Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - MCT and AIHA

Hi, Our little pug (Bravy) was diagnosed with AIHA 2 years ago. She's been off meds now for over a year. On Monday she was diagnosed with a mast cell tumor. Because of her AIHA and a history of slow healing the vet first recommended steroid injections. But these don't seem to be working and, if anything she's having a weird reaction to it. Apparently, she's not supposed to be itchy due to the steroids but she was--so much so that she partially broke her tumor. So if the tumor does not shrink, it looks like surgery. Does anyone know what the chances are of relapse due to surgery and/or a slow healing process? Thank you! Inna

Inna USA

Hi Inna, I am sorry to hear that Bravy has been diagnosed with a mast cell tumor. After IMHA, I think that all dogs should receive a pass on any other conditions. My IMHA dog Benson has been suffering from disc disease and possibly degenerative myelopathy. He had disc surgery in October 2006, two years after he was diagnosed with IMHA (he had been off all IMHA meds for a year, 5 months). He came home with 17 stitches in his back - he looked like Frankenstein's puppy. He healed just fine without any relapses of IMHA (he was monitored very very carefully). During the time that he was on the IMHA meds, including prednisone and imuran, he also healed very very slowly. He had open abscess wounds which did not heal for six months, until we stopped the pred. Good luck with Bravy - I hope that everything will go okay with her treatment and recovery. Please keep us posted. Best to you, Aden

Aden Jerusalem

Aden: Thank you for letting me know about Benson. I really appreciate it. Sincerely, Inna

Inna USA

Bravy update: She did not react to the steroids the way she was supposed to so she had the surgery last Thursday. She went for a re-check on Monday and had her CBC done at that time. At that time at least her levels were normal. She may be having her stitches removed tomorrow and we will continue to monitor with regular CBC tests, etc. In the meantime, after seeing some of the comments on other threads (i.e., that AIHA may be related to chemicals, etc.) we switched her from IAMS to Canidae. Canidae use all the same ingredients in their food that go inot human food (except a bit more on the meaty side). She seems to like it a lot better too! Thank you so much to everyone who posts here--you have all been a source of a wealth of information to my husband and I. A special thank you to Aden for responding to my (admittedly somewhat frantic and probably half-incomprehensible) query. Inna

Inna USA

Eagle Pack is another dog food that uses human grade ingredients and real meat...not scraps. It's not a cheap dog food and Tillie has been on it for about 4 years. It is made in Indiana where they have their OWN facility. They don't import any ingredients. I have been very happy with the food. Mrs. Gates I only wish I had known about this food for Stormie..but she was on a good food and developed AIHA due to annual vaccines. I miss her so much! Christmas is not the same as she unwrapped all her own presents (and every one under the tree if we weren't watching her!) What an angel.

Mrs. Gates Michigan

Hi Inna, Thank you for the update on Bravy. I hope that she continues to heal just fine from the surgery without any complications from IMHA (after Benson's surgery, I stared at his gums several times a day). I also hope that this mast cell tumor does not cause any further difficulties. Please keep us posted. Very best to you and your family for the holidays, Aden

Aden Jerusalem

Inna, a big hug to you and Bravy. Please keep us posted. deb and Duck

Debbie BC Canada

Thank you once again everyone. And I will. Best, Inna

Inna USA

I have read repeatedly that dog food with any grains is not good for dogs with cancer or arthritis. somehow the cancer feeds on the carbs (I think) and I don't really know why it is bad for arthritis. My golden girl KayCee had one knee operated on at age 16 months for luxating patella, her other knee 14 months later for luxating patella and torn ACL. We knew arthritis was in her future and she has been on joint sups ever since. She turned 8 in Aug. and is developing arthritis much laer than we expected she would. We are chainging her food over to one called Taste of the Wild that is mostly meat and furit and veggies and NO GRAINS. We got her the bison one. It also comes in fish, duck, etc. You might want to check into feeding this to Bravy. I would talk it over with the vet and see what she/he has to say about the no grains.

Sandra TExas

Thanks Sandra. The food Bravy is on now is a no-grain food. We talked about it with our vet and he thinks it's a good idea. Regards, Inna

Inna USA

This thread was discussed between 09/12/2007 and 29/12/2007

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