Dylan, the Mini Schnauzer‏

[Vally]

Okay this is from ME this time.

Hi Kathleen,

Pink gums are great. I also use the eye method as Bingo also hates having his mouth poked at.

I agree with Sheena about the bone marrow test. Specialist told me, whilst it might give them more information, it doesn’t change the treatment.

Sheena, stay out of the Tylan. I suspect she really likes the taste of it. She keeps telling everyone how “vile” it is. It is fabulous stuff. After using a couple of things by the vet to clear up a very sloppy poo that Bingo had for some time, which did absolutely nothing and Bingo said the pink one in particular tasted “vile”, the Tylan powder worked within a day. I swear a day after starting it, his poos started firming up and the colour was much more normal.

Love Vally & Bingo
xxx

[Sheena]

Hi Kathleen

Thank you for that test copy from 6th July – very comprehensive. I’ll just point out the important bits!

It shows a massive increase in blood cell production – nRBCs are nucleated or immature red blood cells, showing he was pumping them out to make up the deficit, which is really good. There isn’t a reticulocyte figure I can see though, but that looks like a good response to anaemia with the nRBC level. Also, the giant platelets indicate he was pumping them out too, so you are likely looking at Evans Syndrome where both platelets & red cells are affected – not uncommon & we’ve had lots of people on here with the same problem. In addition to that, he was also pumping out baby neutrophils at a rate of knots – band neutrophils & Dohle bodies are immature forms of neutrophils. Again, I can only guess what this is in response to – maybe infection, maybe a myeloproliferative problem or a severe acute lesion. Is there any chance he could have had a GI tract bleed? Could this mean the cancer op may be a factor? Quite possible. There is also a slight amount of haemolysis continuing on that test – i.e. still destroying his own red cells slightly, but at a low level.

Patrice has asked if they did a Coombs test – it would be useful to know the results, for example if warm or cold agglutination was present.

Is Dylan on Denamarin? If not, please could you add it in because his ALKP has started to rise a little – the drugs do that – so adding Sam-e & Milk Thistle combined as Denamarin will help to bring that under control again.

Those neutrophils need further investigation in my opinion. Cancer can raise them, lower them or they can stay the same, so we cannot say for sure. What I do know for sure is that they definitely go up with infection, as I said before.

Give your lovely boy a cuddle from me – we will get to the bottom of this somehow. Do you have any further info from the op or anything? It may help.

Big Hugs
Sheena & the boys
xxxxx

[Vally]

Kathleen, this is a message I got from Sara, who asked me to pass this on:

Hi Kathleen, my name is Sara and I have Flossie.. who has AIHA. We are just a bit over 2 months in from Diagnosis. She didn’t show any response or regeneration for 4 weeks. She was on Prendison, and Doxicyclen and Mycophenolate and at the 4 week mark they added cyclosporine That week she started responding and it’s been uphill ever since for her. Not that we aren’t paranoid constantly. Every morning we do a urine check .. every day we check her gums. I freak out if we are in too much light and she looks pale then bring her indoors and realize she’s red … In the morning if she sleeps to long or doesn’t want to eat right away I start worrying … then an hour later she’s up and ready to eat… it’s a crazy disease that keeps you completely on par every day. All the gals that work this site give amazing advice. I used their knowledge along with that of our specialist to be proactive and aggressive about what I thought was best for Flossie. They wanted to do a bone marrow aspiration at the 4 week mark and I said no what else is an option and that’s when they added the cyclosporine … and from that week on we started seeing glimmers of hope and her blood regenerating. I just kept telling our vet some dogs take longer to respond cause that’s what the gals here said and they were right. So do what you believe is best for your dog. Our vets have our dogs best interest in mind but this is a tricky disease that i have found in intense reading of site after site that all vets are not familiar with this disease and many don’t know the best treatments … so we have to do a lot of research and be proactive for our dogs to make sure they get what’s best. You are doing an awesome job and I will be praying for you and Dylan !!

P.S. we had a hard time finding Denamirin locally and it was going to be a week to order it) I just used 400mg of human Sam-E and 300mg of Milk Thistle from the natural food store. My Girl was 50lbs you would need to check on the dosage according your own dogs weight.

Also regarding soft poo. Flossie got that really bad with the Cyclosporine ..So I added canned pumpkin to her diet which fixed it within 24 hours. I now give all her pills in the pumpkin. I just scoop out a bit on a fork and then push her pills down in it and then she bites on the fork I pull it out of her mouth and she swallows it all. In order to get all her pills down it take 3 fork fulls of pumpkin. I have to giver her pills in the morning afternoon and evening so it adds up to about 7 fork fulls of pumpkin a day and that amount seems to keep the poos formed. I ran out one day and couldn’t get to the store and by the next morning her poos were soft again so I know it works.

Kindest Regards …
Sara

[Kathleen]

Hello, everybody here!

Just wanted to say a hundred million thanks for all the support you have given me and Dylan int the past week.

I can’t express how much better and warm and fuzzy it makes me feel.

Dylan says thanks too!

[Sheena]

Ooooh, you’re so welcome – you & Dylan are lovely – we are all in this together. The early stages are worrying to the extreme for everyone & it’s always good to hear others have been through this & beaten it with a big stick. Group hugs are us!

Sheena & the boys xxxxx

[Vally]

And here is Dylan…