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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Aspirin Dose
| Hi everyone, After a low energy day with Tiggs yesterday I braced myself for the worst when we went to get the PCV check today. Much to my surprise, Tiggs rose to a 28.5 and a 29 from his 25! I was in happy shock, and felt like a complete dork when I started cheering, jumping up and down and clapping in the vet office! Now my question is this: Tiggs is between 60-65 lbs...they are recommending adding a 15mg/day of low dose aspirin. The lowest dose I can find is 80mg, and I bought a pill cutter to quarter it. How are you all dosing your pups with asprin? Do you have it compounded? What doses are your bigger (Tiggs-sized) pups on? Also, I've heard that you have to be careful mixing the Pred and aspirin? Why and at which doses? Currently, Tiggs is on 120mg/day of Pred, which will hopefully start decreasing Monday if his PCV holds or improves. Thanks for any info! melissa and tiggs |
| melissa slc |
| Hi Melissa. Here is something I took off a website for checking drug interactions: "Aspirin is broken down by the liver and removed from the body in the urine. If this happens too quickly, then potentially less aspirin would be available for the body to use and blood levels could become too low. This could make aspirin less effective. Prednisone may cause aspirin to be broken down at a faster rate than normal, and may also increase the elimination of aspirin in the urine." My dog is no longer on aspirin but I remember asking the vet about this interaction and she felt that the risk of not taking the aspirin far outweighed the risk of an interaction with the prednisone. Also, my dog was between 45 and 50 pounds during the time he was on aspirin and he was taking a quarter of a child's asprin once a day to begin with and then, once his blood levels were back to normal, twice a week. Duck is still on 5 mg. prednisone per day and no longer takes any aspirin. Hope this helps. I'm sure others with bigger dogs will be able to give you a better idea of the dosage they used. deb and Duck |
| Debbie BC Canada |
| Thanks Deb, that is helpful. We are torn about it...we've heard that the risk of clots is high, especially in the beginning so we wanted to be sure and explore the idea. I bought it, but I still haven't started it yet. Also, most aspirin, especially the low dose formulas, is enteric coated, and I saw something online about dogs inablity to digest this coating well, so sometimes it can all get stuck in the tummy lining, then cause an overdose. Just not sure the risks vs. bennies, as you say. Anyone else? |
| melissa slc |
| Slinky is/was only 12 lbs when we were giving aspirin. I had to buy the 81 mg tablets, crush it, mix with I think 16 cc's of water, and then give her 1 cc of that suspension, and toss the rest. Our internist did the math to come up with the exact amounts of liquid and how to get the right dose. My understanding from the literature is the blood clots are the highest cause of mortality for this disease and that adding aspirin to the treatment protocol has decreased the mortality drastically, so I personally wouldn't skip it. |
| Stephanie Chicago |
This thread was discussed between 25/07/2008 and 09/08/2008
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