Ashki – new thread – Page 2 – Second Chance AIHA Dogs

Keymaster

Hi Tamara

Yippeeeeee for the retics doubling – hope Ashki’s having a lovely well deserved sleep. I love to hear when they’re eating well – it means so much to us that they have an appetite!

Worzel was totally emaciated, Tamara. He had been on the pred for so long before becoming regenerative. He did not eat at the start either, virtually nothing actually. My heart was breaking. It was very worrying because greyhounds have virtually no fat at all – they are all muscle. The description of Ashki’s head is identical – hollows above the eyes. His jaw muscles had gone too and the glands in his neck looked huge because of this. Most of all, we were concerned about his heart which is one big muscle (he has MVP too) & decided to do the scary reduction. And he was 12 years old at least. I won’t pretend it was easy – I was terrified of a relapse & he suffered big time from withdrawal symptoms, but we got there in the end. Forgive me if I have repeated myself, but apart from the interminable waiting for retics, this was a very stressful part of the process & goes against all the things I would tell other people to do because the form of his disease was rather different & more rare (retics being produced but then destroyed in the bone marrow before release). The difference with Worzel was that we KNEW for sure that the azathioprine had done it’s job (in effect, it was the “cure”) & he had no haemolysis at all when we went for the 50% reduction. I have Patrice to thank for keeping me sane during this time as she went through a similar scenario with her dog Chance. Ashki is not the same as Worzel because of the haemolysis aspect, so that’s the only reason I cannot “advise” you to do the same without Dr Dodds agreement. It is not something I would advise anyone to do without clear clinical reasons. My gut instinct is not to take it too fast with Ashki as his PCV is not yet stable, but I’m not a vet – just a cautious person from things that I’ve seen happen before. Ideally, a few good results would be better BUT you always have to trust Jean Dodds’s judgement – I know for certain she would always give the best advice & she never gives up. I’m sorry not be be more certain of what you should do – nothing is easy with this disease & there is never enough research available for every scenario. Please be thankful for the great retics results – I was – it meant the world to us & it is great news for Ashki! Let’s see what the latest bloods are like – crossing everything for good results.

I re-live the angst I went through with every one of you on here when your dogs are ill & I promise that I think of you all the time. Keep doing what you do so incredibly well – looking after your beautiful boy. I know you’ll never stop giving him the love & care he needs & will do everything you can for him – and he knows that, Tamara, that’s why Ashki is fighting so hard.

Loads of love Sheena, Worzel & Ollie xxx

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