Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Just a thought....

Jennie, my beautiful, wonderful Blue Heeler/Aussie Shepherd Cross lost her battle to AIHA after a month of full, serious treatment. She died March 3, 2008, and I miss her so much. What is this disease?! I don't get it! The majority of us on this site have followed the protocols of giving our companions the necessary shots, medications, etc., such as: heartworm prevention, rabies shots, flea and tick prevention, etc., etc. What is happening? They are contracting these life threatening, devastatating disease(s) that are ending or messing up their livelihood (i.e. death.) I don't get it. Are we killing them by giving them the medications, preventions, that are required by law and by our vets? I spent over $5,000 to keep my dog alive and I would have spent whatever it took to keep her going (as long as it was helping her.)But, I wonder if I'm unrealistic. The majority of us on this Forum would do anything, anything, to keep our dogs from suffering. What about those that are less fortunate than us - and I mean that don't have the funds to keep their dogs from dying? Are those people also not able to afford the vaccinations, protocal, etc. and, therefore, do not administer those mandated medications? And.... are their dogs NOT contracting these disease(s)because they are not being overly vaccinated with chemicals? I am curious. I miss Jennie, (aka Jenners,) the first dog I ever had in my life (I'm 52 years old) and cannot bring myself to loving another one yet as the hurt and anguish I feel from losing her is with me still. Did I kill her by giving her heartworm medication, flea/tick medication, the rabies vaccination? I'll never know. All I DO know is that she was a healthy, full-of-life dog one day and the next she was not and we ended up losing our precious dog. Thanks for listening. Gail

Gail SD

Hi Gail, I'm so sorry for you loss. My loss is more recent, Cali passed on June 21st 10 weeks after being diagnosed. My husband & I also did all we could to keep her going. (We really thought she was going to make it) I always said she was an Angel on earth & we'll never know why these things happen. I've had a dog all my life & we've had 2 dogs since 1992. The house seems pretty empty with just one. Give yourself time to grieve, but please be open to getting another dog when you are ready. There are so many unwanted animals out there & anyone of them would be lucky to get a pet parent from this website. Take Care, Dee

Dee WI

When my hunter was diagnosed on Oc.t 9, 2003, I had never heard of this disease. My vet was seeing one case every 1 to 1 1/2 years. Now he sees several cases every year. It is his firm believe that a lot of the dogs aehvg tei imune sstem trn aa wthall he vax ertwrm andfea st. here n thexa coaswehaveotchoce xept to give heartworm prevention and give it year around. And it was heartworm prevention that caused Hunter's AIHA....the 6 month injctable proHeart6. Hunter died after 8 days in ICU, on Oct. 16, 2003, and on Sept. 3, 2004, the FDA had the maker pull proHeart6 from the market bcaue of he extremely hgh number of severe reactions and deaths. AIHA was one of the leading reactions that caused so many deaths. I gottoally involved in warning people about proHeart6 and i found so many stories of reactins/deaths on the net. I had e-mail cntat or just read the storie. of aout 45 whose dogshad come down with AIHA following proHeart6, and of them, only 2 were still alive when i lost contact. One was a buff cocker and the other a beagle. I have no idea if they are still here today or not. When I started rsearching, the first story i read was a shih tzu in NC that was lost to AIHA./ the next was one in Colo. who lost ibe if hers to AIHA another to liver, and the 3rd is on meds the rest of his life for autoimmune prblem. All 3 had gotten PH6 the same day. I think we are putting our dogs at risk by trying to protect them. I do have to give the heartworm pills every monh because it stays warm here year round and it is almost a given that if yu dog is not on HW prevention, it will get heartworms--as the 2 "inside dog" next door did. However, because we have never had a case of Lyme her, our vet only gies Lyme on request. There has only been one case of lepto reported--he only givs lepto on rquest NOW. He has gone to the 3 year schedule of vax. But always new things are popping up. They now have a vax to cut dow on tooth tartar and plaque. By the time they are vaccinated against th multitude of illnesses, get HW prevention ever month, flea and tick stuff most months, and then things like this dental vax, that is a lot to be pumped into and onto their bdies. When I was a kid, (Fred Flintstone grew up across the street from me), ou dogs got rbies and distemper vax--and distemper vax was new and often caused the disease. But our dogs lived to ripe old ages, hunting til late life (English setters and pointers). They Purina Dog Chow. Today e feed these "preminum' foods, give tons of vax and other stuff and it seems dogs are sicker today. My first 40 years or owing dogs (got my first very own dog for my 11th birthday)I never had one with allergies. Now 3 of my last 6 have had allergies.

Sandra Texas

Gail, I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your precious Jennie. We lost Toby, our 11 year old Jack Russell June 6th, about 8 weeks after diagnosis. I never knew I could cry so much. I was amazed at how much he filled the house and how empty it was without him. I did not really want another dog, but my husband did. But the kicker was when I saw our other dog, Skippy, a 13 year old Jack Russell just sleeping and wandering around the house, looking for Toby. He was half hearted on his walks. So after intense searching and having Skippy go with us to dog rescue places, the little JR picked a 5 year old chihuahua/papillon mix. He has cheered us so much and brought life and energy back to Skippy. We will never forget Toby. In fact we pass where we put his ashes in the woods a couple times a day and had a web site publish a memory photo book of Toby. But giving love to and rescuing another dog can be very, very therapeutic. When you are ready, you will know. Mary

Mary Indiana

I forgot to respond to your questions of self doubt about the vaccines etc. we give our furkids. My husband had a theory that really made sense to me. Toby had been vaccinated about a year earlier, had only been given heartgard and eaten well. He was bitten by a vole about a week before his illness. My husband thinks that maybe our pets have a genetic code that somehow kicks in when a trauma (infection, med mix, you name it) occurs that may predispose the dogs to AIHA. He likened it to cancer. It is hard, if not impossible to pinpoint causes to most cancers. I guess what I am saying that it is pointless and depressing to beat ourselves up over what we might have done to cause the disease. We love our dogs and do whatever we can to help them. Guilt is very self defeating. That's why this forum is so great. Knowledge can overcome the guilt. Mary

Mary Indiana

Hi Gail, All, I have wondered about this too, and i tend to agree with Mary's husband that some of our pets have a predisposition that kicks in at a trauma point. I lived in Africa for years, and co-owned some of the best dogs i have ever known there. Most of those dogs get puppie shots, if any - depends on if they live in a village or are 'town' dogs. Mine were 'town' dogs. My rottweiler lived to be 13 and had to be let go due to prostrate cancer. His mate, a german shephard, died of natural causes at the age of almost 15. They both went to the vet when something was wrong and had good basic care. They did not eat the healthiest dog food - i always had a fit about the garbage they were given to eat - but both also ate off the table and guests were always giving them food - so they loved pizza (could find their own way to the pizza joint 5 blocks away!), got lots of veggies and bbq'd food, bones, etc. I don't remember ever taking them in for vacs, nor did they get heartguard or frontline. - before anyone gets on me about this, these things just are not common there and i was *2nd* owner and many decisions were not mine to make, mostly because I was away in the field 75% of the time - But my point is, these dogs, and many others that I knew there, were not given the stuff we routinely give, and they thrived. The south africans are particularly proud of their 'boerbull' dogs - formerly mutts, now AKC, and they are known to be practically immune to everything - they just dont get sick from ticks and else like other dogs, and they developed out of a heinz57 mix and farmdogs. Not that they dont get sick, just are healthier than others, it is said, because they survived generations through much. I personally know one named sallie that climbs trees - yes, thats right. with rocks, then throws them to you to throw for her. She lives in an area with monkeys and we figure thats how she learned. What will most likely kill her is a crocodile someday as she lives on a croc riverm not a tick or other disease. I've seen ticks on these dogs, and never saw one that got sick - I did take my two for tests and they never were positive despite the ticks. The only sick dog I ever knew died of snakebite. And i dont think its because sick dogs are out of sight or crawl into the bushes to die, they just really seem to be more resilient, and the lifespans compare to dogs in the west. I truly believe we overmedicate our dogs, but bear in mind too we have diseases they dont and vice versa. I know that i have changed completely my idea of what is necessary for a dog - vaccinations, etc. and no dog of mine will ever be given the amount of these that Kent got. Just my thoughts, Hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend with their furkids, Christine and Kent

Christine Fl

Yes, I totally agree that overvaccination is a big problem in our country and is not known by enough people for both our pets and our kids. Look at the % of autism as well as the higher % of AIHA. Once your pets are vaccinated, you should have their vaccine titers level checked rather than have boosters given automatically every year or even every three years. That will tell you if they have enough antibody level for that certain disease and will spare them the toxins and possible negative side effects.

Sue Michigan

gail- very sorry to hear about jennie, hope she is resting now. i used to have a blue heeler when i was growing up in ohio, they are great dogs. you cannot blame yourself for what happened because the corporations and the media have pulled the wool over everyones eyes and practically convinced people that all these terrible things are necessary. just continue to speak out and inform those folks who you come across. hopefully with that you can help someone else. wishing you the best.

josh california

Gail I am so sorry to hear about your Jennie - we lost our 3 1/2 yr old cocker Sadie in March as well. We, too, did everything "right" - the shots, the heartworm, the flea control - She was the sweetest, most loving cocker we every owned. We are in our 50's too and losing her was like losing a child - our daughter is grown and on her own. We spent $2500 (and we would have spent whatever it would take to save her) on trying to save her - but she died within the week of diagnosis. I believe she died from a blood clot as her red blood cell was beginning to pick up and then she started heavily panting,by the time we got her back to the vet - she died on the table. We second guessed ourselves terribly - did we kill her by taking such "good" care of her? Should we have done more and what more could we have done? 3 weeks ago we brought home a 3 month cocker spaniel. From the time Sadie died until we brought Baxter home we were so depressed, upset, crying all the time and just plain miserable. We cried after we picked up Baxter and really wondered if we were doing the right thing. Well, it was - he has brought us so much love and joy and taken the focus off from our pain over losing Sadie. We will never, ever forget out sweet little girl - and I still cry when I think about how sudden and cruel this disease was to her - but Baxter has really been a Godsend. We are being very careful with vaccines, not letting him get them all at once - but spacing them out. Tyring to determine which ones are truly necessary and which ones we can gamble on. I did read on one of the sites that fleas tend to attack dogs with weakened immune systems. Sadie was always battling fleas - we tried many things - maybe that was part of the problem or maybe the fleas were a red flag to the fact that something was wrong. I guess we'll never know. One thing I do know is that Baxter has only had 1 or 2 fleas since we got him. We have used no special treatments, just bathing with simple puppy shampoo (not flea control) and it seems to have taken care of the problem. Getting a puppy or another dog is not for everyone and each one of us will do it when we are able. For us, this was the right time, even though we weren't sure. I hope you find some comfort in the days ahead - this is a terrible loss and my thoughts and prayers are that you can become better able to cope and remember your darling Jennie with smiles and laughter in the days to come. Feel free to contact me if you need to talk. Sherie

Sherie NY

This paper called The Canine Immune System and Disease Resistance written by Dr. Jean Dodds is very interesting reading and I think will address some of the questions you are all asking. Patrice http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/ImmuneSystem.htm

Patrice NYS

This thread was discussed between 01/07/2008 and 16/07/2008

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