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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Sores
| My 10-year old Shepherd mix, Mimi, was diagnosed with AIHA in May. I've had very similar experiences to many others who have shared their pet's ordeal with disease on this site. Mimi is now holding her own on 20 mg of prednisone daily and 25 mg of imuran every other day. However, she has developed some nasty looking sores. She had one on the "elbow" of her front leg that was infected and is, in addition to the other meds, also taking amoxycillin daily. Today, we noticed some matted fur on her "shoulder" of that same front leg, and when we investigated further, away the fur came with the skin, exposing another sore. Pretty disgusting. Has anyone else has this experience and is it a side effect of the medication? |
| Naomi NY |
| Naomi: I'm not sure about the sore on Mimi's elbow but the one on her shoulder sounds like it could be a staph infection. Our GSD mix, Sheba, has been battling staph infections off and on ever since her diagnosis in April. She seems to get them 2-3 days after she visits the groomer. (In fact, was just there Thursday and found a spot this morning.) Sheba's always start as puss filled sores which burst and then crust over. They are very itchy - that's how I usually find them. As I pet her I find spots that seem to make her muscles twitch or cause her to want to itch. When I look more closely I usually find the sore spots. The last infection did result in some hair loss. Usually we have to shave the area so we can more easily treat the infection. We treat with antibiotics (100mg of Simplicef once per day for 2 weeks), washing the sore (very carefully) and then applying Neosporin. Staph infection are common for some dogs who are being treated for AIHA. You should definitely have the vet take a look at the spot to determine if it's a staph infection or something else. If it is a staph infection, while they are a nuisance, they are treatable. Hang in there and I hope Mimi feels better soon. Rita and Sheba |
| Rita IA |
| Yes, these sound like staph infections. Staph is always on your skin but when you suppress the immune system with drugs like prednisone, the body can't fight the staph off the way it could before. There are several very effective antibiotics that are used to treat these and they will clear them up immediately. I like Keflex (cephalexin). In the meantime be sure to keep the areas clean with *very mild* soap and dry them as best you can. Always wash your hands before and after you touch the dog so you can't transfer a slightly different strain to Mimi or accidentally pass the staph to another person or dog. There is a new form of staph infection in this country called MRSA that is becoming resistant to treatment. It is very rare right now but has been seen on dogs. I would not worry about it right now but do ask you vet about it in your area. The bald, raw elbows are a side effect of the high doses of prednisone. Chance's front elbow's had huge open sores that cracked and bled. There wasn't much I could do to soothe them. I did buy some special elbow cream for dogs. But it wasn't until the pred doses were lowered that they healed. AND THEY WILL HEAL! In the meantime, put down several thickness of clean soft blankets around the house for Mimi to lie on. Wherever she normally lies. This will provide some clean soft surfaces for her elbows. I remember when this happened to Chance, it happened very quickly over about a week's time. The next time we went to the vet's, Dr. C cried out "oh, Chance has old man elbows!" My heart sank to my feet. I truly feel very bad for you. It's so hard to look at the hair coming off. I wish I could help you more except to say that it will all go away and in the end the hair will grow back... my best patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Thanks to both of you for your comments and good wishes. Took Mimi to the vet today. He called these "pressure sores," a side effect of the fact that Mimi is a lot less active than she used to be and spends her day mostly lying around. He shaved the area and put two stiches in to hold the skin together. She's already on an antibiotic, so not much else to do there. Unfortunately, he also upped the pred to 40 mg per day (her mucous membranes were quite pale). |
| Naomi NY |
This thread was discussed between 09/08/2008 and 10/08/2008
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