Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Shadow Update 12/14

Shadow broke through the "normal" barrier with her blood test yesterday. Her pcv went from 31.9 two weeks ago to 38.4 yesterday! We are celebrating!! Shadow had a really rough start with AIHA, with her pcv dropping to 11, then being boosted with transfusions, only to plummet again. Right before her third transfusion (Nov. 1), we cut her cyclosporine dose in half and gave it to her five days on, two days off. She showed great improvement on the two days off. When her Nov. 10 blood test showed a decline in her pcv, her local vet (not the specialist) told me to trust my instincts. So, I took Shadow completely off cyclo. Her demeanor/activity and pcv started improving instantly and steadily. That's just one dog - Shadow's - experience with the AIHA cocktail. It's an anecdote, not a study. But, if anyone else has a dog whose cocktail includes cyclo and your dog is not improving, you might want to talk to your vet about continuing with the cyclo. Happy holidays (and great pcv's - the greatest gift any of us could receive this year) to all. Sandy

Sandy Utah

Great news Sandy!

Allison TX

I'm writing this because my dog Star, a chow/Lab mix, has just been diagnosed with AIHA, showing signs of lethargy, poor appetite, fever and a PCV of only 13% on 12/14. My vet noted agglutination of the platelets on the CBC. We started treatment with high dose Prednisone and Azathioprine along with Amoxicillin. Repeat PCV today showed a PCV of 14% and no fever but I'm worried that her urine is dark brown/red which seems indicative of further hemolysis. Star is 10 years old, and transfusions could also be risky...I just don't know how to proceed. Any advice??????? I fear that the prognosis is poor anyhow.

Frank Rochester NY

Frank, I am sad to hear about Star. I have been on this forumn for about 2 months now. My dog had/has a similar diagnosis. It seems like everytime I open this site I am reading about a new case. I am very frustrated about this. The best advice I can give you at this moment is to repost your initial request for advice in a new thread. (with something in the title that suggests you are "new"). This will let your comments be seen by potentially more people that can give you good info. I cannot really say because, I am not entirely sure that I am doing the right thing for my dog. I just know that you will find plenty of GOOD INFO here. I hope it can lead you to a treatment that will work for you dog.

Allison TX

Frank, I am sorry your Star has been diagnosed with this awful disease. Have you found your way to Joanne's site yet? If not here is a link. You will find so much information here. I am sure you are like most of us were initially totally devastated and confused. Be sure to look at the sucess stories too. Start a new thread so we all can follow Star's progress. Penny http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/

Penny Lytle Creek Calif

Sandy, That is great news for you and for Shadow! Celebrate is the word indeed! Very interesting about the cyclosporin. We had our Holly on it, and she was doing well, but then the trough test showed her body not to be absorbing it, so Dr said to stop it, and went onto Imuran (Azathioporin) which was suppose to be more of a theurpedic drug for her, but seems to me it has not really been helping her. The Dr said to use this drug in order to decrease the prednisone, but once we started reducing the prednisone her retic count started to rise again, so now back up to 5mg a day of the prednisone. But at this point I am wondering just how much the Imuran is helping her, doesn't seem to be doing anything. I am going to discuss with the Dr about this, maybe the same situation with it like you and the cyclosporin. Thanks, Linda

Linda Sapphire

Great news Sandy. What a great Christmas gift for you all! deb and Duck

Debbie BC Canada

Linda - It takes Imuran (aziathoprine) several weeks to kick in and start working. How long has Holly been on it? I think some vets speculate that it can take as long as 4-6 weeks for the aziathoprine to start making a difference. Hope Holly is doing well and, thanks for celebrating my good news about Shadow - to you, Deb, Duck and Allison. Sandy

Sandy Utah

that is great to hear, very cool

josh california

This thread was discussed between 15/12/2007 and 17/12/2007

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