, my friends who have homes there sure do.

Steve va

I will welcome her to speak with my vet. I am sure he will welcome it too as I dont think he has much experience with AIHA and wants me to go to a specialist which I dont want to do as it is very far and I don't think treatment plans change and it is a waste of money. I want her treated at this point. I am convinced it is from vaccines and I dont need to run a bunch of unnecessary tests to find out that.

aNN Ormond Beach

I gave my puppy back to my breeder and she is doing better. Her PCV was up to 28 from 22 a week and a 1/2 prior. I have asked to get her back and told my breeder friend that I will pay her visits I just want her back. She has said once she is back to normal PCV she will probably let me have her. I cant wait. My vet did not know how to deal with her and kept telling me to take her to a specialist. She just needed time on the pred and for her system to be over the vaccines. I plan to show her once she is back to normal. She is such a beautiful shar pei. Anyways my breeder friend has had 3 dogs with this disease and 2 out of 3 have been fine with it so it is not a death sentence as my vet tried to make me think so anybody with it please try to find a different vet if you have one like mine. It is curable and the dogs can live a normal life.

Ann Ormond Beach

Ann...what will you do if you get the dog back and the PCV starts to drop?? This disease is a death sentence for more than 50% of the animals that contract the disease. Ask any of us that fought it for longer than the four months your dog has been alive and spent thousands of dollars only to have them relapse six months later and pass on. If your breeder is willing to treat the dog and you are not, you might have better odds with a different dog. I hope she does recover fully, but you have to be prepared for some ups and downs and see this through if you decide to take her home again. Good Luck...Ron

Ron San Mateo

I just postged about Huner's siser, KayCee fighting for her life after surgery for a HUGE tumor on her bowels. Well, my vet was telling me yesterday before her sugery that he had a sog in remission with AIHA and is doing great---=BUT DOES HAVE A SWOLLEN BACK LEG. So appaently from what I read here, it is ver common.

Sandra

This thread was discussed between 26/04/2008 and 25/05/2008

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