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Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - update on my GSD, Popeye
| Hello everyone, Just wanted to report that my "Pop" is doing much better. He went to vet on Thursday. His PCV was 44! His Prednisone was cut to 5mg. 2x day. He is still taking the Denosyl 225mg. 1x and 1 tbsp. of Lixotinic -2x day. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but his dramatic improvement seemed to come when vet added the Denosyl, so I thought I'd put a link here in case anyone else wants to discuss this with their vet. http://www.nutramaxlabs.com/products/animal/liver/documents/DENOSYLCLIENTBROCHURE.pdf Here is vit. supplement he is on: http://www.pfizerah.com/PAHimages/compliance_pdfs/US_EN_LY_compliance.pdf My vet has now eliminated other possible causes and has decided it was definately the vaccinations. He says that there is a chance he could relapse, and if so it would probably come back worse and he would probably not be able to recover from it again. We are praying that does not happen. Like I mentioned in a previous post, This is not our first dog that has been touched with this. The other one was never diagnosed properly and died. That was about 8-9 years ago...maybe the vets, schools and drug companies did not officially accept the over-vaccination problems at that time. I vividly remember that situation and it was exactly the same as what we have now. (vaccinations, timing and symptoms).The only difference is they did not call it AIHA, the Prednisone treatment was short and dog had to be put down a few weeks after that. I am convinced that a MAJORITY of the AIHA cases are vaccine (or Heartworm med) related. Many people are going to accept what their vets tell them. And if the vets tell them it's something other than AIHA or even tell them the AIHA was caused by some other thing besides the vaccs., most people will trust and believe their vet. The vets went to school and it is just assumed they know what they are talking about. And many of them do. The problem is similar to the problems that we humans face with our MD's. How many of you have ever been to the doctor and had to wait because the Pharmo-reps are selling their product to the doctor? Most docs and vets probably don't have the time to keep up with the latest studies or research on a particular medicine. They rely heavily on the info provided them by the drug manufacturers. Why would a vet be inclined to raise a suspicion about a product they administer routinely and earn their living off of? DVMs and MDs are running a business - for PROFIT. I am not saying they are all liars or that they do not care about our animals. I am sure most of them do care deeply and approach this type of illness with the best of intentions and education. I am saying that they have been inappropriately influenced by information fed to them by pharmaceutical company funded studies. I was talking to my vet BEFORE our AIHA episode. (this was actually at the time of giving the vaccinations) We live in Texas, so we have fleas. He told me to "call him next month" because there was a new product for flea control being released. I believe he said it was by Pfizer. A pill you give the dog and the fleas start falling off dead in 10 minutes. He seemed very excited about this...couldn't wait for us to try it. I know that I will pick fleas off my dogs one at a time if I have to. I will not go near that pill! I may even give the frogs a chance to thrive and never spray my yard again either. And if my dog should relapse into that near death state again, I have decided to do a daily video diary of his condition and put it out there on youtube to inform other pet owners of the risks they are taking by over-vaccinationing their animals. This is not that "rare occuring" reaction. I don't see anything rare about it. It seems to me it's way more common than the "powers that be" know or admit. My vet (my friend) told me it usually occurs in purebred dogs and that he personally has never seen this in a "mutt" dog . Perhaps that is true. Both of the affected ones of mine are/were purebreds. How do we know what type of dogs the studies are done on? Or how big are these studies? WE don't. Okay, I guess my rant is over for now. I am not trying to offend anyone. Hope I didn't - I'm just really mad about this. |
| Allison TX |
| Excellent rant, Allison. I know what you mean about any drug, pesticide, etc. I don't use chemicals in the garden and even watch what I clean the kitchen floor with. Georgie had to be put to sleep because of the AIHI which was brought on by the vaccine. Nothing and nobody will persuade me it was anything else. It is great that Pop is doing well. Long may that contine. Steph |
| Steph Wales |
| Allison, Glad to hear Popeye is improving. I am suprised they are already cutting dosages though, if I understand he was diagnosed less than a month ago? We all hate giving the steroids but would hate to see a relapse which sometimes happens when the drug is taken away too soon. I agree 100% with your "rant" and I don't think anyone would be offended by it. It seems that certain breeds are more susceptible but mutts are well represented. I agree I don't think any of our Vets have recommended any product with malice they think they are doing the best for our pets it is up to us to learn as much as we can so we can get them to reconsider things. Penny |
| Penny Lytle Creek Calif |
| Allison: Glad that Popeye's doing much better. His PCV is something that Shadow and I aspire to. (Hers was 26.9 today, up from 26 after her last transfusion on Tuesday, and WAY up from the 12.3 it was before the transfusion. This is the first time, in the 3.5 weeks since she was diagnosed, that her PCV has gone up (except, of course, when she gets a transfusion.) Thanks for the link to denosyl. Shadow's having such a hard time, I'll check into it. I think your rant is wonderful. Two of the three vets (all in different towns in Utah) who have seen Shadow have told me the same thing: the incidence of AIHA seems to be increasing and it's becoming harder to treat. Her primary treating vet (who is not our regular vet; he's 180 miles away) told me to never ever give Shad another vaccination - and there's not a direct link between her AIHA and vaccinations (she had her last boosters five months before the onset of her AIHA). I think vets are in a hard place. They know it's in our dogs' best interest to be seen at least once a year. But, how do they get most "owners" to bring their dogs in? By prescribing yearly vaccinations. I wish they'd publicize the availability of titer tests more. That'd get our dogs in for an annual check up, without overvaccinating them. I guarantee you: I have let everyone that I know who has a dog know about this disease; about the anecdotal evidence linking it with vaccinations, heartworm and/or flea preventative; and the alternatives available and have begged them to pass it on to everyone that they know who has a dog. No loving, trusting dog should ever have to go through this and it's up to us (who had never heard of AIHA before our dogs and we began living the nightmare) to spread the word. Shadow's a genuine mutt, an original Heinz 57. So, mutts definitely do contract AIHA! (Maybe more mutt "owners" are less responsible than pure-bred "owners", and get them fewer vaccinations, which accounts for the lower incidence of AIHA in mutts? Just a thought.) Hope Pop continues to improve rapidly! Sandy |
| Sandy Utah |
This thread was discussed between 11/11/2007 and 13/11/2007
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