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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Harry English pointer
| Harry is 3yrs old very healthy lively unspayed bitch who became seriously and acutely ill last fri eve. She hadn't eaten or drunk much all day as the eve went on she became wobbly and I noticed the inside of her ears and lips were pale. She was admitted at 1am sat morning 7th Feb.Her PCV was 18%. she has had 2 units of oxyglobin as PCV every day was lower and went to 9%. Also she had HR of 140 and ectopic beats (sign of Hypoxia). The Oxyglobin was given on tues and tues night. Her PCV had gone up to 11% yesterday. She had a unit of packed cells which brought it up to 15%.Disapointing result as vet was expecting 10% inc. She has been on 25mg Prednisalone and Azothiaprine since sun 8th.The vet increased it to 50mg twice a day yesterday. Her blood tests show mild regeneration. She has lots of clumping of red cells and vet tells me this gives a risk of Embolus. She has only eaten a small bit of chicken on wed eve and nothing since. Is it safe to bring her home and cage rst her there? Why won't she eat? What is the real risk of Embolus? Help please. |
| Patsy Day sevonoaks UK |
| I would leave him in the hospital, then if there is a crisis the vet would be able to attend to him immediately. I know this is hard. My vet would only allow me 10min a day with Drago because she would get to excited when I was there. He wanted her to get all the rest she could to regenerate those blood cells. Drago also didn't eat the 1st couple of days and was on an IV for about 4 days. It takes about a week for the medicines to kick in. So bottom line is hang in there and let him in the hospital. My thoughts are with you, we have all been there and know what you are going thru. |
| Sue K PA |
| patsy, I am so very sorry to hear of your most beloved Harry's illness. You might want to read this abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15934255?dopt=Abstract and then pass it along to your vet and see if he has considered adding aspirin to the treatment regimine. The results of this study indicate and I quote "CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Treatment with a combination of glucocorticoids, azathioprine, and ultralow-dose aspirin significantly improved short- and long-term survival in dogs with IMHA." Also when you have time you might want to read my Web site on AIHA/IMHA. The URL is http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/ Be sure to follow the links on the first page to more sites on AIHA/IMHA that will be very helpful to you and do read the SUCCESS STORIES pages. They will show you what has worked for other dogs in terms of treatment options as well as give you a lot of HOPE. Many times with AIHA/IMHA it takes a lot of time for a dog to start to recover so please do hang in there and be assured both you and your dear Harry are in my thoughts and prayers during these most difficult days. PS. It is quite normal for a dog not to eat at the onset of AIHA/IMHA. Hopefully Harry's appetite will pick up soon. |
| Joanne MN |
| Thank you everyone for all the support and information. when I wrote 6 days ago I was distraught. Harry is home now , her PCV has gone up to 19%, only 1% higher than when she collapsed. She was quite dull at first and very finicky about food. Over the last few days she has picked up and seems to be her normal wagging happy vocal self. Now I have new worries as I need to keep her rested and she wants to be in on everything. We live on a farm and I hve a lot of people coming and going as I have Horse Liveries. She has a repeat B/T tomorrow so hopefully it will have gone up even more.Should I let her do what she likes or keep her contained as much as possible? Her meds are Imuran and Prednisalone 50mg twice daily and Antepsin 3 x daily. |
| Patsy Day uk |
| From my experience, a dog going through IMHA will end up self-limiting their activity. I would try to provide a quiet place to rest where she won't be disturbed too frequently by people passing by. She will probably wear herself out quickly if she tries to involve herself in all that goes on around home. Do make sure to check on her frequently, the prednisone will likely cause significantly increased urination and water intake. |
| Brian Vermont |
| Patsy, Glad that you have your girl home and that she is interacting normally to the day to day life. It is better to try to not let her over do things. Keep us posted on her results. Penny |
| Penny Lytle Creek Calif |
| Hi Patsy, I am so glad Harry is feeling better, my poodle boy Kahlu is crossing his paws for a good blood count for her tomorrow. Thats when his will be too, so we are all hoping together....he was diagnosed almost four weeks ago and the illness and the prednisone have taken their toll. He has no muscle left even though he was an athletic agility dog of 2 1/2 years. When he walks now his hips are clicking. The vet said that that can happen with the muscle loss and to only walk him on leash, so that he can not get insured. Thank goodness he has no pain and still lifts his legs on both sides to do his VERY long pees. I think they need the rest to heal, just like us. We usually two 10 - 15 minutes slow walks on leash to get out of the house and that is just enough for Kahlu now. Take care, thinking of you, Brigitte and Kahlu |
| Brigitte BC Canada |
This thread was discussed between 13/02/2009 and 19/02/2009
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