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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - Thoughts? Advice? May be nonregenerative...
| Hi there. I have lurked here for weeks and also at Meisha's Hope, but this is my first time posting. My 7 year old Maltese was diagnosed with AIHA on August 2nd. That day her PCV was 24 with almost no reticulocytes, the next day it was 11 so they transfused her which brought her up to a PCV of 29. I was taking her to the vet everyday for blood draws and her PCV was dropping very slowly. On Aug 17 her PCV was a 21. When I took her back on the 19th, it had gone up to a 24 and her retic count was 94,000, the most she ever showed since she was diagnosed. I took her back a week later on the 26th and her PCV was 21 and her retics had dropped down to 65000. I know 60,000 is nonregenerative. She is on 15 mg Cyclosporine twice a day, 10mg pred twice a day, doxycycline, and 6.45 mg azathioprine once a day, along with pet tinic and pepcid. She weighs 7 pounds. Can someone offer any thoughts and/or advice? My vet is awesome - she has treated several dogs with this but they have all responded postively. She is at a loss with BeBe. We have talked about reducing the azi, but she's not too sure she wants to take the risk. I guess what I'm asking is, what do you do for a dog that is nonregenerative? The good thing BeBe has going for her is this all came on very slowly, she has a great appetite, no stomach issues, and still barks at the doorbell and our cats, interacts with our Jack Russell, goes up the stairs, etc. - she just is very tired and has the fast breathing, which I'm sure is from the pred, along with lack of oxygen. I just don't want to throw in the towel yet, and neither does our vet. She is researching as am I. Any advice would be very much appreciated! Thanks! Stanna |
| Stanna Grand Prairie |
| Stanna, We were in a similar situation about a moth after my poodle was diagnosed. At that point I had heard about Dr. Dodds of hemopet and asked my vet to contact her for a consultation. Dr. Dodds gave us a lot of advice and my dog made a turn around shortly there after. It sounds like your vet is very interested in learning more, I think you all would profit by contacting Dr. Dodds! She would need all the latest test results and a list of the medications given. You can contact her by e-mail or phone, all contact info is on her website: hemopet.org Best wishes, Brigitte |
| Brigitte BC |
| Brigitte, I have heard dr. Dodds mentioned a million time since I have been researching. I do think I will have my vet call her - does she have a consultation fee? |
| Stanna Grand Prairie |
| Stanna, When we consulted with her I don't think there was a fee, if there was, it was very cheap, under $50. when you send blood for testing to her a consultation and follow up is included. I know you will not regret getting her input. best wishes, Brigitte |
| Brigitte BC |
| Stanna, My dog had a very severe case of non-regenerative anemia and he survived with Dr. Dodds help. Your test results are indicative of the very low regeneration that makes this non-regenerative. With any anemia at all, the body should respond with high reticulocyte counts. When it does not, there is a reason. There can be several reasons and your vet may want to do tests like a bone marrow biopsy to obtain more information. However, Dr. Dodds has found, and I have found several other authoritative sources, that more dogs are now developing autoimmune destruction of the precursor cells in the bone marrow. This was the case with my dog. So thus, the only result from his bone marrow biopsy was that there were "no cells." Searching out a cause for this would not necessarily result in a solid treatment protocol. The immune system can sometimes be triggered to behave very abnormally without a specific reason, but perhaps more a cluster of reasons. Dr. Dodds urged me to begin a treatment protocol that she has found effective for bone marrow failure of autoimmune causes. After months of no results and multiple transfusions, this treatment began to show positive movement in the reticulocytes within 3 weeks and eventually there was a complete recovery. So if you understand me correctly, this treatment is begun with the assumption that there is bone marrow failure, not identifiable test results. If you will email me today I will send you the protocol so you can look at it. Some vets are very eager to work with Jean Dodds, others are resolute that they will not. my best, patrice |
| Patrice NYS |
| Patrice, I just emailed you. Thanks! |
| Stanna Grand Prairie |
| Hi Stanna, I don't know if you saw my posts on Lola's case but she was originally diagnosed with non-regenerative anemia as well as low platelets. I didn't read any responses prior except for your original post so my apologies if i repeat anything.. Lola's diagnosis was july 14th, and since then, she is showing regeneration and has lot of platelets..lola's medicine regimen is thyroxine, prednisone, clavamox, sucralfate and pepcid for tummy protection, cyclosporine, pet tinic, forti flora (a probiotic powder we sprinkle in her food) and we took her off of doxycycline after 30 days of use. She is newly on two herbal medicines that seem to really be helping with her blood counts as well..we also give her milk thistle drops to protect her liver. if you are not giving your pup a thyroid supplement (thyroxine or others such as that) definitely look into it..i had to argue with my vets to give it to lola and i fully believe that it helped save her.. every dog is different and while this helped lola, bebe may need a different regimen...also, bebe differs from the cases that your vets have seen as well! at the end of the day, you know what is best for your baby..just don't give up! our thoughts are with you. christina and lola |
| christina new jersey |
| Thanks for your input, Christina. What herbal meds is Lola on? I'm going to ask my vet tomorrow about the thyroid med as well. I hate this disease. Stanna |
| Stanna Grand Prairie |
This thread was discussed between 28/08/2011 and 29/08/2011
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