Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Coping with this disease

My wonderful dog has just completed a little over 10 days of meds after being diagnosed with AIHA. Can you share with me how you cope with this? We've been setting our alarm every two hours at night to let her out so she can pee and eat snow. Luckily, I've been off work for a few days and have been able to care for her but what do you do during the day when you go to work? She has to pee constantly and while I'm at work I obviously can't be there to care for her! She is mortified to have to pee in the house.

Gail SD

Hi Gail Just take things a day at a time. In the past I used newspapers and the doggy pee pads when I was at work coz Casper peed every half hour day and night. And he pooped 4 times a day. I did not sleep much for the first few months because we had to keep going out to pee. And he was so weak, I had to carry him out. Eventually it got better and now I have taught him to pee in the shower so I do not have to keep buying pee pads. The cost added up too coz he used up a lot of those each day.

leslie ca

Leslie, Thanks. I was beginning to wonder if anyone else on this forum had to work outside the home! (Kind of a joke). I didn't even THINK about pee pads. Thanks for the suggestion!

Gail SD

I was lucky enough to be able to take Sofie with me on the days I had to work. I found that as the days went on, she seemed better able to hold her pee during the night. Now, its been almost 7 weeks and she is no longer having to pee at night, nor drinking excessive amounts. We did lower her pred dose to half the original amount, and I give it to her in the morning. I also found once I switched her from her old dry food to the Blue Buffalo, she is only pottying once or twice a day now.

Joanne Wyoming

Gail, Yes, pee pads! My girl Slinky was still being crated while we were gone when she became ill at 13 months old. So, yes, pee pads were necessary as was leaving her out of the crate. She still uses the pee pads though, and she's down to a very low dose of prednisone. Now it's habit that keeps her peeing so often.

Stephanie Chicago

Dear Gail, I am so sorry to hear about your recent diagnosis. You will find support and friendship here. Does everyone in your house work the same schedule? If you are gone for the day you might consider hiring a pet sitter. We have had a one since Chance was a puppy, 10 years ago. Look in the phone book and find a pet sitter that is *insured and bonded.* You will be able to give a key to them so they can access your home whenever they need to. Many petsitters are trained to administer meds and help care for many diseases. I don't use Sue to petsit that much anymore, but she is always welcome into my home. When we got Cassie we had her come over to let her out until she was about 5 or 6 months old. Coping? It's very hard. I decided early on to focus on learning everything I could, sometimes staying up all night long to study. I slept in the living room with Chance so I could wake up and care for him. I decided that I would not get emotional but promised myself that if we succeeded, I would set aside a whole week to cry once we were there. Without the emotional rollercoaster, I was able to make clear headed decisions and focus on what I needed to do. Funny, once Chance was better and I knew he was going to live, I just didn't feel the need to cry anymore. But I do feel very emotional when I read new posts to this list and sometimes stay awake worrying about all of you. My best, Patrice

Patrice NYS

My 2 1/2 yr old cocker was just diagnosed on Thursday with AIHA after a terrifying collapse. We had no idea what couldve been wrong as he is quite an energetic little boy. This disease has left him looking like a tired old man. It is heartbreaking, but he dosent seem to be in any pain so we went ahead with all the diagnostics and medicating. His PCV rose up from 12 to 22 and we got to bring him home today. He is on Pred, Famotidine, Immuran and Asprin. Although he is pale, he acts like he is improving (and surely happy to be home). I just hope we made the right decision to go ahead with fighting this. I just want to do whats right for him, and best for him. Im just scared to take on this struggle. Any helpful hints or suggestions?

Heather Washington State

I have started a new thread for Heather's post so more people can see it and respond to her.

Joanne MN

I have a border collie with IMHA- diagnosed 12/11/07 she is on Prednisone, Imuran, Aspiran and Zantac....I am happy to talk with all of you. This illness is so scary...one day at a time

chris connecticut

This thread was discussed between 13/02/2008 and 18/02/2008

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