Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Rottweilers teeth turned black

My 12 year old rottweiler has a long history of bizarre health issues. He came to me around the age of 2 from a rescue and a few months later began showing signs that his limbs hurt. If he'd be in the way as you opened the door and bumped his front leg with it, he'd cry out. So we took him in and of course he'd mask any type of pain in front of the vet. A week later he was limping on the rear leg. He showed no other signs of illness but the vet thought perhaps we should test him for Lyme Disease. We sent the L-Titer for testing and they incorrectly tested him for Leptospirosis and the test was POSITIVE. He then received the very aggressive treatment with antibiotics and steroids. During that time the leg pain disappeared and we wondered if it really was Lepto. About two months later I noticed his toenails had turned a very shiny black and seemingly grew overnight. They literally lifted up from the quick and each and every one of them fell off. They have never grown back. The vet suggested an autoimmune disorder. Now many years later my boy has suffered with very bad teeth and gums. Six months ago the vet extracted eight of them during the oral exam and cleaning. Three days ago I noticed spots of blood on the floor and discovered it was coming from his mouth. When we arrived at the vets office there wasn't much they could do with him since they had not scheduled him for a proper oral exam. The little peek of his gumline I was able to show the vet exposed a full set of completely BLACK teeth and somewhat of a nasty absessed gum. She suggested we get him on a round of antibiotics and schedule the full oral exam for later this week. She left the room to get the bottle of antibiotics and she returned just in time to witness a large piece of flesh drop from his lip. She simply said "Oh man we cannot wait ... if this is a cyst or tumor that's erupted blah blah blah." So my toothless dog wandered off with her and her first call to me reported that the liver and kidneys look good but his platelet count is low so either it's a tumor in the abdomen or on the spleen or it's an autoimmune issue. She did a chest xray which showed nothing abnormal with the heart or the spleen so it must be autoimmune. Sorry for the length of the post - my question is has anybody heard of the teeth turning black within a weeks time (his nails fell off that quickly).

Shawn Michigan

Shawn, I am sorry to hear about the difficult health problems your Rottie is having. You must be very worried right now and wishing you could do something to help him. I am thinking this might be something called SLE Systemic lupus erythematosus. This is an autoimmune disease that can cause many symptoms, of which the oral symptoms are generally the most widely reported. Doing a test called an ANA antinuclear antibody test is the *most accurate* way to determine if this is the case. http://www.provet.co.uk/health/diseases/sle.htm In human children who are on tetracylcine or doxycylcine, sometimes their teeth can darken. I don't know if this can happen in developing puppy teeth as well, but I suspect that this was happening after your Rottie had finished growing his adult teeth. Many breeds have partially or complete black gums and insides of the mouth, which is normal. Whether or not this also applies to the teeth, I wouldn't know. Is is possible that the teeth have become infected and decayed? How does his breath smell? As for the nails, here is an excellent website that covers many nail conditions. http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/grooming/nailconditions.htm I was thinking of discoid lupus erythematosus. It's possible that it can also be this as well. Giant Schnauzers are particularly prone to toenail problems, esp. serious melanomas. This is a very serious cancer and can migrate quickly to the lungs. If your vet has even a possible thought that this might be the case, insist on an IMMEDIATE BIOPSY. If it is positive, IMMEDIATE AMPUTATION OF THE TOE is essential with a wide enough margin to be sure it was all removed. Dogs can live quite well with toe(s) removed. While SLE can seem complicated to treat, it is usually treated with prednisone and azathioprine and or cyclosporine. There also seems to be about 75% success with a drug called levamisole. It affects the t-cells, but in a different way. I believe it is very expensive. If your vet has not suggested the ANA test yet, I think this would be money well spent and will tell you volumes about what is happening. please keep us posted about what happens my best patrice

Patrice NYS

I am so sorry to hear about the your pup. I'll keep your pup and you in my thoughts and prayers. I know nothing about the conditions of which you speak. Hold steady and be strong.

Mardi Northern Cali

Shawn, I'm so sorry to hear of your sweet rottie's health challenges. I don't know much about what could be going on, but I know how heartsick you must feel having an ill dog, as we all do here. I hope you can get some answers, your baby is very lucky to have you. melissa and tiggs

melissa slc

Thank you for your replies. The SLE website was very informative and shockingly similar to his initial symptoms many years ago. I believe he was kept in a concrete run for his first few years of life since his nails were quite short and while he was with me, they simply did not ever grow. One day they had become over an inch long and had raised up away from the nail bed. They simply peeled off leaving no sign of them ever being there - it was very bizarre yet none of that seemed to bother him. There seemed to be no discomfort associated with the loss of the nails. I picked him up from the vets office an hour ago and they indicated that he seems to be in good spirits and inspite of the redness and bleeding in the mouth, he's maintained a healthy appetite. If you did not look into his mouth you would not know there was any issue with him at all. I could immediately tell there has been some improvement as the blood isn't just oozing, but I'm not saying it's necessarily clotting yet either but it is certainly looking good. On the way out there was a woman sitting on a bench with three kids who wanted to maul the bear like black dog and the bear like black dog wanted to suck up every minute of the young lovin. We arrived home and he sat there begging for a slice of the zucchini bread I was cutting for myself. I am armed with the prednisone and amoxycillan and hope by Friday morning there will be an increase in the platelet count. He has not dripped any fluids from his mouth as of yet so fingers are crossed.

Shawn Michigan

Shawn, What an awful time you are having with your boy. What is his name? Hopefully the tests will give you some concrete answers. Glad that he seems to be in good spirits. Please keep us posted Penny

Penny Lytle Creek Ca

Well friends, sadly as many others share here if it's going to go downhill, it tends to happen fast. I had to let my boy go this afternoon after his appetite left him yesterday morning and I witnessed his apparent level of discomfort as he tried to stomach the medication. I know each of us react differently in certain situations and there's nothing more heart wrenching than feeling as though you weren't given sufficient time to offer them every possible opportunity to test and experiment and try to help them heal in a comfortable manner... but in my mind he made it clear that the quality of his life in this state was not bearable and he positioned himself in a dark corner of the bedroom and decided he was no longer going to get up. I didn't want him to decline by himself sheltered in a room like that. He was my first attempt at fostering a dog in my home (and after an hour at my place I'd decided he had a forever home). He shared his life with a 13 year old female pitbull and a mixed breed brother along with four cats. Life was good.

Shawn Michigan

Dear Shawn, I am so sorry you had to let go of your beloved boy. It is one of the hardest things for us, but so kind to the dog. I find it totally uncanny, how dogs let us know when it is time to let go. I am glad you find comfort in knowing he had a good life with you. You should feel good about having given him a second chance at life by adopting him. Please accept my heart felt condolences, Brigitte

Brigitte BC Canada

Shawn - I am so sorry. I, like many of us here, know the pain that comes with making that decision. My boy was my first foster and was an abuse/neglect case as well - they are special, special dogs that they can put all that behind them. It's clear you loved him and put him first. Know that you did all you could and I hope that happy memories of him will bring you comfort. Take care - Bonnie

Bonnie Chicago

Shawn. I am so sorry for the loss of your boy. I think that is one of the things I had the hardest time with was "I did everything you asked why could I not save them?" Your boy was lucky enough to have a good long life with you in a forever home. I hope that in the coming days you will be able to remember the better days, Penny

Penny LytleCreek Calif

I'd like to thank each of you for writing in and for sharing your knowledge and your ear. I'm glad I had the opportunity to stumble across this website prior to learning his diagnosis because it allowed me to educate myself a little better about the condition. As she began deciphering the test results to me I found myself simply nodding because it was all familiar terminology. The heartfelt, timely manner in which the forum readers responded was greatly appreciated. Peace to everybody and hugs to the fur-kids.

Shawn michigan

This thread was discussed between 17/08/2009 and 23/08/2009

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