Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - recent diagnosis and need support

Hello to all who have animals with this horrid disease! My Brinnie was diagnosed this past Wednesday and I'm sure like the rest of you, I was blown away by how fast this disease came on! One day she's fine and the next she wasn't eating (and she eats everything!) so I took her to the vet and noticed after we got out of the car how orangey red her urine was so first thought was kidney or UTI infection. No such luck. She's gone downhill since. We started her on steroids thursday after the offical results of the Coombs test came back, but at first I could get her to eat some, she now eats nothing, throws up, and tonight was laying down and pee'd all over and kept laying in it cause she's so weak. Please, can anyone offer me some advice or some positive feedback? I could go through all the posts, but I know the horrors and need some encouragement right now. I'm devastated! Thanks! Christina

Christina Nashville

Dear Christina, I am so sorry to hear of Brinnie's diagnosis. No doubt this is a very serious disease, but there is also hope. A lot of dogs have survived and live a happy and healthy life. Please check out Joanne's site for information and especially to find hope in her success stories: http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/ Please let us know what medication Brinnie is on, the dosage and her weight. Also the numbers of her CBC would be helpful. This will make it easier to give some advice. I very much hope you have a good vet, experienced in AIHA/IMHA. This can be the key to recovery. Some people and websites can be all doom and gloom, but dogs can recover! If you don't see a little bit of improvement in the next few hours, I would recommend taking her into an emergency clinic. If her numbers are getting very low, a blood transfusion could be necessary. Trust your gut feeling, if she is getting worse, take her in. I hope you will see some improvement soon, best wishes, Brigitte

Brigitte BC Canada

Hi Christina - I'm so sorry Brinnie is sick, but you have found your way to this site and have certainly found a great group of people to talk to while you're working your way through Brinnie's disease. My only knowledge has come from dealing with my Winston's disease since June 2009 but there are several who read and respond on this site that are so knowledgable and have been so helpful to me - They will be for you too. You gave few details on your post as far as Brinnie's red blood cell count and the medications she's currently on. Please post as much as you know. You posted on a different thread that you wanted to know about Petinic and Milk Thistle - Petinic is a liquid multi-vitamin that has lots of iron - which will help with the red blood cell production. Milk thistle is an herb you can get in various forms that helps the liver - keeps the liver and kidneys healthy. When you're on alot of medications, they all filter through the liver and kidneys. Over a long stretch this can cause serious problems for those organs and cause them to shut down. The milk thistle In addition to Prednisone, cyclosporine and leflunamide - the prescriptions Winston is currently taking, I give him liquid folic acid, petinic and milk thistle. The amount will vary based on how much Brinnie weighs. This whole process you are getting into is scary but you will learn so much as you work toward getting Brinnie better. There are so many little ones that make it. You will need to be strong though. The ups and downs can be cruel. Big hug to you - and write often. There are so many good souls on this site that will help you get through this.

Lisa TX

Christina, I am so sorry you have had to join us but you have come to a place where you will receive all kinds of support and easy to understand answers to the many questions that you will have. When you are at Meisha's Hope website be sure to look at the success stories. It will let you know there truly is Hope. Are they giving your girl any kind of protection for her stomach? The steroids are really harsh on the digestive tract so that may be the cause of her not wanting to eat. It is very very important to have a Vet on board that has a lot of experience in treating this. Right now I think I would take her to the ER to find out what is going on since they released her. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers and keep us posted.

Penny Lytle Creek Calif

I will have to get all of the numbers again from my vet, but if I remember correctly, the PCV looked good and the other numbers were within normal range; however, I don't remember her HCT or Hg levels I guess because I was in shock. I love my vet, but am concerned because she doesn't know alot about this disease. I appreciate those of you who have offered your kind words and support. I will get in touch with my vet tomorrow and get the numbers so that I can post them and get additional advice on this disease. She is currently on 60 mg of predisone twice a day along with Prevacid for her stomach. She still won't eat a bite so my question for now would be how long before the meds kick in? We started them on Thursday. Any more help is greatly appreciated! Christina

Christina Nashville

It's me again. My vet has Brinnie on 120 mg of prednisone, but she only weighs 70 lbs and I thought the amount to be given was 1 mg/1 lb. Any thoughts? Christina

Christina Nashville

Hi Christina I am sorry to hear of Brinnie being diagnosed with AIHA. 120 mg of Pred sounds like a high dosage to me. My Golden was who weights 77 lbs was on 80 mg a day. Is Brinnie on other med's beside the pred? At this point I think you might want to syringe feed her something, ask your vet for some type of liquid diet you could give her. Have you tried baby food (no onions) or perhaps some chicken or a steak. Please keep us posted on how Brinnie is doing. Cheryl & Ginger

Cheryl & Ginger Pineville

While 1 mg of prednisone per pound of the dog's weight per day is the least amount that should be given at the onset of AIHA/IMHA , many vets will give an even larger dose at the onset of the disease . I have seen some dogs that have been given as much a 3 mg of prednsine per pound per day,especailly if this is the only medication the dog is taking. It may be wise to speak to your vet and ask him/her why this dosage is being given but this large of an amount is certainly not unheard of.

Joanne MN

Christina. The prednisone is on the high side by a bit. The usual recommended dosage starts at 2mg/kg to be divided twice daily. So for Brinnie you'd be looking at a minimum of 60mg daily. Perhaps the doctors have the dosage high for the first week to help get the disease under control but if I were you I'd discuss lowering this dosage SLOWLY until you get around 80mg give or take. Some vets will use 2-3mg/kg to start with and then they lower this dosage after seeing a clinical response. You should also discuss adding another immunosuppressing drug like Cyclosporine (Atopica) or azathioprine. Cyclo would be my prefered drug of choice if adding another but this would be up to the doc in charge. The advise above is rock solid with regards to stomach protectants! VERY VERY important to add. He may have an ulcerated stomach so you might have to add somehting like sucralfate to treat it. Do you home cook for him or do you feed kibble or wet dog food? Right now your main goal should be to get him to eat. How long has it been since he ate last? If he continues to not eat you may have to take him in so they can put him on a drip so he can get the nutrients needed. In the beginning I used to home cook for Tessy to get her to eat. I used to make boiled liver (only small amounts), chicken/turkey, boiled lean hamburger with rice, scrambled eggs, roast beef (no fat), white fish (haddock in my case), etc. All the special foods! Maybe one of these choices will work for Brinnie. You HAVE to get him eating. This is soooo important right now. You should really get copies of the blood work for us. Make this a priority as well. Have you considered consulting a specialist? Lots of us here use Dr. Dodds at Hemopet. We also send blood to her for analysis. If you'd like ot do this let me know and I'll tell you how and what you'd want to have done. If you have any more questions or concerns...by all means just ask. I'll keep Brinnie in my thoughts and prayers. Johnny & Tessy

Johnny

Just wanted to drop in and offer my support. Hang in there, this is definitely the place to be for the wealth of information and experiences. My thoughts are with Brinnie and a positive outcome. I read that you are having 2nd thoughts on your vets experience level with something like this... Don't be afraid to seek a 2nd opinion or even go to a specialist if this at any way gets worse, as this is a very serious condition. If your vet is understanding and a solid person then they wouldn't take that personal since of course, you are advocating on behalf of your dog and their health is what matters. Also, 2 heads can be better than 1 if it is 2 people with your dogs best interest at heart.

Josh California

Took Brinnie for a checkup today and since last Thursday her PCV remained at 19, but the icterus of her blood was alot less yellow. So, she's still serious, but stable. Vets said they put her on the upper end of the prednisone to put her into remission fast. Hemoglobin 8 Hematocrit 19 WBC 12.3 RBC 2.72 Platlet count 123 I have other numbers, but think these are the important ones so if more information is needed, please let me know. I also bought some pet tinic as was suggested by several people. Now, I'm just trying to get her to continue to eat. It's like having an infant b/c she doesn't eat much at one time so I have to keep up on it and try many things. Thanks to all for your support and advice! Christina

Christina Nashville

This thread was discussed between 14/03/2010 and 15/03/2010

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