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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Cranberry supplements?
| Hi everyone! Lucy has been battling IMHA since the beginning of October 2010. In December, Lucy was disgnosed with her first urinary tract infection. She was prescribed the antibiotic Baytril, and the next week relapsed and needed to have a second blood transfusion. Yesterday she was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection again, and is now prescribed doxycycline, which she has taken successfully in the past. I was wondering if anyone has ever used cranberry supplements in order to promote a healthy urinary tract in the dogs? Please give me any feedback you have on cranberry supplements, or anything else that may help. Thanks. |
| Leigh New Jersey |
| Leigh, I am so sorry Lucy has to fight a urinary tract infection. Her immune system is down from all the prednisone etc, so you can call this a side effect. My dog Kahlu fought AIHA for a year and probably one third of that time was on some sort of antibiotic for urinary tract infections. Important is that you get the vet to do a culture, so they know exactly what they are dealing with and can attack it with the proper antibiotic. It is also better to get them to take a sample directly from her bladder. It sounds awful, but if the bladder is very full it is usually easy and not painful. Maybe this has already been done, I just did not want to leave it out. Cranberry can definitely help and if it does not help it won't hurt. I got a human type cranberry extract capsules, I opened them and sprinkled the powder on the food. Good luck, best wishes, Brigitte & the poodle boys |
| Brigitte BC Canada |
| My dog Ginger used this Cranberry Relief supplement for awhile and it did seem to help. Read the label carefully as I think it stated to use for x number of days and then take a break. I can't exactly remember what it said but something like that. http://www.amazon.com/NaturVet-Cranberry-Relief-50-Gram/dp/B0002YFC3Y Hope Lucy feels better soon. Cheryl & Ginger |
| Cheryl & Ginger Pinevile PA |
| Thanks to both of you. Lucy's vet has been pulling the urine directly from her bladder Brigitte, and has prescribed antibiotics based on the bacteria found. Unfortunately, antibiotics have become scary to me. The hospital believes that Simplicef that Lucy was prescribed was what started her IMHA initially. A week after taking the medicine she became sick. When given the Baytril, she relapsed again one week later. Right now she is on Doxycycline, which I do feel better about as she took a course of it successfully after the first transfusion. The doctor will be calling tomorrow with Lucy's CBC results, and I will run the cranberry supplement by her. Thanks Cheryl for the Amazon link. I can order it tomorrow after talking to the doctor, and it will be here in 2 days. Thanks again! |
| Leigh New Jersey |
| Leigh, cranberry *should* be alright but it might be a good idea to check and see the PH of the urine. If the urine is too acidic some people who won't use cranberries or cranberry supplements due to the acidity associated with cranberries (which is lowish). Especially if there are oxalate crystals present! Struvite would be a different story and cranberries or cran supplements wouldn't matter too much with struvite crystals. IF you want to take the worry out of it all you could use a product that works the exact same way that the cranberry does...only BETTER...D-Mannose! D-Mannose is a great product to use...but always run these things by your vet first. Baytril...Dr. Dodd's actually said it was OK to use this antibiotic but when I researched this drug I found several things that made me concerned! First, it SHOULD NOT be used with a dog that is taking cyclosporine if at all possible...and if you do use it make sure it's given as far away from the cyclo as possible! I've used it for TEssy with no problems but that was before I knew anything about it. I've heard of several other dogs that dipped in PCV when on this drug! Baytril can increase crystals in the urine also!!! When used with cyclo it can cause kidney damage to become worse (if there's even a small amount of damage present). I've always considered baytril to be a bigger gun (up there with cipro among others). Perhaps you could ask about using Clavamox if it's on the list from the culture and sensitivity. Do you have a copy of the C&S??? That way you can tell us the drugs available to treat the infection and we'll tell you what to avoid and what is best! ALWAYS AVOID THE SULFA ANTIBIOTICS! Check out the D-mannose though...this is your best bet to help with the antibiotics! I'll keep Lucy in my thoughts and prayers. Johnny & Tessy |
| Johnny |
This thread was discussed between 07/02/2011 and 08/02/2011
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