Abby, the Shih Tzu

[admin]

Hiya Cindy – no worries! I got the resends – only problem is I can’t read it at all. Writing is diabolical & it goes off the edge. When I enlarge it, it just goes blurry. Could you just type what they’ve written by hand please? Did you get my e-mail OK with Dr Dodds stuff?

Had a look at the photos (I have ways!). Linda rightly suggested a possible blood draw injury – it does look like a bruise though. Do you know where the blood was taken from, Cindy? I would strongly recommend they take blood from the leg, rather than the neck, with a low platelet problem. It certainly looks like a bruise to me – she will bruise very, very easily. Please could you check her gums & her eyes – make sure there are no pinpoint type little red marks. And give her a gentle look over again. If there is nothing else, I think she’ll be OK until tomorrow, but if you are worried about anything else, just take her in to the vets to be on the safe side. If there is any bleeding from eyes, nose, mouth or gums, then that is a real emergency – straight in you go.

I would really love to see that latest test with the PCV of 19 – mainly to see the platelets – I’m sure they will give you a copy if you ask – or maybe you could phone them & ask right now? Basically if platelets are about 50 or below, that is dangerous. The test on the 14th was up to 70 though, which is still not ideal, but better. Don’t forget platelets can easily be transfused, so again nothing to panic about.

Let me know as soon as you can – I will be in bed with my tablet thingy (so forgive the rubbish typing) waiting for you to reply – don’t worry – it’s biscuit time again, so you’re not keeping me up! The boys are quite happy being spoiled.

Love Sheena xxxxx

[Cindy]

I’m not sure where the blood was drawn from, they usually take her from me and do that in the back room. I forget to answer the question regarding the Tick test, we did have that done and came back negative. Below the blood test results on the 11th in type reads “Neutrophilia, Anemia, Thrombocytopenia”. The vet wrote “small – adequate platelets – very large”. Below the blood test results on the 14th in type reads “Leukocytosis, Neutrophilia, Anemia, Thrombocytopenia”. No note from vet on this test. I just called the emergency clinic where they just wrote on our bill 19%. I asked if they could give me the platelet count and she said of course. She was going to pull file and call me back. I will post the number as soon as I get it. Hope this all helps

[Cindy]

Sheena, looking on the bloodword and the PLT from the 14th is 54, not 70…am I look at the wrong abbreviation ?

[Cindy]

excuse my typing as well, I am typing on a nook thingy and I get spaces, won’t pick up on the ending of words…like look, instead of looking….spelling is horrible, it does not have spell check, but it seems like you all can understand what I’m saying :-) .

[Brigitte]

Cindy, I just want to give you a heads up, that you will not hear from Sheena for a couple of hours, she will be sleeping! She is in France and it is the middle of the night there. I know she will contact you as soon as she is up. I am no use looking at the lab results. All I can say is what is pretty obvious.
As for them taking Abby to the back, if you feel more comfortable, ask nicely if you could hold her, you would be an extra set of hands. I always wanted to be there and they had no problem with that, I felt my dog was more at ease. But then everybody is different, some people can’t stand seeing the needles and some dogs are just fine without you. You be the judge:)
Best wishes,
Brigitte

[Cindy]

Good advice, I will certainly ask to go back next time. Thank you so much Brigitte

[Vally]

I find, especially on hair dogs that they need to shave the area where they’re taking blood. At the specialists they always take blood from the neck and if he hasn’t been for a while, they shave a bit of hair off. Also Bingo comes back wet and smelly from the alcohol (or whatever they use to disinfect. His neck is usually quite wet.

She’s a beautiful girl.

Vally & Bingo
xxx

[admin]

Morning Cindy

Sorry – yes I went to sleep! You are right & I am wrong – my mistake – the 14th test was 54, not 70 – skelly eyes here looked at the next one down – apologies – good job YOU are awake!

Thanks for the info on the written bit – I am very happy to see “platelets adequate”. Sometimes the readings from the machine are not exactly right – there are reasons for this such as platelet clumping & abnormal sized platelets (too big or too small), so the machine doesn’t recognise them properly. What they have done is a manual check on a slide – exactly what should be done – and seen what is going on properly. Again, good vets. This can also happen with red cells as the baby red cells are much bigger than the fully developed adult ones. I’d still like to be sure about the results from the 19th when you get a chance. I would also be very grateful if they could do a reticulocyte count – it gives us a good idea of how Abby is responding on producing baby red cells.

I was having a look round last night through some info – found something that could be interesting here
http://www.2ndchance.info/dxme-Platelets.htm
At the bottom of why your dogs platelets could be low, this lovely vet says he has seen something similar to this after leptospirosis containing vaccines have been given. Has Abby had any vaccinations recently? Vaccinations are a known trigger of IMHA/Evans.

I agree with Brigitte & Vally – I always held Worzel while they took the blood – he was relaxed with me there & stressing them doesn’t give good results. We ALWAYS used his neck as recommended by my specialist as the results are considered more accurate, BUT leave the decision with your vets because if there is any risk, they prefer to use the leg. That means shaving. They never shaved Worzel’s neck, but he has very short hair. The alcohol or whatever they use before the needle is to make sure they don’t infect them taking blood. The main point is to use the same point for the blood taking, so the results can be compared properly.

I saw you mentioned PCV/TS 19%/6.8 – I think the TS should actually be TP = Total Protein. This is done partly to check the accuracy of the PCV as it indicated how hydrated or dehydrated they are as this makes a difference of a few points sometimes. Total protein range should be about 5.0-7.4, so Abby’s figure is fine.
(see http://www.2ndchance.info/dxme-TotalProt.htm)

So, hoping all goes well today & you see another improvement in her results – please send them to us as soon as you can. I am thrilled that Linda & you have got together – she is the most lovely person & has become a very close friend – she has a heart of pure gold. Abby couldn’t be in better hands than yours & hers, Cindy. You are doing such a great job getting your head around this stuff – it is not easy. It took me quite a while to really understand things fully & I am lucky enough to have a medical background. I learn something new every day!

Sending huge hugs (gentle though!) to Abby & you
Love, Sheena & the boys xxxxx