Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - JULIE JUST DIAGNOSED

MY 4 YEAR OLD LAB MIX WAS JUST RUSHED TO THE VET AND DIAGNOSED WITH SEVERE AIHA. IM TRYING TO EDUCATE MYSELF AS FAST AS I CAN ABOUT THIS HORRIBLE DISEASE . . . PLEASE TELL ME THERE'S HOPE. THE VETS DONT SEEM TOO OPTIMISTIC.

JENNIFER LONG ISLAND

Jennifer, I am so very sorry to hear that your 4 year old lab mix had been diagnosed with AIHA. While AIHA is a very difficult disease, dogs who have been dignosed with it CAN and DO recover and go on to live happy healthy lives. If you have not read my Web site on AIHA/IMHA as yet you might want to do so. The URL is: http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/ Be sure to follow the links on the first page to many other 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. I know this is so hard so be assured that both you and your most beloved canine companion are in my thoughts and prayers during these most difficult days.

Joanne MN

Julie, I am sorry your dog has AIHA. Everyone on this board is currently going through or has gone through what you have. My dog Jasper is 11 and in his 8th week of treatment and is doing really well.Take heart. Dogs can survive this, but it is a little bit like a rollercoaster of ups and downs, especially the first few days and sometimes weeks. Read Joannes webpage, it will help you understand more about Aiha. Don't be afraid to ask questions as there is a wealth of experience and support from everyone here. We will do our best to help and support you. Read through other peoples experiences as I found it answered alot of my questions. It is frightening and sometimes bewildering, but have faith. Good luck, Jackie and Jasper

Jackie pembs; west wales ;uk

My little Ernie was diagnosed 3 weeks ago today, and at the time the vet wasn't convinced he'd make it through the next 48hrs. He's now doing really well on treatment and you'd never believe he was so sick 3 weeks ago. I've learnt more about this disease and its treatment than I ever wanted to know, but if that helps Ernie then it's all good. On this board we're all members of a club we never wanted to join, but there's a massive amount of support and information here. There is hope for your dog, learn as much as you can and ask all the questions you need to ask. Keep fighting the good fight. Sue

Sue Northants UK

Jennifer, YES, there is hope. I have a one year old beagle/lab cross and at the time he was diagnosed my vet said that she didn't think he was going to make it. Well, that was five months ago and he has maintained a normal red cell count for the last three months. You need to find out what your dog's PCV (packed cell volume) is. If it is low, he may need a transfusion. This will buy him time and give the medications a chance to take effect. Has your vet put your dog on any medications? Prednisone seems to be the cornerstone drug of use in this case. My dog is also taking cyclosporine and azathioprine. You could ask your vet about those if he hasn't prescribed them. Hang on. This is a nightmarish ride but this forum is truly an incredible source of support and information. You are talking to people who know just what you are going through - they've been there. Please keep us posted. Take care. deb and Duck

Debbie BC

Jennifer, like everyone has said, YES THERE IS HOPE! It may be a long and bumpy ride but they are so worth the fight. We have Holly, diagnosed March 26, and she is doing wonderful! Main thing is to find vets who are well knowledged on this disease. My local vet was not and he admitted to it, and our Holly was taken to a large hospital in Atlanta for treatment and that Dr communicates with out local vet. Like Debbie said need to find out what the PCV is in case of need for a transfusion. Also your lab needs to be started on drugs to fight it, like prednisone, cyclosporin, azathioprine or whatever. Ask as many questions as you can, and we are all here to help you. Linda

Linda Sapphire

Jennifer, I am so sorry to hear about your lab. In sudden cases of AIHA, the event that precipitated the anemia might often be identifiable. There are primary and secondary causes. In some cases, ingestion of something causes a "secondary" cause. Think about the last few days and write down all the things that you think your lab could have accidently eaten. You are looking for things like coins, rat poison, paint, human medications, chemicals and the like. Take this list with you to your vet. There are specific treatments for many of these. Think about things that your dog may have been exposed to such as recent vaccinations, heartworm shots or pills, topical flea applications. These, unfortunately, are not reversible, but will help the vet narrow the causes of what has just happened. If there is even a slim chance that your dog has been exposed to ticks, ask your vet to do a Snap4dx test. It is easy to do and has information about lyme, heartworm and two other common ticks diseases. Supportive care is the *most important thing* you can do right now. High on the list is a transfusion. Dogs get one "free" transfusion in their life or in other words, they can have a donation of blood from *any* dog *only once.* After that, blood transfusions must either be cross matched or you must purchase superwashed universal donor blood. Dogs have many more blood types than humans so it is very important to do a cross match of any prospective donor for the second transfusion. Vets often keep universal donor dogs on a list and can bring them in quickly. If this is not the case, you can do two things. You can find dogs that you know whose owners might be willing to donate blood from and have them cross matched. You can also get excellent donor blood from: http://www.hemopet.com/ or check with local veterinary hospitals. There is disagreement about how low a dog's hematocrit or packed cell volume (hct or pcv) can drop before a transfusion is necessary. Some experts claim that it shouldn't be done before it has dropped to approx. 12%. This is because transfusions can sometimes cause antigen reactions. In any case, the accepted concept is that the transfusion, if needed, is more important the the possible risk of this happening. It is becoming more accepted that a transfusion should be given whenever there are indications that there is hypoxia to the tissues that impacts the dog (or person!) negatively. What does this mean? It means that there aren't enough blood cells to deliver oxygen to the body cells and they begin to suffer from this lack. Breathlessness or inability to stand are two real signs that this is happening. From my point of view, and how I dealt with Chance, transfusions were done whenever I felt he was beginning to suffer hypoxia and were always fresh whole blood (as opposed to superwashed universal donor blood.) FWB has more elements that are good for the dog and generally last longer. I never let him get below 18% hematocrit (packed cell volume hct or pcv) and scheduled them so they could be done at a quiet time at my local vets office. No emergency. Peaceful and quiet. You may not have this luxury right now. However, you can become actively involved in his treatment. Make sure you ask for all paperwork, especially blood workups, and keep them in a folder. Get a notebook and write down all meds that have been administered, all other things of note and do this by date. We keep ours in the kitchen where both of us can add items. Your dog will also be given a whole lot of different meds in the next couple of days. Educate yourself what each one is called and what it is for. As the days go by you will learn more about what is happening and you will begin to feel more optimistic about the future. Keep posting updates. good luck patrice

Patrice New York State

Jennifer, I just thought of one other very important thing that definitely needs to be addressed. There is a possibility of blood clots forming due to tissue death from low oxygen levels (low red cell count). The danger is that these clots will get lodged in the lungs and cause death. Ask your vet about starting Julie on an anticoagulant. We didn't put Duck on one for the first day and there were a couple of times when he stopped breathing for about thirty seconds. Our vet feels that he was passing small clots through his lungs - this is extremely painful by the way. We used heparin in the early days and later on switched to a portion of a child's aspirin. Good luck to you and Julie. Please keep us posted. deb and Duck

Debbie BC

Deb, You are very fortunate that your vet was willing to put Duck on Heparin. My Schnauzer, Gus, died from a clot/embolism to his lungs or heart, after he showed improvement for two days and his hematocrit rose to 30.6%. Neither his local vet, nor his Internal Medicine Specialist vet, would prescribe Heparin or baby aspirin. I wanted to try at least baby aspirin, but neither vet was willing to even try - and Gus died. I can't help but wonder if Gus would still be here, if at least one of his vets would have been willing to have tried either Heparin or baby aspirin. I was told by one of the vets that death by a clot/embolism would not be painful - but I wonder if that is true or not. If I had it to do over again, I would have inisted that Gus be placed on either Heparin or baby aspirin - or I would have searched for another vet who was willing to prescribe one of them. I wish I would have known then, what I know now. It's too late for Gus, and this is one of the things that I have felt guilty about, but I keep reminding myself that I did the best that I was able to do for Gus at the time. Good luck to you and Duck - it sounds like you have a vet who is taking good care of Duck. You will be in my thoughts and prayers. Sue

Sue PA

I have seen in many comprehensive treatment overviews for aiha the mention of aspirin as a commonly used adjunct treatment. It is reported that there is a relatively high loss of aiha dogs to embolisms. I also do know that some dogs can be allergic to aspirin. We had a fellow on our Giant Schnauzer list who lost their dog to a sudden and serious allergic reaction to aspirin. I was talking Friday with one the vets at my clinic that I don't often see. She is relatively new and works holidays etc. She was amazed at Chance's condition from the last time she saw him. She was candid in saying that many general practitioning vets have very little, if any, experience with something this complex and they will often want to get the owner and the patient to a specialty clinic. They feel that the specialist will know how to make a treatment plan. She told me that they just don't have the time to do the research for a complex disease. But, and this is important, they do appreciate owners who do take the time to do research and help make a treatment plan. I am lucky that my vets let me do this. I had the wonderful patient care skills of my general practioners and the closeness to home. The overall costs were lower and Chance was comfortable with all the people he knows. There were times when I asked a question and Dr. A said, "I don't know the answer." I accepted that and researched it till I found the answer. I think this aspirin treatment is exactly the kind of thing that can be researched on the internet. Published studies can be printed and given to the vet. Don't be afraid to offer suggestions to your vet going forward from today. It's not necessary to challenge them, but offering to do research will generally be gratefully accepted. Patrice

Patrice New York State

jennifer- sorry to hear about this development of the AIHA. let us know what has happened since posting- there is hope, so if the vets you currently go to do not offer you any, change and go to a specialist

josh california

This thread was discussed between 22/10/2007 and 23/10/2007

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