Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Cookie - after one week off of pred

Thought I'd update on Cookie. Since August, her PCV has stayed in the 34%-38% range so we've been decreasing the pred fairly fast and last Thursday we discontinued it. I got the full CBC done to make sure that everything internal besides the PCV is still holding. Her doctor called today and although we don't have all the numbers she said that everything looks good, her liver levels aren't elevated at all, her PCV measured at 38%. So hopefully we'll be able to decrease the cyclosporine soon, but, remembering what we were told originally she'll be on it at least through January. Now we'll just do PCVs monthly instead of weekly or every other week. Bottom line is, she's doing great!

Monet Sammamish

Awesome job, Cookie and Monet! Good report for sure and very encouraging for the rest of us! Blessings, Cindi & Tori (Evans Syndrome)

Cindi FL

Wow... great news. I've followed your story and know you both have been through a lot. Glad to see things moving in the right direction and the big light at the end of the tunnel is so close for you both now!

RobertN Superior

Monet, That is awesome news. Congrats to you both!

Penny Lytle Creek

YAY! Congratulations

Kathy Calif.

Congrats Monet and Cookie! You're heading in the right direction! Continued thoughts and prayers for you both. Johnny, Tessy & Sadie

Johnny

A bit worried now.. She's acting a little lethargic this afternoon, first it was just that she was laying on the stairs for a while which I thought was odd but then also the fur on her belly is weird and greasy and her paw pads are sweating. I've been checking her gums, they're pretty pink maybe a little paler than yesterday? I took her for a walk, just to play it safe I planned on cutting it short.. but then she decided to cut it even shorter. I am curious about the paw pads because she got sweaty feet on prednisone and I thought that meant it was working, but she is off of prednisone.. does the same thing happen on cyclosporine? On the brink of bringing her in but would appreciate a little insight

Monet Sammamish

Monet, She may have an infection. Can you take her temperature? You know *where* you have to do this.... patrice

Patrice NYS

When I read earlier that you were reducing the pred quickly it somewhat worried me. Lethargy ALWAYS scares the crap outta me and if it were me I'd be going to the vet for a check. Catching a relapse (if it is a relapse) early is a very good thing. Her cutting the walk short could be a sign of low oxygen levels due to a falling crit. I've been also hearing of several outbreaks of Canine influenza throughout the US. In either case it would still be good to have a quick checkup. If anything it'll give you piece of mind! Good luck and I'll be praying for Cookie (and you). HUGS Johnny, Tessy & Sadie

Johnny

Thank you, We have an appointment in about an hour. She feels warm under the arms and around her pads but unfortunately I don't have a rectal or oral thermometer to check her temp but they'll check it for me there. I've checked her CRT and it's normal and her gums still look fine, the membranes at her eyes are also pink, but her breathing is a little slow. The other weird thing is that when she was first diagnosed, there were only mild symptoms the first day enough that the vet thought she just had an upset stomach or something. She didn't act lethargic like this until she was at 19%, but then her gums were very pale.

Monet Sammamish

I don't know what to think. Her PCV came back at 38%, just like it did Friday, her temperature was normal, her heart and lungs sounded normal. She put on an excellent display at the vet so any lethargy she had disappeared there. I swear I didn't imagine holding her head up while she just lay down for an hour. And even now, I see her and she's just laying down head on the floor out in the hallway, which isn't usual. But the only thing that I was able to prove to them was that her paws had been sweating.. they weren't anymore but were still soft from it.. so she said that maybe at that time she had a fever.. Is there anything that could've caused her temperature to elevate for a couple of hours??

Monet Sammamish

Monet, Golly this sounds like a few times with Chance at the vets.... I felt stupid that he was fine and I made such a big deal about it. My vets were gracious and just reassured me all was fine. It was fine that you did this. We all worry unnecessarily at times. Body temperature normally fluctuates during the day. And dogs are hot bodied creatures. A normal dog temp is around 101-103. Yikes! Anything above 103 for a prolonged period is abnormal and anything below 100 for a prolonged period is worrisome too. Hormones can influence body temperature, as can recent exercise, meals, sleep and cortisol levels (read prednisone here). In fact, cortisol plays a large role in regulating many body functions, including body temperature. Buy an inexpensive flexible thermometer, a digital read out is better, and take her temp a few times a day to get an idea of what the range is. Write it down and you will begin to see a pattern after a few days. my best patrice

Patrice NYS

Monet, The Best to you and Cookie. Hope that she improves everyday.

Kathy Calif.

Monet, So excited to hear the Cookie's numbers are holding steady! I think its great that you took her for a checkup for the fatigue....I did that many times with Mr. B. Hopefully reducing her meds further will help her feel better and better. Wishing you all the best!! Sally and Bentley (OTB 10-29-11)

Sally Louisiana

I think they suspect that she was having withdrawal, because the doctor called back after having spoken to the internist and they want her back on a low dose (2.5mg) for 5 days and then every other day etc. Today, she's been acting pretty normal.

Monet Sammamish

A thought popped up in my head today which was pancreatitis. I decided to look up the symptoms and some of them match (fever, weakness, lethargy, vomitting [she has vomitted twice this weak but I didn't consider it significant], dyspnea) but the other thing that caught my attention was that they don't have to be continuous. Now I know that prednisone is linked to pancreatitis.. but she had been off the prednisone for 2 weeks nearly.. and she just had blood chemistry done a week before, so I don't know would pancreatitis be a separate test or would there be indications in her blood chemistry? And would it even be likely for her to develop it after coming off of prednisone?

Monet Sammamish

Pancreatitis can strike at any time really but prednisone has been linked to increase risk. Generally if the Lipase and amylase is high (usually one is double the other) in the chemistry panel then that's a good indicator of pancreatitis. Some vets use the Snap cPL which will either give a normal or abnormal reading. Abnormal meaning pancreatitis. They can also send a sample out for a Specific cPL test which is more accurate. I'd ask for the Snap cPL and if they don't have it available have them check the amylase and lipase levels. Lastly if you want a definative diagnosis have them send out for a Spec cPL. How's Cookie doing today? Johnny & angels Tessy & Sadie

Johnny

Thanks Johnny. They didn't mention those levels being off so I don't think that's it after all. My new theory is that she has a sensitivity to pork. It seems weird, because she had eaten some a few pig bones prior to then and plenty of pig ears just fine but that particular day I had given her a pork skin roll.. imagine a cow ear texture (if you've gotten those for your dog before, they aren't greasy and crisp like pig ears instead they're leathery and tough) but like rolled up like a newspaper. Anyways, I suspected briefly that it was the skin roll so I threw it away, but I remembered how much pig I'd given her in the past, so I still gave her I think two more pig bones and both times she's acted lethargic after munching on them. Not quite to the same degree but still she's been fine since I stopped giving them to her. We finished the pred again so hopefully as long as she stays away from pork she'll be fine.

Monet Sammamish

hey there, charlie got like this almost exactly 3 times during his recovery. it was only the last episode that we all got a handle on it -- his culprit for even getting this terrible disease was lyme disease. although his original panals came back within normal level- because they had already started treatment before sending them off the test gave us a false negative. a high dose of doxy for a lengthy time took care of it and it has not returned. we also had to be on cyclo for a long time which had horrible side effects. my vet slowly took him off the cyclo first then begain the slow slow process of getting him off pred. hope this helps, good luck! charlie would also always perk up at the vet, it wasn't until the 3rd episode that was worse than the other ones that he actually still acted lethargic at the clinic....

charlie

Quick update.. Cookie's blood came back at 43% PCV, so just when I thought we'd be in the 35-38% forever, it jumped again! Next month, we're going to get her thyroid rechecked because she gained a pound ( 45 is normal for her and in the 6 years I've had her she's never had issues maintaining that, I decreased her food from 1 1/2 cups a day to 1 1/4 cups of day after she weighed in at 50 lb last month but still it went up) the dr looked at the value that she had last which was in July when her first panel was done, and she said it was low-normal..so maybe she's gone under that..

Monet Sammamish

This thread was discussed between 12/11/2011 and 13/12/2011

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