Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Diarrhea in IMHA dogs

Dear All, I just wanted to get your thoughts on diarrhea in IMHA dogs. My dog Millie was diagnosed just over 2 months ago, and everything has been fine until the last couple of weeks. We've reduced her meds by 25% to 5mg Pred in the and 2.5mg Pred at night, along with a quarter tablet of Imuran. She's started to have quite bad diarrhea. This seems to resolve at times, then goes back to quite runny (with a bit of mucus at times). Our vet has said to put her on a bland diet (chicken and boiled rice), but this does not seem to help. Is diarrhea common in IMHA / AIHA dogs? What would be causing this if it is? Thank you in advance for your help! Samantha & Millie

Samantha Geelong

Samantha, Kahlu had a horrible time with diarrhea the first few weeks after being diagnosed. We tried Forti Flora (probiotics) for a while and then we put him on metranidazol for a week. That cleared things up. I kept feeding him canned pumpkin, not the filling, just plain pumpkin after that. He is a 60 lbs dog and gets a heaping table spoon with every one of his 3 meals a day. This also seemed to help. Interestingly, now that he is on iron tablets and should be constipated, the pumpkin seems to help with that too. I have heard from different sources now, that we should not feed any grains. So maybe rice is not the best thing. Good luck and best wishes, Brigitte & Kahlu, the tired poodle

Brigitte BC Canada

Yes, pumpkin! melissa and tiggs

melissa slc

Yes, pumpkin usually works. But needs to be pure canned pumpkin. Also might be that Millie has a little bacterial infection and needs some Metranidazol. Holly started with bad gas and then mucous in her stool and very runny and the vet gave us this. Linda

Linda Sapphire

Kola has had diarrhea too, and is on both meds Millie is on. I thought I noticed it worsening when pred began to be reduced. However, we also speculated we were giving him way too many biscuits (Eukanuba lamb and rice), I think out of feeling sorry for him and because he seemed so hungry! Now that we've cut back on the extra biscuits, his stool seems to be a lot better.

Leslie

Madison started to get diarrhea when her hunger increased and she seemed to be getting better. I must admit that because she was so hungry and because i felt sorry for her i fed her lots of little extras. The vet said this was the cause, as soon as i went back to pasta and chicken it went away within a few days... Its so hard not to try and spoil them with treats but i have learnt that really they dont need them and it doesnt help there recovery... Madison is now on a diet as she has to looce 1kg - lucky her i have to loose 5kgs!!!! Samantha & Madison

Samantha Perth Australia

Samantha- I would also suggest tag-teaming it with forti-flora and tylosin powder.. tylosin powder is what dogs take when they have SIBO and it helps with GI tract issues

Josh California

Charlie has been having the same trouble now that we have reduced his pred. And I havent changed his diet. I have started the pumpkin suggestion tonight, so hopefully that will help him. Carol

Carol J Vancouver Wa

People's comments are so helpful to hear. When I researched pred reduction, I couldn't find anything about side effect of loose stool, but I see others have noticed the same thing. I didn't know the extra treats were a big factor until my husband figured it out. Hope this thread proves helpful to others.

Leslie

Leslie, I know we all associate prednisone with suppressing the immune system in AIHA dogs. It's interesting to note that prednisone is used for many other reasons, not only in dogs but in humans as well. A very common use of prednisone is in reducing inflammation. For instance a person with Crohn's Disease might be on prednisone to reduce inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. But in general, any disease that causes inflammation responds to corticosteroids. So it stands to reason that if we dose our dogs with high doses of prednisone, there may be an additional anti-inflammatory action occurring. This can include the digestive tract. Dogs that normally have allergies may have less symptoms. Dogs that have had joint pain prior to AIHA may have less pain in their joints, etc. I suspect that the number and types of drugs that we might have our dogs on and the poor eating habits they can have while they are sick may contribute to digestive problems. The prednisone reduces the inflammatory signs of this. Reducing the prednisone dose allows those signs to increase, as they also would with allergies etc. Thus diarrhea. As the digestive tract becomes healthier post AIHA treatment, hopefully diarrhea subsides. But in some cases a vet must intervene with Tylosin powder or metrondiazole. Short term use of these is fairly safe and resolves bacterial overgrowth fairly quickly. patrice

Patrice NYS

Hi Patrice, What a helpful explanation of the possible relationship between pred reduction and diarrhea. Thanks much! -Leslie

Leslie

It all makes so much sense when you explain it Patrice! Thanks, Brigitte & Kahlu

Brigitte BC Canada

Charlie loves pumpkin!!! And it works great.. Thank you for the suggestion!

carol vancouver wa

This thread was discussed between 25/03/2009 and 29/03/2009

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