Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Kent Update Feb 6

Hi Everyone. Kent (our 10.5 year old mini-schnauz)is home, but was this morning for the second time in three days at the vets for an emergency check. Monday, he was shivering, and uncomfortable. We could not figure out why. His latest BUN is 70, but creatinine high normal. We have been worried about his kidneys. We discovered from his xray on monday that his liver has swollen an additional 3 fingerwidths. Tuesday he was tired from a shot of painkiller, but just wasnt all that right. Eating fussy, but drinking lots of water. His poop has continued to be bloody on and off in that its sometimes black, sometimes brown, sometimes both, and rarely super solid. This morning he got up, went for a short walk, had two poops (brown mostly) and when he got home did not want to eat at all. Anything. Not even the lastditch hotdog or turkey. For the last week or so he has seemed like he doesnt want to eat anything hard, or large. No sores in his mouth and he has had his mouth checked. Anyway, He stopped drinking as well. He laid down and started shivering, his eyes were glassy, and his tongue seemed a bit pale but still pink. We took him to our vet who made time to see him, they ran an in-house hematocrit and it has fallen to 31 from 36. The blood has been sent to the lab, and i expect it will come back around 28 or so. He's just had his pred lowered from 20mg to 15 as his latest results from last week showed he was stabilizing, and he is on imuran 25mg. It could be kidney failure, we will know tomorrow. It could also be some kind of internal bleeding, since he has had blood in his stool for over a month now, and metronidizol didnt work, and he has three days ago started baytril. We are waiting for the blood results to decide about an ultrasound. We are hoping if he does not have kidney failure that it could show a cause of bleeding that could be addressed, but it may show us nothing, or at least nothing that we can do anything about. If anyone has had any similar experience, we would appreciate your sharing - i am thinking of ron too, who just went through surgery with daisy. We are doing everything we can right now to keep him comfortable and figure out why he is still losing blood, why his tummy is even more swollen since two days ago, (and he has lost 7oz in two days - from 35 to 34.3 lbs) and why his hematocrit would go down like this. His RBC was 4.5 before and is now 7. Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated. Best, Christine and Kent

Christine Florida

Christine, I am afraid I can't offer much but did want you to know how sorry I am that Kent is having such a tough go of it right now. I hope things take a turn for the better soon. Keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers. Penny

Penny Lytle Creek Calif

Christine, You and Kent are in my thoughts and prayers. I wish I could be more help. Shirley

Shirley GA

Christine we can al hear the anguish in your words. Nothing more frustrating than having your hands tied and watching your most valued buddy suffer. Just wondered...have you taken Kent to a homeopathic vet for an eval. Sometimes they can suggest chinese remedies/ tonics and herbal treatments that are truly assistive. thinking of you. Jan

Jan philly

Thanks to everyone for their comments - i appreciate your thoughts, your prayers, your support. Jan - how do i find a homeopathic vet? I'm in west palm beach. I would certainly be willing to try this. My little Buddy kent was okay last night, took a walk - peppy- but his poo was pure black, but not diarrhea, rather hard. This morning his poo was all brown, not diarhea no mucus. We are anxiously awaiting lab results, and have scheduled an ultrasound for monday that will likely be bumped to tomorrow depending on the lab work. I dont believe he can go into kidney failure so soon - i really really feel he has some sort of bleed internally somewhere. Has anyone had bleeding ulcers with the prolonged use of pred? what can be done? He takes sucralfate and pepcid ac. now thyroid and liver hormones too. Anyone can suggest if the baytril could be having this effect on him? So frustrating. I know we have all been down this road, and im glad to have this community.

Christine Florida

Just did a search and this is what came up for the Fla area. Larry Bernstein , VMD, PcHom. CERTIFIED BY THE AVH Natural Holistic Health Care 751 N.E. 168th Street N. Miami Beach , FL 33162 USA Phone: 305-652-5372 Fax: 305-653-7244 Species Preferences : SA, LA, EQ, EX Percent Homeopathic Cases : 75-100% Phone Consultations Accepted Visit This Member's Web Page Nancy Keller , DVM CERTIFIED BY THE AVH Healing Heart 208 NE 3rd Street Boynton Beach , FL 33435 USA Phone: 561-547-8277 Fax: 561-740-0819 Species Preferences : SA Percent Homeopathic Cases : 50-75% Phone Consultations Accepted Arthur Young , DVM CERTIFIED BY THE AVH Homeopathy for Animals 40 N. River Road Stuart , FL 34996 USA Phone: 772-286-3897 Fax: 772-286-6285 Species Preferences : SA, Avian, Exotic, LA Percent Homeopathic Cases : 75-100%

jan philly

Hi Everyone, Kent is hanging in there but his hematocrit is dropping. From 36 to 31.8. The lab report shows hemolysis +2. This is really scary. If he is dropping we have to make some decisions, especially whetehr to go to another transfusion if he drops that far. He's been on pred now for 3.5 months, 30mg at first and is down to 15mg. he is on imuran too, 25mg a day. And all the meds that go with these. We really are trying to figure out what kind of protocol to give him if he crashes again - hate to amp the pred again given his liver and kidney reactions. All around it doesnt look good, but i know many of you have been in the same boat or similar boat, on this roller coaster - and for many a little rescue dinghy came along and saved the wonderful little soul in our buddies. Does anyone have experience with this particular issue and advice to offer? Particularly, what has been added to your buddy's regimen? Cyclosporin? Shots of something? Thank you everyone, and we are so grateful for this list. Christine and Kent

Christine Florida

My Brandie had two transfusions just over the weekend. The prognosis is very bleek. They give her a 50/50 chance of servival. She COULD survive, but at the cost of taking at least 9 pills a day, going to the vet for far too frequent blood drawls and spending a lot of time there getting periodic transfusions. Please go to http://www.labbies.com/aiha.htm and read the very last sentence. I just can't keep doing this to her, she is also at high risk for stroke and servere infections and illnesses. When it is enough is up to you, but we have taken her home with two weeks worth of medication. We are giving her whatever she wants and enjoy the time we have left with her. I was tempted to be selfish and keep her around for me, but I just can't do it to her anymore.

Carrie Logan

Carrie, I am so sorry to hear that your most beloved Brandie has been dignosed with AIHA. While AIHA is a very difficult disease, dogs who have diagnosed with it CAN and DO recover and go on to live happy healthy lives. My own Meisha was proof of that as are all the dogs on the SUCCESS STORIES pages at the Meisha's Hope Web site: http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/successstories.htm If you have not read these stories as yet, you might want to do so. They will show you what has worked for other dogs in terms of treatment options and give you a lot of HOPE. No one can or should tell you what decision to make for Brandie, but it is important to know that other dogs who have been give a slim survival chance have over come those odds and are now are not only surviving but thriving. Pleaase be assured that you and your dear Brandie are in my thoughts and prayers during these most difficult days.

Joanne MN

This thread was discussed between 06/02/2008 and 11/02/2008

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