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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - TC 2nd time around
| I am so glad to find this site! This is my doggie TC's 2nd time around. He has been diagnosed with IMHA by a Vet who's specialty is oncology, she see's many IMHA dogs in our area. Back in January 2007 my TC stopped eating, even for one day this is unusual, so we took him to the vet, the vet said he couls just have a virus, take him home & call if he did not get better. He was worse the next day, no energy, no eating. so I took him back. This time the vet did bloodwork and said TC was very sick, might not make it. He did not tell me it was IMHA, said they did not know what caused it could have been a tick, they did not know. TC came home after a few day's he was on the predisione and doxyclin, we had his bloodwork every week, he got better and in Feburary we took him off the meds. Never heard the words IMHA. This is our first dog, we adopted him from the shelter in 2000. He is a sheperd mix. Very devoted to our family. He had his full vaccine on Aug 20th and the Monday before he became ill I gave him a heartworm tablet. 2 weeks ago today, he refused his wet food. I called the vet ASAP and took him in that morning. His blood was down to 30 and the vet said he had the same thing again,gave him meds and sent him home, told me to make an app with the oncoligist vet. That was Wednesday, by Friday he could not get up, my son had to pick him up and carry him to the car(he is an 85lb dog) and carry him into the vet. Our appointment was for noon, but we went in on an emergegency basis at 8am. She immediatly said he was dying, he had IMHA gave me some info on it & told me to search the web. He had two tranfusions of Greyhound blood. His blood was down to 7 and he had no platlets. He stayed at the hospital, 24 hour care, for 6 days. He went up to 25 after the tranfusions but still no platlets. On his 5th day there he started to drop again, so he recived another transfusion. The next morning he was at 30 and had platlets, we brought him home. He had his blood check last Friday and he is up to 35 with platlets. He is almost 10 and I am worried to death about all the drugs. I am giving him milk thistle and holistic dog food. This is such a horrible disease! I would never have had him vaccinated or given him heartworm if I had know he had IMHA. I am surprised more vet's don't know about it, it seems to have been around for a while. I am keeping my fingers crossed, your stories and the Meisha's Hope site have been wonderful. |
| Wendy Tampa FL |
| Wendy, Did your vet or the specialist every mention that they did a tick borne disease blood test either back in Jan or just recently? You are in an area where there are tick diseases. If they have never done one at all ask them to do a Snap4dx test in house immediately. Also do some research with your local dept of health and find out what tick diseases are predominant in your area. You will need to test for those specific diseases as well at the Snap4dx. The best lab for this is Protatek. Your vet can contact Dr. Holland directly for more information and diagnostics. Go to the Protatek website http://www.protatek.com/RefLab/SERVICES.html http://www.protatek.com/RefLab/submission%20form.pdf This information is from the vet on the Tick-l List I belong to about Protatek: "Have your vet call Dr. Holland and find out what tick tests to run (dependent on your area or travel you have done). Ship off a serum sample via overnight to ProtaTek Reference Laboratory for a tick-borne panel (i.e., a battery of IFA tests for antibodies against Babesia canis, Ehrlichia canis, Borrelia burgdorferii, and Rickettsia rickettsii.) ProtaTek has special expertise in TBD testing, does a great deal of testing for g/h rescue groups, and typically returns results the same day the sample is received. Dr. Cindy Holland, the director, is an excellent, available source of advice on TBD diagnostics." ProtaTek contact information: Protatek Reference Laboratory 574 East Alamo Street, Suite 90 Chandler, AZ 85225 Telephone: 480.545.8499 Fax: 480.545.8409 Cynthia J. Holland, Ph.D., Director Patrice |
| Patrice New York State |
| Wendy. I am so sorry that TC has been diagnosed. It sounds like he was possibly removed from the drugs too early? We all hate having to give our dogs these awful cocktails but hopefully TC will be a success story someday too. I am glad you found Joanne's site. It is bad enough to get a diagnosis of something you have never heard of but if you had no where to go to learn and talk about it, that would be just awful. Hang in there and don't beat yourelf up too much. We all believed the "Doctor" knew best prior to educating ourselves. You will be TC's voice so don't be afraid to challenge your Vets if you don't agree with something. I was lucky with my ER Vets being very open to my input. Penny |
| Penny Lytle Creek Calif |
| Thank you for your replies,Patrice my vet did do a tick titer this time around b/c he orignally thought it could be Erichliiosis(sp)test was negative, but I will check out the website. From reading up on IMHA it seems Erichliosis could be a cause of IMHA, one of many, again according to what I have read there is no proof. TC is doing better, wanting to go for a walk which I keep very short, 1 suburb block as I don't want to tax him. I don't know if anyone else has noticed but his bark has changed...he had a deep deep scary bark, now it is very high pitched... He was on 80 2x day of the pred, we have reduced to 402x day, bloodwork tomorrow! |
| Wendy Tampa FL |
| your best bet is to continue with the alopathic and homeopathic treatments. Other pet owners have seen adverse effects from heartguard and vaccinations. There is much controversy about vaccinating adult dogs, especially seniors. You have the right to tell your vet you no longer feel the need to vaccinate or heartguard TC. Many vets do not discuss possible side effects of treatments with pet owners. There is clearly not enough dialogue between vets and patients. I think they are all so busy that quality time is not spent. Also, many (for whatever reason) minimize side effects of certain treatments. Not all dogs are the same and many are sensitive to chemicals used/ingredients in the treatments, just as are people. It sounds as if one or the other or both were catalysts in the recurrence of the AIHA. Watch the reduction of pred also. If you are reducing 50% that may be a bit much too soon. 25% reduction every 2-4 weeks is usually the protocol. Best to you and TC. |
| jan philly |
| good luck to TC and you, about his bark changing...yup, same with my dog sway... her bark was deep and now its really shallow and soft, its just another example of there weak state due to the disease and the med side effects... i would assume it will normalize when the dog does |
| josh cali |
| Wendy, I also belong to an email group called Tick-L that has a vet and several experts on it. There are often very extensive conversations about all matter of tick diseases. Yes, in a nutshell, there are some tick diseases that are very serious and can cause anemia and also decreased platelets. You are living where there are a number of serious tick diseases, more than we have to deal with in Western NYS. Your dog may have had a tick on it and you would never have seen it. The Snap4dx DOES NOT test for all tick diseases and might not be sufficient to test for all tbd in your area. Some canines have the ability to "fight off" certain tick disease but there can be a relapse if their immune system becomes compromised in some way. What I recognize in your description of his problems in Jan 2007 is that the vet seemed to treat for a tick disease (doxycycline IS the treatment of choice) but not long enough and maybe not at a high enough dose to completely eradicate the tick disease. The disease could have been suppressed since then and when you administered the vaccinations and heartworm the immune system could no longer fight the battle. I am not an expert. I do recommend that you either read some of the Tick-L archives or join the group. You can post a general history and the current status of your dog. Then you can get some appropriate feedback about this. If Dr. Beckett is available, he will always respond to owners who may be newly diagnosed. They will all want to know what tbd tests were done and what the results were. You will find everyone pleasant and helpful on this list. Everyone is too busy trying to save canine lives to worry about flaming! Go to this website: http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/ticklinks.htm And look for this: Managing your TICK-L subscription options, etc. Subscribe, sign off, change options, or search the list archives from the TICK-L home page Click on managing your TICK-L etc. and it will take you to where you can join the list. Good luck, Patrice |
| Patrice New York State |
This thread was discussed on 11/10/2007
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