Camilla, AIHA-dog from Italy

[eleonora]

Hi ! My name’s Eleonora, i’m italian (so, sorry for my english) and i’ve a 3 and a half years old golden retriever named Camilla.

about 1 months and a half ago, Camilla started do be strange, very apathetic and lethargic. she’s always been a very quiet dog but one evening she did’t get up to eat so we took her immediately to the vet. it was friday evening (6 november). Blood tests showed a severe anemia, so she was immediately hospitalized, and she immediately started to take antibiotics (for the case of diseases tick) and prednisone in very high dose (for the case of autoimmune anemia). in the saturday morning the red blood cells were decreased. In the sunday morning the red blood cells were decreased again. she had only 1.8 of red blood cell and there was no response from the bone marrow. She had the mucous of the mouth of a very light pink color and the inside of the ears totally white. she looked like a ghost. the vet suggested that it could also be leucemia and she did her a blood transfusion. the following tuesday – after 96 hours from the beginning of therapy – suddenly the bone marrow has begun to produce red blood cells. in the meantime had arrived the results of other blood tests which were not tick diseases. Camilla was discharged from the clinic with the diagnosis of autoimmune anemia . for the first five weeks camilla took 6 tablets of prednisone 25 mg for day, divided between morning and evening and some supplements (stimulfoss and bloodder). now she is decreasing the dose, but she will continue to take prednisone until the end of january (decreasing the dose every two weeks). every 7-10 days we go to the vet to do a blood count control. she’s currently at 4.4 of red blood cells, her ears are back of a beautiful pink color and mucous of her mouth are red again, but she still looks a little apathetic and gets tired easily…….Can be the fault of prednisone? now she’s not lethargic but she still doesn’t want to play with the ball or run. After a month and a half of therapy she has an enlarged liver (the vet says it’s a side effect of high-dose prednisone because blood tests on liver and kidney function are perfect, except the phosphatase high because of prednisone) and we discovered that her heart contracts a little too loosely but according to the cardiologist is a consequence of anemia (however she is also taking a medicine for the heart [vetmedine]). Just this morning we had the control with the cardiologist and her heart was much better. Is there anyone here whose dog survived to the autoimmune anemia? what will happen in january when camilla will finish the therapy with prednisone? what i should expect for the future? she must take the prednisone forever? or make a periodic cicle of therapy? i don’t know why but here in italy i can’t find much information about this disease: in the italian golden retriever-forum no one can help me because no one has experience with the AIHA. most of the information that i have found comes from british or american sites…. i hope my camilla will survive to the AIHA …if you want say a little prayer for her. thank you a lot

[Vally]

Hi Eleanora, and welcome. I’m glad you’ve found us. Your English is much better than my Italian. My family are Italian, but I was born in Australia, so my Italian is not good, I’m embarrassed to say.

I’m very sorry your Camilla is sick and I know you’re very worried. The first days/weeks are terrible.

How much does Camilla weigh. I don’t know what stimulfoss and bloodder is. Can you give us the medical name for those? Someone else may know though.

Is she on any other drug? Most dogs with AIHA need to be on low dose aspirin, because their blood is “sticky”. You vet can tell you if she needs to be on it by looking at a blood sample to see what the cells look like. Also we have all found that it’s important for them to be on stomach protection, because prednisone causes stomach ulcers and bleeding. Liver protection is another thing. The drug Denamarin (or in Australia we use Denosyl) helps the liver to cope with the drugs. You can also use milk thistle.

With the side effects of the prednisone, there are so many. Yes, I am certain that’s why she is feeling so tired. It’s best to keep her quiet for now and let her body heal. You can read about it in the glossary above (AIHA Terms) or here is the link.
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/prednisone/

Do they survive – OH YES!!! Many many dogs do survive this. Of course some will not win the battle, but be positive. If she has responded after the transfusion and she has good colour now, be positive. She is nearly in the normal range with her bloods Normal starts at 4.8 (I think???) so she’s very close.

When starting to reduce the prednisone, we’ve all found that the safest way to do it, is to do it slowly. The only reason you would do a faster reduction is if the dog is suffering serious side effects from the prednisone. If Camilla is coping with the prednisone, it’s better to do slow reductions and we recommend 25-30% at a time, testing the blood before and after, the reduction and a minimum of 2 weeks before the next reduction.

By reducing quickly, there is more chance of a relapse. My dog went through this twice, relapsing because we reduced too quickly.

Most dogs, once they’re off the prednsione and stable, are fine. A few dogs (and mine is one) needs to stay on a small dose of prendisone for life. That’s not a problem.

Eleanora, ask anything. Someone has been through it. You can read our stories too, at the top of the page by clicking on the link.

We’d love to see a picture of Camilla too. You can upload a photo on the right. It takes a little while before it appears as, to keep the forum safe, someone needs to check uploads.

My very best,
Vally & Bingo (diagnosed Nov 2011, in remission).

[sheena]

Hi Eleanora & Camilla

Your English is wonderful! Excellent. I live in France now & my French is nowhere near as good as your English.

Please read my dog Worzel’s experience – it is so very similar to Camilla that we could be telling the same story:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/our-stories/worzel/

He is lying beside me on the bed, his head resting on my tummy as I write. He has been in remission from bone marrow failure for 3 years now & I value every minute with him. He is now at least 14-15 years old -I hope this gives you some reassurance that most dogs make a great recovery & live a healthy happy life after AIHA. His trigger was a tick disease & perhaps a vaccination after he became slightly lethargic sent him over the edge completely. But here he is, sleeping happily beside me!!!!! And Bingo is no doubt on or near the bed or sofa with Vally too, so please feel positive about Camilla recovering well.

Vally has given you excellent advice & I hope you can give us some more information that she asked for. Milk thistle is the best way to reduce liver problems. I could not get denamarin here in France at the time, so bought some certified organic milk thistle & used that instead. You may be able to get denamarin in Italy – amazon is always a good place to look.

I’m glad you have joined us & hope I have written clearly – as Vally says, ask anything at all

All my best wishes

Sheena, Worzel & Olli

[Sheena]

Sorry that should be Eleonora – in France, my name is often spelt Chiinah!

[eleonora]

good morning girls! first of all thanks for your replies. Here are 8.30 a.m. and we are going to the vet again. tonight wasn’t a good night: camilla had a bit of diarrhea and we found some blood in her stool. i think prednisone caused an ulcer or something similar but i’m not a vet so i’m very worried and i wanna speak with our vet as soon as possible. Vally i’ll answer to your questions about camilla’s weight, stimolfoss, blodder and the way she’s decreasing her prednisone’s dose later, when i have a moment of calm. see you later!

[Sheena]

Hello Lovely lady!

Oh, poor Camilla – please try not to worry too much as this is quite common when dogs haven’t been given a stomach protector. Please could you ask your vet urgently for some sucralfate which heals & soothes ulceration – many of our dogs have had gastro-intestinal problems with the drugs, especially prednisone/prednisolone. They are very hard on the tummy. Sucralfate soothed my dog’s stomach straight away! You can also add famotidine, but sucralfate is the best. It is very important not to give these two drugs within 2 hours of any other drug as they can stop absorption. Here is our information on both:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/sucralfate/
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/famotidine/

Our dogs also need a low fat, high protein diet & not to eat anything that could upset them. So good plain food. I’m sure everyone else has good ideas. I gave Worzel boiled chicken, turkey, lamb & a small amount of lean mince. Organic rice is good, but my dog hates rice! Pumpkin & sweet potato are really good for diarhhoea & constipation. so I would definitely recommend you add those. Just boild them up & gave a spoonful with her meal twice a day. Hope that helps!

Here is Dr Doods Liver & Gi cleansing Diet:
http://www.nutriscan.org/knowledge-center/cleansing-diets.html

Hope Camilla will soon feel much better

Love & hugs
Sheena, Worzel & Ollie

[Sheena]

Just looked up Stimulfoss – it looks like a supplement with B vitamins & includes B12 which is good to know. I can’t find blodder at all though.

[eleonora]

here i am! just back from the vet. he said that loose stool and blood in the stool are probably side effects of prednisone so he told us to monitor her and give her another one medicine, for ulcer (i’ll tell you the name and the composition when i have in my hands). the stressful thing of this battle against AIHA is that every time i seem to take a step forward and two steps back. yesterday we had the good news that her mouth’s mucous has a good color and her heart contracts better and today we have to do with blood in the stool. i try to think positive but every step back causes me anguish. i know you understand very well what i mean. Vally about your questions: camilla weighs 34 Kg. Her therapy is: prednisone, a protector of stomach (Zitac Vet, the active substance is cimetidine), stimulfos and bloodder that are simply supplemets of vitamins B, vitamin PP, vitamin C, vitamin H, copper, iron, cobalt…basically a vitamins complex to pull her up, recommended in cases of anemia. And now also the medicine for ulcer. She doesn’t take other drugs or aspirin…the vet didn’t tell me about aspirin so at the next controll i’ll speak with him about this opportunity, if she needs. About her dose of prednisone she started with 150 mg for day (6 tablets of 25 mg each, 3 in the morning, 3 in the evening) for about 4 weeks. Then, when she arrived at 4.4 (not bad value but in italy we consider “normal” a value between 5.6 and 8.8, so she’s still a little bit anemic) she started decreasing the dose – about 30% off- and she took 100 mg for day (2 tablets in the morning and 2 in the evening) for 2 weeks. At this moment we started seeing the bad effects of prednisone on her body: enlarged liver, sometimes shortness of breathe, muscle atrophy (especially on the head when you can see the bones, even if she didn’t lose weight, and on the legs) and, last, blood in the stool. On monday we’ll have the results of blood tests so we’ll know if she can decrease again the dose. Fortunately she has a good appetite, she eats gladly, when she sees her food or sees us eating she doesn’t look sick! I hope that her young age can help and that her body will react in the best possible way. that’s all, for now!

[eleonora]

Hi ! My name’s Eleonora, i’m italian (so, sorry for my english) and i’ve a 3 and a half years old golden retriever named Camilla.

about 1 months and a half ago, Camilla started do be strange, very apathetic and lethargic. she’s always been a very quiet dog but one evening she did’t get up to eat so we took her immediately to the vet. it was friday evening (6 november). Blood tests showed a severe anemia, so she was immediately hospitalized, and she immediately started to take antibiotics (for the case of diseases tick) and prednisone in very high dose (for the case of autoimmune anemia). in the saturday morning the red blood cells were decreased. In the sunday morning the red blood cells were decreased again. she had only 1.8 of red blood cell and there was no response from the bone marrow. She had the mucous of the mouth of a very light pink color and the inside of the ears totally white. she looked like a ghost. the vet suggested that it could also be leucemia and she did her a blood transfusion. the following tuesday – after 96 hours from the beginning of therapy – suddenly the bone marrow has begun to produce red blood cells. in the meantime had arrived the results of other blood tests which were not tick diseases. Camilla was discharged from the clinic with the diagnosis of autoimmune anemia . for the first five weeks camilla took 6 tablets of prednisone 25 mg for day, divided between morning and evening and some supplements (stimulfoss and bloodder). now she is decreasing the dose, but she will continue to take prednisone until the end of january (decreasing the dose every two weeks). every 7-10 days we go to the vet to do a blood count control. she’s currently at 4.4 of red blood cells, her ears are back of a beautiful pink color and mucous of her mouth are red again, but she still looks a little apathetic and gets tired easily…….Can be the fault of prednisone? now she’s not lethargic but she still doesn’t want to play with the ball or run. After a month and a half of therapy she has an enlarged liver (the vet says it’s a side effect of high-dose prednisone because blood tests on liver and kidney function are perfect, except the phosphatase high because of prednisone) and we discovered that her heart contracts a little too loosely but according to the cardiologist is a consequence of anemia (however she is also taking a medicine for the heart [vetmedine]). Just this morning we had the control with the cardiologist and her heart was much better. Is there anyone here whose dog survived to the autoimmune anemia? what will happen in january when camilla will finish the therapy with prednisone? what i should expect for the future? she must take the prednisone forever? or make a periodic cicle of therapy? i don’t know why but here in italy i can’t find much information about this disease: in the italian golden retriever-forum no one can help me because no one has experience with the AIHA. most of the information that i have found comes from british or american sites…. i hope my camilla will survive to the AIHA …if you want say a little prayer for her. thank you a lot

[Vally]

Hi Eleanora, and welcome. I’m glad you’ve found us. Your English is much better than my Italian. My family are Italian, but I was born in Australia, so my Italian is not good, I’m embarrassed to say.

I’m very sorry your Camilla is sick and I know you’re very worried. The first days/weeks are terrible.

How much does Camilla weigh. I don’t know what stimulfoss and bloodder is. Can you give us the medical name for those? Someone else may know though.

Is she on any other drug? Most dogs with AIHA need to be on low dose aspirin, because their blood is “sticky”. You vet can tell you if she needs to be on it by looking at a blood sample to see what the cells look like. Also we have all found that it’s important for them to be on stomach protection, because prednisone causes stomach ulcers and bleeding. Liver protection is another thing. The drug Denamarin (or in Australia we use Denosyl) helps the liver to cope with the drugs. You can also use milk thistle.

With the side effects of the prednisone, there are so many. Yes, I am certain that’s why she is feeling so tired. It’s best to keep her quiet for now and let her body heal. You can read about it in the glossary above (AIHA Terms) or here is the link.
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/prednisone/

Do they survive – OH YES!!! Many many dogs do survive this. Of course some will not win the battle, but be positive. If she has responded after the transfusion and she has good colour now, be positive. She is nearly in the normal range with her bloods Normal starts at 4.8 (I think???) so she’s very close.

When starting to reduce the prednisone, we’ve all found that the safest way to do it, is to do it slowly. The only reason you would do a faster reduction is if the dog is suffering serious side effects from the prednisone. If Camilla is coping with the prednisone, it’s better to do slow reductions and we recommend 25-30% at a time, testing the blood before and after, the reduction and a minimum of 2 weeks before the next reduction.

By reducing quickly, there is more chance of a relapse. My dog went through this twice, relapsing because we reduced too quickly.

Most dogs, once they’re off the prednsione and stable, are fine. A few dogs (and mine is one) needs to stay on a small dose of prendisone for life. That’s not a problem.

Eleanora, ask anything. Someone has been through it. You can read our stories too, at the top of the page by clicking on the link.

We’d love to see a picture of Camilla too. You can upload a photo on the right. It takes a little while before it appears as, to keep the forum safe, someone needs to check uploads.

My very best,
Vally & Bingo (diagnosed Nov 2011, in remission).

[sheena]

Hi Eleanora & Camilla

Your English is wonderful! Excellent. I live in France now & my French is nowhere near as good as your English.

Please read my dog Worzel’s experience – it is so very similar to Camilla that we could be telling the same story:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/our-stories/worzel/

He is lying beside me on the bed, his head resting on my tummy as I write. He has been in remission from bone marrow failure for 3 years now & I value every minute with him. He is now at least 14-15 years old -I hope this gives you some reassurance that most dogs make a great recovery & live a healthy happy life after AIHA. His trigger was a tick disease & perhaps a vaccination after he became slightly lethargic sent him over the edge completely. But here he is, sleeping happily beside me!!!!! And Bingo is no doubt on or near the bed or sofa with Vally too, so please feel positive about Camilla recovering well.

Vally has given you excellent advice & I hope you can give us some more information that she asked for. Milk thistle is the best way to reduce liver problems. I could not get denamarin here in France at the time, so bought some certified organic milk thistle & used that instead. You may be able to get denamarin in Italy – amazon is always a good place to look.

I’m glad you have joined us & hope I have written clearly – as Vally says, ask anything at all

All my best wishes

Sheena, Worzel & Olli

[Sheena]

Sorry that should be Eleonora – in France, my name is often spelt Chiinah!

[eleonora]

good morning girls! first of all thanks for your replies. Here are 8.30 a.m. and we are going to the vet again. tonight wasn’t a good night: camilla had a bit of diarrhea and we found some blood in her stool. i think prednisone caused an ulcer or something similar but i’m not a vet so i’m very worried and i wanna speak with our vet as soon as possible. Vally i’ll answer to your questions about camilla’s weight, stimolfoss, blodder and the way she’s decreasing her prednisone’s dose later, when i have a moment of calm. see you later!

[Sheena]

Hello Lovely lady!

Oh, poor Camilla – please try not to worry too much as this is quite common when dogs haven’t been given a stomach protector. Please could you ask your vet urgently for some sucralfate which heals & soothes ulceration – many of our dogs have had gastro-intestinal problems with the drugs, especially prednisone/prednisolone. They are very hard on the tummy. Sucralfate soothed my dog’s stomach straight away! You can also add famotidine, but sucralfate is the best. It is very important not to give these two drugs within 2 hours of any other drug as they can stop absorption. Here is our information on both:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/sucralfate/
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/AIHA_Terms/famotidine/

Our dogs also need a low fat, high protein diet & not to eat anything that could upset them. So good plain food. I’m sure everyone else has good ideas. I gave Worzel boiled chicken, turkey, lamb & a small amount of lean mince. Organic rice is good, but my dog hates rice! Pumpkin & sweet potato are really good for diarhhoea & constipation. so I would definitely recommend you add those. Just boild them up & gave a spoonful with her meal twice a day. Hope that helps!

Here is Dr Doods Liver & Gi cleansing Diet:
http://www.nutriscan.org/knowledge-center/cleansing-diets.html

Hope Camilla will soon feel much better

Love & hugs
Sheena, Worzel & Ollie

[Sheena]

Just looked up Stimulfoss – it looks like a supplement with B vitamins & includes B12 which is good to know. I can’t find blodder at all though.

[eleonora]

here i am! just back from the vet. he said that loose stool and blood in the stool are probably side effects of prednisone so he told us to monitor her and give her another one medicine, for ulcer (i’ll tell you the name and the composition when i have in my hands). the stressful thing of this battle against AIHA is that every time i seem to take a step forward and two steps back. yesterday we had the good news that her mouth’s mucous has a good color and her heart contracts better and today we have to do with blood in the stool. i try to think positive but every step back causes me anguish. i know you understand very well what i mean. Vally about your questions: camilla weighs 34 Kg. Her therapy is: prednisone, a protector of stomach (Zitac Vet, the active substance is cimetidine), stimulfos and bloodder that are simply supplemets of vitamins B, vitamin PP, vitamin C, vitamin H, copper, iron, cobalt…basically a vitamins complex to pull her up, recommended in cases of anemia. And now also the medicine for ulcer. She doesn’t take other drugs or aspirin…the vet didn’t tell me about aspirin so at the next controll i’ll speak with him about this opportunity, if she needs. About her dose of prednisone she started with 150 mg for day (6 tablets of 25 mg each, 3 in the morning, 3 in the evening) for about 4 weeks. Then, when she arrived at 4.4 (not bad value but in italy we consider “normal” a value between 5.6 and 8.8, so she’s still a little bit anemic) she started decreasing the dose – about 30% off- and she took 100 mg for day (2 tablets in the morning and 2 in the evening) for 2 weeks. At this moment we started seeing the bad effects of prednisone on her body: enlarged liver, sometimes shortness of breathe, muscle atrophy (especially on the head when you can see the bones, even if she didn’t lose weight, and on the legs) and, last, blood in the stool. On monday we’ll have the results of blood tests so we’ll know if she can decrease again the dose. Fortunately she has a good appetite, she eats gladly, when she sees her food or sees us eating she doesn’t look sick! I hope that her young age can help and that her body will react in the best possible way. that’s all, for now!