Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Our sweet Rosie

We lost our very precious 6 1/2 yr old schnoodle to this horrible disease. It still seems sureal and unbelieveable. One week earlier,Rosie collasped for no reason in the evening, when she got backup she seemed fine, but my husband took her to the vet the next day. He checked her out and said her gums looked pale, and did a full blood screen, the next day I called and found out that her hemocrit was 27 and she probably had AIHA, we started her on prednisone right away. by the next day her HCT was 19. She had stopped eating, but still drinking. That evening she seemed to be very lethargic and would not climb back upstairs from outside. I rushed her to the emergency vet, her HCT was 12, they did a transfusion overnight, which only brought it up to 16. We ended up taking her to a specialist that was 1 hour away that afternoon who put her on another steroid cyclosporine with the predisone. She needed to have 2 more transfusion in the next 2 days, I took time off so I could be with her as much as I could. Her blood tests showed after 4 days it was not regenerating, and an ultrasound showed nothing. Sunday morning she seemed to be holding on to a gradually increasing HCT 18 to 21 after 24 hurs of the last tranfusion, we thought she was finally turining around. Sadly, by that afternoon she was struggling to breathe, but an xray showed pulmonary edema ( they thought she had a clot, or her kidneys were not processing the IV fluids as well,she had been an aspirin) and we were told she wasn't going to make it, even after diuretics, she lost her battle before we made it back to the hospital to say our final goodbye. We would have done anything for her, it just happened so quick, none of us had time to think, and react. Very bad disease. Her last vaccine was June 2010, just parvo/distemper. No chemicals that we know of, we don't live in lyme disease area. So we are at a loss of what caused this. We are truly heartbroken, she was a great companion. I had spent many sleepless nights during this ordeal on the computer, in between calling the hospital for updates for Rosie. I wished I had found this site earlier. I wish those that are dealing with this disease the best, and fight hard!!

Heather Oregon

Dear Heather, I am so very sorry for the loss of your sweet Rosie. I hope in time you can forget about this ordeal and all the heartache of these last few days and remember the good days you had with Rosie. Like you said, this disease is so brutal and unfair. Clearly, you did everything possible and still it was not meant to be that Rosie spends some more time with you. When you feel like it, go to the Meisha's Hope website, there is a link to "Loss and Grief". http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/loss.htm Wit sincere sympathy, Brigitte

Brigitte BC Canada

Please accept my deepest condolences in the loss of your Rosie. Unfortunately they can not all be saved no matter how hard we try. Feel comfort in know you did absolutely everything you could do for her and Roise knows how very much she was loved by your family. Roise will forever be in your heart. Cheryl & Ginger

Cheryl & Ginger Pinevile PA

Heather, I am so sorry for your loss. It never seems fair when you try so hard that you are not able to save your dog. Most of the time you will never know what the trigger was. You did your best for your dear Rosie and she will stay in your heart forever. Take care Penny

Penny Lytle Creek Calif

Heather~ We are truly saddened with the news of Rosie's passing. You are a very loving and caring person who did all they could for their beloved pet. This disease is still a "mystery" because it CAN and DOES happened, even when we do everything we know to do for them to be healthy. You and your family are in our prayers. Blessings, Cindi & Tori

CIndi PCB

Heather, I am so very sorry to hear of your sudden loss. I hope you find comfort in your wonderful memories of Rosie. Try not to beat yourself up about anything to do with her death, IMHA is a horribly swift illness. Rosie knew she was loved, take some comfort in that. Prayers, Ronda and Buster

Ronda Illinois

Heather, please accept my deepest sympathies and condolences on your loss of Lucy. It's hard not to question ourselves...what we could have done...what we should have done! ETC. I know the feeling all to well cause I lost my shadow SADIE this summer to this disease and I still to this day question everything I did for her! I've done A LOT of beating myself up over decisions I've made and I'm versed enough in this disease to know somewhat how to treat it....this makes it worse I think cause it made me question everything I was doing! What a person goes through when treating (and trying to treat) this disease I wouldn't wish on my worse enemy. I lost Sadie to this disease but I still have her sister TESSY here with me who beat this disease before Sadie got sick. Spend time remembering all the good times and memories you made with Rosie and just think of how lucky you were to have her and her you! There's lots of wonderful, special furbabies at the bridge for Rosie to play with now while she waits for you. If you ever want to chat or vent or a shoulder to cry on then by all means just drop by. This forum has a great support backing and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the great people here who helped me though everything! Run Free Rosie Johnny & Tessy

Johnny

I am so sorry for you loss. It is a terrible feeling. I don't get on the site much anymore as it brings back a lot of sadness, but I think of everyone and their fur babies a lot and hope and pray a cure is found someday soon. Find strength in the love you do have for you pup as that will never go away. Take care.

Mardi Northern Calif

I am very sorry for your loss. As others have said and I keep trying to tell myself, don't beat yourself up over it. I didn't know anything about this until two days ago. Rosie was with a family that loved her and did everything they could for her. She knew that. Take care, Jerry

Jerry

So sorry to hear this sad news. This is a terrible disease that is on the rise. We all need to commit to supporting research on this and changing the laws if neccessary. You did everything you could... Best regards, Pat

Pat Vermont USA

Dear Heather, There are tears in my eyes as I am writing this. I am so sorry about the loss of your beloved companion, Rosie. You did absolutely everything you could for her and it's good you found this site because everyone on here as either lost a pet to this terrible disease, is struggling through it now or has a pet in remission and doing everything they can to keep their pet stable. You are an amazing person to come on this site and share your struggles and thank-you for wishing us all the best with this disease. We are all fighting for a cure. Blessings to you and your family Gwen and Gracie

Gwen Rhinebeck

I want to thank all of you for your very warm comments. You are all amazing and wonderful people to your furbabies, and others whom you don't know, but help so much with your kind words of wisdom and thoughts. I find myself still reading this posts maybe looking for comfort in what we did was all the rights things, still looking for answers, or perhaps to tuck away for the future in case bad luck strikes again in a future dog. We are thinking of getting another dog in the spring or summer. My heart is still sad for my precious companion and friend, but I have alot of love to give another furbaby (love that word!) and a hole to fill in my heart. It is true that most people have no idea what this struggle is about emotional and for our poor babies. It is so comforting to have this forum to help us all. I am so happy for those that are getting through this, Juliet and Gracie, hang in there, I know that good things are in store for you! Gwen, your story of Gracie touched me also. Rosie was my best friend and companion as well, she always waited for me to go to bed before she would, even after the family had long gone to bed. She was there to greet me every night after work with lots of kisses, then woo, woo bark with a tennis ball in her mouth, her greeting, and gentle hint to play! I will treasure these times! I know we all do on this site! Johnny I can't believe you have gone thrugh this twice, no wonder you are well versed on this. It must have been in the sisters genes for the tendency for this awful disease. Do you think low thyroid cand cause this disease, I know that Rosie had a low count at the begining of this, or do you think it happened because of the disease. So Thank you, it really helps to talk and listen about it together! I will send prayers for all on this site tonight!

Heather

This thread was discussed between 06/01/2011 and 08/01/2011

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