Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Just Diagnosed - so many questions

My 7 year old border collie, Clyde, is just diagnosed with AIHA last week and now on25mg pred. I have been reading the messages which has been helpful but so many of them. Would anyone be able to advise/confirm 1) Food - should I be adding small amounts high protein food to his dry dog food as from what I read read it may assist? 2) Exercise - We used to do at least 3hrs walking a day but have been told just to keep him in garden for the month to see how it progresses 3) He is drinking so much and peeing. At night I get up at least 5 times to let him out. Should I decrease his fluids at night or is this standard due to the tablets. 4) Anything else that I can do to help him?

Steven T Edinburgh

Steve, I am so very sorry to hear that your most beloved Border Collie Clyde has recently been diagnosed with AIHA. While AIHA is a very diffcult disease, dogs who have been diagnosed with it CAN and DO recover and go on to live happy healthy lives. If you have not read my Web site on Canine AIHA/IMHA as yet, you might want to do so when you can. 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. In regard to the qustions you have asked I will make a few comments. If at this point you can get Clyde to eat, that is very good news. Many times newly diagnosed AIHA/IMHA dogs will not eat anything. So the recommendation then by many is to just give them (dog) anything you can get them to eat. At the onset of the illness one should keep a dog with AIHA/IMHA as quiet as possible and avoid exercise. Thrist and the need to urinate often are side effects of the prednisone. It is important to provide adquate amounts of water to quench this thirst. Some dogs will even enjoy ice or ice chips. Many times prednisone alone will not be enough to get a dog with AIHA/IMHA into remission, when that is the case vets can add aother drugs such as Azathioprine or cyclosporine to the treatment regimine. Has your vet mentioned these drugs to you. One of the most important things you can do is learn all you can about the disease so you can have an intellignet dialogue with your vet in regard to Clyde's treatment options. I truly know this is so hard but remember dogs CAN and DO recover and go on to live happy healthy lives. My Meisha was proof of this as are all the dogs on the Success Stories pages at my Web site. Be assured both you and your dear Clyde are in my thoughts and prayers during these most difficult days.

Joanne MN

Steven, I am sorry that Clyde has been diagnosed with this awful disease but you have come to the right place for information and support. It is so hard at first to try to take in everything about a disease you have probably never even heard of. Know that any questions you may have you can post them here and there is bound to be a number of people that are dealing or have dealt with whatever it is. We are all just lay people who love our dogs and will do whatever it takes to try to beat this.Hopefully you have a Vet that either has experience treating AIHA or is at least open to suggestions. Keep us posted. Penny

Penny Lytle Creek Calif

Hi Steven. Sorry you have to join us but as Penny has said, this is a great place for support and information. You might want to ask your vet about adding sucralfate and/or famotodine (Pepcid AC) to your dog's medication regime. These drugs will act to protect his GI tract from ulceration. Some dogs develop stomach ulcers from high doses of prednisone. I can't comment on the high protein but hopefully others here will have some info for you. I also found it helpful to write down all my questions and take it with me when I took my dog to the vet. That way I covered everything I needed to with her. Please keep us posted and good luck! deb and Duck (my dog)

Debbie BC Canada

Hi Steven, sorry to hear Clyde has this disease. As Joanne said....you should for sure check out her site. You'll learn an aweful lot from it. Be sure to read the success stories also. They helped to calm my nerves significantly when my Tessy first got sick. You are in the right place to get advise and guidance. The people on this board are sooo caring and compassionate. One thing you should also do is get copies of all of your records from the vet. Get the CBC results...that way you can refer back to them as you're learning about this disease. What is Clydes PCV? I'll keep you both in my thoughts and prayers. If you have any questions just ask. Johnny & Tessy

Johnny

Steven, I am so sorry to hear about Clyde's diagnosis. All the other post have very much covered the important things. I don't know where I would be without the people on this board! So please check back and keep us posted. The whole thing is very emotional, confusing, a real roller coaster ride. One thing that jumped at me from your information is that 25 mg prednisone seems a fairly low dose. Or is Clyde getting that 2x per day? I am assuming as a border collie he is between 35 and 45 lbs? Take care and best wishes, Brigitte & Kahlu

Brigitte BC Canada

So sorry about your dia. This is a rough disease and may be a long recovery. My vet said absolutely no exercise because he wanted her red blood cells to get a change to regenerate. The exercise used the red blood cells to carry oxygen to the muscles thus using them up. No exercise. As for diet he wanted me to feed a lot of red meat and protein. Good Luck!

Sue K PA

Hi Steven So sorry to read about Clyde's diagnosis. You must be extremely anxious. I woul agree with Briggitte re your pred dosage it does seem low for your breed. I know when BillyBob was first taken ill he was on 40mg per day at 12kg. Everything else really has been answered but you must have liquids available at all times, he will drink copious amounts and obviously pee hugely - this being one of the side effects of pred. My thoughts are with you. Good luck.

Steph Gloucs UK

Hi Steven, I am so sorry to hear about Clyde coming down with AIHA. If you have been feeding dry kibble, you might find his appetite really changing, and what you could do is offer him different types of foods and see what he feels like. Having said that, i would definitely add fish - whitefish - to his diet, as this will help the liver, which will be affected by prednisone. My Kent used to go bananas over carrots - sometimes he just pooped orange carrot fiber! He also developed a taste, briefly, for tomatoes, and always loved his greens - broccoli, and more. apples were a big hit, he couldnt get enough. He was an unusual dog, but became very finicky after a time, and i switched to total home cooking for him (he had developed kidney disease too causing this) but with the AIHA he just wanted to eat like a little eating machine. When you come up for breath again, think about asking about different herbs and such that will be good to supplement as long as he is taking pred and anything else. ditto on the carafate/sucralfate mentioned above, and/or pepcid - both are on the 4$ Walmart list, i think. So is pred. Imuran if you have to get it i found cheapest at Costco. We are here for you and will do our best to answer questions, Christine and Kent

christine fl

Many thanks to all for your thoughts and encourgement. I will now have lots of questions to ask the Vet who I hope will be patient with me. I will find out what his CBC results are, never thought to ask as I couldn't take it in at the time. he is 29kg and on two 25mg a day. Back to vet next week. Hate to see Clyde so lethargic but will do everything I for my pal. Thanks again everyone and will post again. Steven & Clyde

Steven T Edinburgh

29 kg is not quite 60 lbs. So that's 50 mg a day. Chance was 96 lbs and was on 80 mg to start. So sounds about right. Joanne has the specific recommendations for dosage on her website. Patrice

Patrice NYS

This thread was discussed between 23/04/2009 and 24/04/2009

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