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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Maybe there is Hope for Skeeter!
| One week ago today our baby "Skeeter" 4 year old 13 lb. Shih-Tzu was diag. with AIHA and Panceatitis. He had been playing a couple days before and just stopped suddenly and layed down. He has had stomach problems in the past and my wife and I felt thats what it was since he tryed to throw up a few times and had stomach noise. After a day or so I got worried and took him to the Vet. They ran a CBC and found his Plat. count low as well as RBC count. WBC were out the roof. I cant recall the numbers but the vet said he was critical. He was also diag. with pancreatitis. A day before He got sick I feed him three bites of a Ribeye which I regret as this may have caused this the vet told me. A ultrasound revealed fluid around his kidneys and Pancreas. The vet immediately started Imuron 50mg 1/4 tablet QD, Baytril 68mg 1/2 tablet QD, Prednisone 20mg twice a day and Carafate suspension 5 mls twice a day for the Stomach. He was started on a boiled chicken diet and has a appetite. Skeeter went back to the vet 2 days later with bruises on his stomach which the vet gave him a low dose chemo drug injection to help his platlet count of 16,000. Last Monday his CBC was better and the fluid around the kidneys and pancreas had improved. I cant stand to see this little guy lay around and not play like he normaly does. Hopfully, with any suggestions from the wonderful people on this forum I can suggest options to my vet and get him in remission. Four years ago we lost another Shih-Tzu that was only 4 years old to hemangiosarcoma. If you have any suggestions please let me know. This site and others have helped me understand what is going on with Sketter. I work in the medical Field as a Respiratory Therapist so I do understand some medical terminology. Thanks, Jeff |
| Jeff Northwest Louisiana |
| Jeff, I am so sorry to hear about Skeeter's condition. This did happen very suddenly. As you might have guessed, the pancreatitis is contributing to his poor condition. Dogs in general tend to have a more serious reaction to acute pancreatitis and stabilizing them can be more difficult. How this relates to the AIHA may be very complex. It could all be related to the pancreatitis or there could be other contributing factors. The diagnostic challenge your vets are having right now is sorting out what all the test results mean and deciding what the best treatment will be. Pancreatitis can cause a number of secondary conditions that can be dangerous in themselves and might be the trigger for the extremely low platelets. The one that comes to mind for me is DIC disseminated intravascular coagulation. There can be variable levels of this condition, but in general it is considered an emergency. It can cause inappropriate clotting that is sudden and systemic. It is related to fibrin formation in the vessels as the body struggles to stop bleeding. I wish I could help you more at this point, but I haven't seen any of your lab results and they probably will be very revealing. However, your mention of the high WBC count indicates that there is most likely a systemic infection (due to the pancreatitis) that may be driving some of the low RBC and platelet numbers. So this may be a Secondary immune mediated hemolytic anemia. Or: the destruction is not directly an autoimmune cause but may be secondary to the pancreatitis. Try to get copies of all your lab work. I can show you some websites where you can look over it all and interpret what you are seeing. For the meantime here is a good website that will explain canine pancreatitis pretty well. https://www.vetcentric.com/reference/encycEntry.cfm?ENTRY=23&COLLECTION=EncycIllness&MODE=full I will be thinking about Skeeter all night. Patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Hi Jeff, So sorry to hear your Skeeter has this horrible disease. My Shiz-tu (Madison) was diagnosed in Jan 09 RBC 14 and as of last week she is off most medication and now only on 1/2 Imuran tablet every 3rd day. RBC 45 for the last 3 months. Madison was classed critical when i took her to the vet - the day before she was running around at the beach.. Madison had 2 blood transfusions within the first 4 days and was put on Prednisone 15mg 2x day, 1/2 Imuran 1x day, 1x Asprin daily & stomach tablets daily. Her RBC improved after the transfusion, then went down again so the vet transfued again. RBC went up again then gradually down but them stabled around 21. After about 2 weeks on the medication her RBC started to gradually increase and after 6 weeks RBC was stable at 31, we started decreasing her medicaiton gradually. This continued for the following 5 months. We still have her monitored monthly and hopefully Madison will be medication free in the next few months. So have faith that dogs can fight this diease.. i have been a nervous wreak for 6 months but its all worth it now. I still get nervous when her blood check is due but i am trying to stop worrying and just enjoy life with Madison now. Madison is back to her normal self - bossing me and the other dogs around. She is a little Diva. I hope you & Skeeter have the same success. It does take time, remember that. Samantha & Madison |
| Samantha Perth Australia |
| Jeff, I am so sorry that Skeeter has been diagnosed with this awful disease. Please don't beat yourself up about the ribeye. If you haven't found your way to Joanne's site yet please take a look as it will provide you with a lot of answers to questions you don't even know you have yet. Anything else you can post here and undoubtedly someone will have experienced the same thing and will give you some guidelines. It is a roller coaster ride do be sure to check out the success stories too. http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/ Best to you and Skeeter Penny |
| Penny Lytle Creek Calif |
| Jeff, Here is another good presentation: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/451310/Pancreatitis-in-Dogs-and-Cats patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Hi Jeff. Just wanted to send some positive vibes your way. Like everyone was saying this disease is beatable. Take it one day at a time and show him all the love he can handle. Hugs and best wishes, Johnny & Tessy |
| Johnny |
| Jeff, Just checking in to see how Skeeter is doing? Penny |
| Penny Lytle Creek Calif |
This thread was discussed between 16/07/2009 and 21/07/2009
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