Canine Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA & IMHA) - We found the cause of Pete's AIHA!

I got the name of Dr Meg Baho from somebody on this site, and THANK YOU!! after a plethora of vets that just gave pred and gave pred, Dr Baho did her once over and decided that, being from a tropical area, Pete needed to be checked for infectious disease. She didn't expect to find anything as Pete has been on immune-suppressants for a year and half. But sure enough she found Ehrlichia- An organism that attaches itself to blood cells, thus encouraging the immune system to attack them. This is common in the tropics, and much less common in the US, but does exist. i had a great vet that originally diagnosed pete, but he didn't check for this, and i don't this it is the norm to do so. But worth it if there is any chance! Now, Pete gets a high does of antibiotics for a month, and then should be parasite free, and IMHA free!!! It will be so nice to never worry about bruising bellies and white gums again! http://www.petplace.com/dogs/ehrlichiosis-in-dogs/page1.aspx

ellen st paul

Ellen, I am so sorry you have gone through this difficulty getting this diagnosed. I am amazed that Pete survived this long while on immunosuppressants, as that suppresses his bodies natural defense mechanism against tick diseases. I have belonged to a tick discussion group for about 4 years now. One thing I can say for sure, tick diseases are actually in epidemic proportions in the US and many vets are not aware of that. I have a dear friend who lives in Long Island. She became very sick and they could not find a diagnosis. She finally lost her job and it was years before they diagnosed Lyme disease. She now lives in constant pain and is very disabled. Recently there has been research aimed at connecting the spread of diagnosed MS with Lyme disease and the results are stunning, MS may in reality be Lyme disease.... undiagnosed. I can't tell you how many times I have read a new member posting to Tick-L list for help with their extremely sick dog and they think it might be a tick disease, but their vet said that couldn't be possible! Owners often struggle with their vet to get testing, or have to change vets to get testing! The next problem is that many vets are too conservative with their dosage and treatment duration of doxycycline and the tick disease is only smoldered, not eradicated completely. It reappears later, more virulent and deadly. Here is a wonderful resource for tick diseases around the world: http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/ticklinks.htm On this page is a link on how to join the Tick-L discussion group. http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/tick-l.html This group is hosted and monitored by real experts, including a resident vet, who are there 24 hours a day to answer questions and help owners around the world with tick diseases. One moderator of this group, Gil Ash, has a wonderful website and she has done extensive research to compile the single best resource for all tick diseases. http://blackgsd.googlepages.com/home Gil had a wonderful GSD named Thunder and lost her beautiful dog to a tick disease that went undiagnosed. She is dedicated to helping spread understanding of these diseases. I recommend you join this group, even if only for the duration of treatment, so you will know you have used the proper dosage and duration to completely eliminate this tick disease. Please don't hesitate to write me if you need more help. I hope Pete is feeling better soon! my best patrice

Patrice NYS

Patrice, Out of curiosity, what is the test for tick disease, andhow much does it cost? Are vets not doing this simply because of cost, or is it as easy as a blood draw and send it off to the lab? Which test should we be asking for? My vet is convinced that there is relatively no tick disease here in Utah, but I've certainly seen many ticks here, even in my own yard! Tiggs did go on Doxy for 21 days early on in his IMHA, but I don't believe he was ever tested for tick disease. melissa and tiggs

melissa slc

That is good news for Pete to find this, Is Pete on Doxycyclene now? Melissa, when Wylie was first diagnosed, she was immediately put on doxy due to possible tick disease. She had the inhouse tick panel, which was about $50 that covers heartworm and I think 2 common tick diseases, and that came be back negative. My vet wanted a full tick panel to be sure there wasn't another tick disease involved. I think he was looking for for somehting like Erlichia which Pete has. The test was about $200-$250, I live in Calif and it had to be sent to someplace like Michigan and took a week. That test came back positive for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which my vet was perplexed and said we don't have in RMSF this area and was asking if I ever traveled with her or if wwe had people visiting. Her titers werent real high so he didn't know if this was something she picked up a long time ago and was just there or not. Laurie

Laurie CA

Melissa, I am sure Patrice will answer your question when she comes onboard, but I thought I would mention that the test we do on on Maddie (and other dogs we have had) is described at this URL http://www.idexx.com/animalhealth/testkits/4dx/ we do this test on a regular basis and Maddie (non AIHA/IMHA dog) is scheduled for her next one in April. Since Maddie always needs a number of other blood tests for some of the issues in her life, we always get to our vet about a half an hour before the appointment so we can have blood drawn for these tests. Just a little extra is taken for this one. By the time we see our vet he has the result of this test since he has the equipment to do it "inhouse". The last time we had the test done, the cost was about $40.

Joanne MN

Thanks. According to the little map on the Snap page, there were 0 cases of Elichia, Lyme, and Anaplasma in Salt Lake County, and only 3 cases reported state wide...should I still get Tiggs tested?

melissa slc

Yes, Joanne, you are correct. The Idexx Snap4 DX is the best "in-house" diagnostic test that can be done instantly. It tests for heartworm, Lyme, anaplasma phagocytophilum and ehrlichiosis. It shouldn't be very expensive. I actually have it done as a routine test two times a year. Many folks who live in highly tick infested areas do it more often. It is a "yes or no" test. It either indicates disease or not. Testing for the other tick diseases, the best lab in the US is Protatek. They test for tick diseases specific to different regions (like Rocky Mountain Spotted for instance). They also do more complex testing that show levels of titers for tick disease exposure (as opposed to Snap4 DX's yes or no). This is helpful when a dog is in treatment for a tick disease and you want to determine if the treatment has successfully cleared the body of the disease. Here is Tom Beckett's information from Tick-L: "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 Tom Beckett, DVM Austin, Texas" I know that Dr. Holland will take calls from vets who need to know what tests to run for their area or the condition of the dog. She is an excellent diagnostician. I have even talked with her on the phone! Melissa, the problem with the maps is that they are made up from "reported" cases. Since many vets (or human doctors for that matter) don't think to test for tick diseases there are many undiagnosed cases in the US. So it will go under-reported. If you see ticks in your area, call you local health department and see if they can tell you what tick diseases are in your area. I talked with the Warren Cnty Health Dept last year while we were in Lake George staying at the family home. Mark found two ticks on him while clearing brush in the woods. The local health folks are frustrated. They know that tick disease is very prevalent in this eastern NYS area, but they have a hard time getting money to do outreach programs to inform the public. They have literature, but it just doesn't get to the public. Areas like Long Island are just waking up to the fact that there are many thousands of cases every year and that people (and dogs) are getting sick. Consider this: our winters have become milder over the years. This extends the season that ticks are actively seeking hosts in places where they were normally dormant over the winter. In normally mild areas, the ticks are active year round. This has shown up on maps as a growing "cancer" of disease contraction. Many ticks now carry more than one disease. Ticks in the nymph stage are no larger than the period on this sentence (.) They can transmit disease in the spring. Finding a tick like this on you or your dog is nearly impossible. While humans often get a bulls eye rash, dogs rarely have one. The most common symptom in dogs is lameness. This can be brushed off as joint problems, too active a walk etc. Ehrlichiosis is a particularly nasty disease as it can have stages. The early stage may show illness, but this can subside and there can be a period where there seem to be no symptoms. But when it finally overcomes the immune system's attempts to destroy it, it returns with a vengeance. I have developed a wariness about these diseases from the four years I have been on Tick-L. patrice

Patrice NYS

This really got my wheels turning..... we were in Arkansas last summer. Kahlu was protected with revolution, but who knows. I will definitely se if we can run some tests for these nasty bugs. Brigitte

Brigitte BC Canada

Just got back from the vet. Since we took blood for a CBC anyway, I asked about testing for tick disease. It cost me $ 170 Canadian and I will find out next week. Not cheap, but then I have a little peace of mind. They will check for Ehrlichiosis, babesiosis and Rocky Mountain spotted. Kahlu has been immunized last summer for Lyme. I will keep you posted. Brigitte

Brigitte BC Canada

Brigette, We have discussed the lyme vaccine numerous times on Tick-L. It is not without problems. I won't detail them here, if you wish to read about this go to this website and scroll down about a 1/4 page. Look on the right side for a bar titled The Lyme Vaccine. http://blackgsd.googlepages.com/lymedisease patrice

Patrice NYS

Patrice, it gets scarier the further I get into this..... i used to just blindly trust my vet. So I had kahlu immunized after I found a tick on him. I am glad I changed vets, at least the ones I am with now are a more open minded. When I mentioned ticks today, the vet asked if Kahlu got in contact with sandflies. You know where that leads, right? Leishmaniasis....like I said, the further I get into this the scarier it gets. Although I think that this would present itself differently. Cross your fingers, that we have a good CBC result tomorrow! Brigitte

Brigitte BC Canada

I am so glad that Pete's diagnosis at least got people thinking about doing this. It was the snap4 test that my vet did, it was in house and about 100 bucks. worth every penny, and i will always have this done with pete's blood work periodically for the rest of her life now. the vet that first diagnosed Pete didn't do a check for any tick diseases because he thought that the time since she was in an area with ticks was too long- it had been about 3 months since we were in montana, where lime disease does exist, and about 9 months since we got here from south america- where this parasite did come from..... and here we see it over 2 years later. I hope you get new insight into keeping your pooch healthy. ellen and Pete

ellen st paul

Ehrlichia is certainly a NASTY thing for your dog to have. Please do not forget about it once the treatment is finished. It may come back to haunt you as it has us. Some day I hope to be able to post about the troubles we had with our Lilly & AIHA. She was diagnosed on Jan 27th & passed on Feb 11th. We are of the belief that it was because she had Lyme & Ehrlichia that she developed AIHA. She was diagnosed in 2006 w/the TBD. After each heat cycle (she wasn't regular) she would become anemic. She was always treated w/ doxy & an antibiotic just in case. she always recovered. The symptoms were the same this time but they only gave her 10 days of doxy & meds along with the diag. of AIHA this time. It is hard to say but we feel if she would have been kept on the doxy maybe things would have been different. The vet convinced us that it wouldn't help. We now have a new vet. You can't always trust the SNAP tests either. They do catch more than they miss so they are better than nothing. Our friends dogs were tested & six weeks later they did the full panel & found lyme, ehrlichia, rocky mountain spotted fever and babesia. Mind you they were spread btw 4 dogs but...The people even were tested & found they were also infected, he with RMSF & she with Ehrlichia. Lilly had the Lyme shot & was one tick preventative and checked religiously each time we brought her in from the field. Good luck with all of your dogs. I always check back and smile at the godd news & cry with each of you when it isn't so good.

Ann WI

Where can I find the map on the IDEXX site?

Ann WI

Found it :)

Ann WI

I need a tick specialist in the San Jose, San Francisco Bay Area. My 1 1/2 old Airedale Terrier, Tuscan, almost died on March 2nd. He had 3 blood transfusions and the Vet thinks he has IMHA because the taqman dna tests came back negative from UC Davis. I've read on the internet that the most/only reliable test for TBD is the IFA test and I've sent Tuscan's blood to the Protatek Lab in Chandler, AZ. What I need help understanding is how the two diseases work with each other; what comes first the tbd that mimics imha? or does the tbd actually cause the dog to now have imha plus the tbd. If the tbd is treated will the imha go away?

Tina Sunnyvale

Tina, Search this website for information about your question about tbd: http://blackgsd.googlepages.com/home This webpage will explain to you how to join Tick-L, a email forum for dog owners looking for help in understanding tick diseases, symptoms, testing and treatment. There is a resident vet who can answer questions as well. http://saluqi.home.netcom.com/ticklinks.htm Managing your TICK-L subscription options, etc. Subscribe, sign off, change options, or search the list archives from the TICK-L home page patrice

Patrice NYS

I need your help. I need a Vet that will work with me on treating my dog for TBD. My Vet has diagnosed with IMHA and I feel it is really a TBD. He was bit by a tick when four months old and the site became infected I took him to my breeder's Vet that is 2 hours drive away and she gave him anitbiotic. She told me that if "anything ever happened to him when he got older" to tell the Vet he had been bit by a tick. He exihibits all the signs of Babesia, I can say this after reading everything I can on TBD on the internet. He (Tuscan) had 3 blood transfusions, is currently on Cyclosporine, Imuran and Prednisone. His last blood panel was good, his pcv was 35 and the Vet reduced his meds and told me to stop the antibiotics. He was on doxycycline and antirobe. When I stopped the antibiotics I noticed the discharge from his right eye came back and moved to his left eys as well as his limp or lameness seeemd more pronounced. The Vet I am working with at Adobe Animal Hospital in Los Altos, CA - Sharon Zweiter said that he does not have a TBD he has IMHA and she is treating for IMHA and will not renew prescription for antibiotics. She said I could see another doctor if I liked. I need to know if any of you could please refer me to a doctor near me or know of a place I could search for a Veterinarian that is an internal specialist with a Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) degree/title.

Tina Sunnyvale

This thread was discussed between 06/03/2009 and 06/04/2009

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