Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Concerned-question?

I was grateful that Maggie's blood work tested at 36 yesterday and she steadily shows improvement in that area. She has lost a bit of weight but it's just a little bit so the vet asked me to give her a little more food. My concern is she hardly moves, she gets up for a minute or two and plops down, although one day last week she did have energy for a couple of hours and was behaving quite normally. She's been down since. Her breathing has been rapid since she got sick, the vet said she has a heart murmur which she feels was caused by the anemia. I know it will take time as she is still anemic so even slightly above the normal numbers would still be considered borderline anemia.. My question is; if her blood has gone up to almost normal shouldn't she be a little more active then she was last week considering her blood is higher now? I will ask the Vet on Maggie's next appt. Can anyone here answer my question? Thanks Dori

Dorri

Dorri, Good news about Maggie's PCV! I realize that each AIHA case is slightly different. When my dog ren had a relapse, her respiration rate increased two fold. This went on for a week. She was really down, no energy whatsoever. Recovery can be a slow process and rest can be a great medicine in itself. I'm assuming that Maggie is on pred. That medication can cause lethargy as a side effect.

Susie Delaware

HI Dorrie, So glad to hear Maggie's bloodwork is looking better. Tiggs really didn't start becoming more 'active' until a couple of months into his treatment. Even when his PCV's starting heading into the mid to upper 30's, he still slept alot. Now that his pred is down to 5 mg/day, he has finally rediscovered his ball (huge step!), and has short little wrestle sessions with his canine sis. But, to be honest, he's never been the same, but he's doing really well all things considered, I think it can take a long time and a lot of med reduction before they really start to show more activity. Then again, you don't want to reduce meds too fast. From everything I've heard, Pred both in animals and in people just make you feel pretty rotten- tired, depressed, sore, etc. Pred can cause panting, so maybe this is also it. Keep in touch with your vet and hopefully she will continue to improve and show your glimpses of her 'old self.' You know, recently I dug up old bloodwork of Tiggs, from the year before he was diagnosed. I checked his pre IMHA hematacrit, and learned that his old baseline was 48! I'm not sure if we'll ever get to that number again, so it seems only natural that he will be a little more mellow living with IMHA. But, everday, I get too see a little bit of his personality, and the little gifts of that always make me do a happy dance. Hang in there, Maggie sounds like she's responding wonderfully. Oh, and if she's really struggling with weight, try the Hills A/D high calorie canned food- you can ask your vet, but you can do it by itself or mixed with dry food or homecooked food. I bet within a few weeks, she will be needing to go on a diet from the Pred weight gain that will probably happen soon. Best, melissa and tiggs

melissa slc

Thank you, and my heartfelt prayers that Ren and Tiggs will continue to heal and be in good health. Maggie was so active before her illness, it is so hard to watch her just laying there. She has a favorite little teddy bear and she use to wash this teddy's face every morning for the last 3 years but since she's gotten sick, teddy is just laying there, and so are her toys which use to be all over the house, poor sweet little pet baby, no energy to play. I understand her need for prednisone at this time, but also worry that it may be doing her some damage. According to the Vet she may be on it for 3 months before cutting her down, that is if everything goes well. I was told she may have to remain on a maintainance dose for life time.

dorri

I know it's hard to see her so tired, but her numbers are great! She's on the right road- it's just a day to day kind of thing. There's alot of talk about protocols for med reduction, and I've posted what they told us at CSU- 25-35% every 2-3 weeks of stable disease. We've been on meds now for 6 months, and like I said, we are finally only on 5 mg/day. Aside from needed to lose about 10 lbs now, Tiggs is finally showing his goofier side- I know Maggie will get there too! Also, alot of people here use some supplements to help with the damage caused by the meds. Many have done the Liver cleansing diet, and I'm sure if you search the site, you can find a link, or maybe someone can post it for you. Also, milk thistle is good stuff for the liver, and many here also rave about the bio prep and other supplements. Dried cranberries sprinkled in the food can help the bladder. Search around, and hopefully others can suggest some good holistic supplements. They definitely have their place in treating this disease and helping their bodies deal with the toxicity of the meds. Keep us posted! Hopefully others can elaborate on some of the good supplements for you to try with Maggie, melissa and tiggs

melissa slc

Thank you for the encouragment and advice. At one time I had researched Milk Thistle for myself and found it to be helpful to protect the liver from the toxic effects of some medications, but I am not really sure how much would I give to a 15 lb dog? I have 150 mg standarized silymarin 80% softgel capsules that I use. I could squeeze out a part of the softgel but read somewhere that Milk Thistle is bitter so don't know if she would take it in the liquid form. The easiest would be to hide the whole softgel in her food but it may be too much. I will have to try and find more information on it. Thanks again..

dorri

Hi Dorri, Regarding the milk thistle, we had a very similar standardized soft-gel milk thistle extract product that we tried to give to Ethel during her IMHA recovery. I cut the capsule in half and squeezed some out onto her food. It gave her extreme nausea for several hours and she was very uncomfortable, with a lot of groaning and appearing as though she would vomit. I believe milk thistle is completely appropriate for dogs, but if the form you are considering using is like the form that we tried ('Gaia Herbs' silymarin), I would probably not use it. We haven't gotten around to trying any other forms of milk thistle for her, but we know we won't try this form again.

Brian Vermont

From what i have been reading the past two weeks it seems the recovery is a long process. Our 11 yr old lab/shepherd mix was diagnosed 2 weeks ago. had a blood transfusion and is on prednisone. The first week he seemed a little better every day. he even got up the stairs a few times, and took a short walk around the block. But 2 days ago he seemed to decline and his blood count has improved only a little. From 6 to 17. he is very lethargic and only gets up to eat and pee and drink. I know the odds aren't good, but could this be common for this early in the treatment? Or should i assume he will continue to decline? The vet said she had never seen a blood count so low on a live dog when he was first diagnosed, with the level of 6...but 17 isn't much of an improvement. I'm feeling quite helpless.

kelly Ontario

Hi Dorri, My dog was diagonised with AIHA 3 weeks ago and is now doing really well thanks to a great vet and the medication. Madison is still quite tired though and the vet said its due to the medication. She gets bursts of energy throughout the day then rest for hours. She was extremely active before this so its seems strange that she is like this. One thing she really wants to do though is go out walking - i think its best i dont do this for a few more weeks yet. My partner takes our other dog out at night and she sits at the door looking so sad.. My poor baby just wants to go too. I am sure our dogs will be more active again once they start to reduce the medication. Good luck with Maggie. Samantha

Samantha Australia

Hi Kelly. My dog only got to 17 after a transfusion up from a PCV of 8. It will depend on how he responds to medication and whether he has regenerative or non regenerative anemia. It will be too early to tell at this stage but if his PCV drops you will need further testing. He is lethargic as it it like he is at the top of Mt. Everest with not enough oxygen from reduced rbc's. The peeing and d rinking is a side effect from pred. It is good to get advice from a specialist vet.

Julie Australia

Okay I have tried posting this 3 times now, uhhh. Kelly, you should start a new post with your concerns and questions, there are mahy AIHA survivors here that had PCvs that low. Have you checked out Joannes site, great info on this nasyt disease http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/ Have your vets talked about adding stronger drugs? many times prednizone is not enough and more pwerful drugs are added. you can read about them on Joanes site Laurie

Laurie CA

This thread was discussed between 06/01/2009 and 02/02/2009

Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) forum index

This thread is from the Vetnet archive. The live Vetnet forum is active now.