Blood counts dropping despite meds

Keymaster

Karen,
I am very sad to read about Georgia. I know you must be worried about what is going to happen.

Please don’t do a bone marrow biopsy. There are a number of reasons right now why that should be put off. We have been helping owners for 12 years and I can’t believe how many vets believe this will resolve the problem.

This is what Chance had, you can find his story under Our Stories on the menu above rh the forum.

This does sound like it could be bone marrow failure which is actually common in dogs. They have stopped making blood cells. There are only a few reasons for this. I can go over them in detail for you later today.

The bone marrow biopsy will tell us what we already know, he’s not making RBC, but knowing this will not improve or change the treatment protocol she should be on! It is quite common in veterinary medicine to try a treatment before spending a fortune in diagnostics and see if it helps. If it begins to work, we know that we were right.

As you have read Chance’s story you know I went through the same things but at that time 2007 there was not much help on the internet. I was pretty much alone as the specialist was as confused as your vet’s are. I connected with Dr. Dodds and used her protocol. My vets were delighted to work with her.

We gave a great deal of Dr. Dodds information on our site. I would first like you to read her protocol, that I and many others have used to treat bone marrow failure. On this page
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/hemopetresources
Look for the second picture and open this, it will come up in a box, click upper right hand arrow to open in a tab that you can print and save.
Immune mediated hematologic disease and bone marrow failure.

Save your money now for future needs like transfusions, blood tests and medication.

We will be explaining more to you. Please have great hope that you will succeed. I have seen this many times and know that it is possible.

Try to be cheerful around Georgia, she reads your emotions and will think she has done something wrong. Be strong for her, you have our support and we can explain things to you in a way you will understand. Some of this is difficult but we try to make it easier.

The most important thing now is that we would like to see you make your decisions based on knowledge not on emotions and fears.

They have overdone the expenses to you in a way I find objectionable. The treatment is the critical part. Again please don’t let them talk you into a bone marrow biopsy right now. I will explain in detail later.
My best Patrice

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Patrice

Keymaster

Karen,
If you have read Chance’s story you will see that he was seen by the specialist early in the year but he was not responding to just prednisone as late as July. The specialist had upped the dose which really made him very sick and he finally told me there wasn’t much more he could do for chance. I first contacted Dr Dodds after this, we were considering compassionate euthanasia. She immediately requested I put him on her protocol. My vets were delighted to be collaborating with her and were pleasantly surprised when it worked so well.

What is the difference? It is because most likely the autoimmune attack is occurring deep in Georgia s bone marrow, at the level of precursor cells, a very difficult place to treat. Dr Dodds knew this in 2007, long before any vets understood this. Why is this protocol different than what you have been doing it?

She doses cyclosporine (Atopica) at higher doses and pulse doses. This hard hitting dosing protocol completely saturates body tissues and reaches deep into the bone marrow. The pulse dosing (m-f, ss off) she gets from herbalists who understand that this short break prevents the body from getting used to the drug and not responding to it over time. (Cyclosporine is a fungus) She cycles like this for 3-4weeks until dogs begin to respond. In her protocol you see she mentions for protracted cases (not responding to treatment) ,adding azathioprine will further jump start the attack on the highly overactive T-cell lymphocytes that are destroying the very early stages of cell development in the marrow. And no, doing a bone marrow biopsy won’t tell us anymore than we already know. I could show you a breakdown of which cell lines are being attacked now. It is that common in dogs.

Georgia body has become “used” to the cyclosporine and probably needs to have the aza added. I know Dr Dodds could advise you better than I can. You can request a second opinion from her and she will jump at the chance to help you. See the Hemopet Resources under Second Chance Resources and click on Owner Consultation. You can fill out the form on line. Do you have all copies of blood tests? I would like to see them and so would Dr. Dodds.

Vally has actually used this form more recently and knows a trick to get all tests sent to Dr Dodds.

Chance reached a point after months when he too was totally drained and exhausted from the anemia. The prednisone had elevated his liver values extremely high and it was painful for him. I know the disinterest you mention. I can never forget how Chance was. It is because of his pain and my grief that I promised him I would never let another owner go through that grief alone.

So here we are, you are desperate and frightened to do the wrong things. But your knowledge base is pretty skimpy and it’s very hard to make your own rational decisions when the vets are urging you to spend all this money.

Vets, especially those who work in universities, like to collect data, possibly so they can publish. But also because they are also very curious, especially if they are seeing something like this for the first time. They are attempting to figure it out, when Dr Dodds had nailed this 25 years ago.

She truly cares about each dog that develops this and that is the true miracle. Vally and I, plus many hundreds of others, consider her our guardian angel. She has saved dogs that were at deaths door. This is our 12th year on line, check out the photos of all the dogs we have helped in the slides how on the right side of the forum.

I have faith that you will succeed in saving her. She is very resilient. You are very tenacious. Good match.
My best Patrice

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