IS this AIHA or a tick disease?

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IS this AIHA or a tick disease?

Bella Tina

Guest

Bella, a 13 year old female Beagle presented with the following symptoms:
Lethargy
Weak legs
No eating

She was taken to Blue Pearl, Grand Rapids, MI where her PCV measured at 20. Ultrasound showed an enlarged spleen. Please see her blood tests below. She was diagnosed with AIHA and give Prednisone of 20 and nothing else. She responded extremely fast and well, registering PCV of 35 a week later and 45 two weeks later. After 6 weeks, they tried tapering her down to 15 a day but her PCV declined to 38, they took her back up to 20.

She moved from Michigan to Florida ( my mom is a snowbird) and started seeing two other vets, traditional and holistic. She also started bleeding from the vulva, even though she has been fixed for 13 years. During her ultrasound at the initial diagnosis, they made no note of uterus. Traditional vet put her on 10 days of antibiotic and atopica. The holistic vet increased her prednisone to 30 and gave her Chinese herbs for bleeding. She started throwing up, diarrhea and no desire to eat, still bleeding. We took her off Atopica, throwing up and diarrhea stopped, still bleeding. Today she finished her 10 day antibiotics course, and started having extremely liquid diarrhea and throwing up, still bleeding.

Was she misdiagnosed??? Two months prior to her AIHA diagnosis she had a tick. Could she have a tick disease???

Thank you for any help you can give me.

Best regards,
Kristina

This is the bloodwork for Bella at the beginning of the AIHA diagnosis, mid August 2017 done at Blue Pearl, Grand Rapids, MI.

SuperChem

Albumin: 2.6 (LOW)
A&G: 0.7 (LOW)
ALT(SGPT): 145 (HIGH)
Alk Phosphatase: 231 (HIGH)
Total Bilirubin: 0.4 (HIGH)
BUN/Creatine Ratio: 35 (HIGH)
Calcium: 8.7 (LOW)
PrecisionPSL: 241 (HIGH)

Urinalysis

Protein 1+ (HIGH)
Bilirubin: 2+ (HIGH)
Blood: Trace (HIGH)
Casts: Present

Complete Blood Count

RBC 2.1 (LOW) red blood cells

HGB 5.4 (LOW)
HCT 17 (LOW)
MCV 82 (HIGH)
NRBC 14 (HIGH)
Platelet Count 76 (LOW)

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Patrice

Keymaster

Kristina,
It is possible for tick diseases to become chronic and worsen over time as they spread throughout the body. Any responsible vet clinic should anticipate and test for tick diseases in any dog presenting like this. I don’t know why some vets fail to do this. The test is simple, SNAP4DX+. It requires a tiny blood sample, is spun and put into a machine in the vets clinic. It takes 8 min and immediately returns a yes or no for 4 tick diseases and heartworm. If there is a positive, for tick diseases the treatment is Doxycycline. If heart worm, there is a different treatment. There is one other tick disease called Babesiosis that she may have been exposed to. This is not on this test. Blood must be examined under a microscope to see it. This tick disease is mostly fought by the spleen and thus it can be quite enlarged. The treatment is less straight forward. Both of these tests are relatively inexpensive and would provide one more element to either rule out these causes or treat these diseases.

I want to briefly talk about the spleen. Bella is an older Beagle and it is quite possible that along with the enlarged spleen there may be growths, either benign or malignant, growing in the spleen. These growths can bleed a little, heal for a while and then bleed again. This would cause a cycle of fine PCV to a drop in the PCV.

Have another conversation with your vet. While I am cognizant of some benefits of holistic treatments, this is not one of those occasions where I myself would rely on. If you can’t get cooperation find another vet and get a second opinion.

I will respond with more later. My best Patrice

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Bella Tina

Guest

Hi Patrice,
Thank you so much for your reply. Yesterday Bella had the SNAP4DX text and tested positive for the anaplasmosis. The doctor indeed prescribed Doxycycline. In the last 2.5 months no one from the “fancy” Blue Pearl to other 3 vets Bella has seen, have suggested to take this text. It wasn’t until my mom took a printed article to the vet and requested the specific test herself. It’s upsetting because Bella has been on the immunosuppressant (prednisone) for the last 2.5 month further weakening her body to fight this parasite. Her stomach is a mess and I don’t know how she will handle 30 days of Doxycycline. My mom is giving her probiotic, but nothing is helping : (
Thanks again for your replies.
Best,
Kristina

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Vally

Keymaster

Hi Kristina, welcome to the site. I’m sorry you’ve come looking though, because I know that means you’re worried. We can all relate to that feeling.

I would have the snap test done first of all, bearing in mind Bella had the tick. It’s probably one of the most inexpensive test you could do and it would answer yes or no to tick disease and as Patrice says, the treatment is Doxycycline.

Atopica can certainly have the effects you mentioned of stomach upsets and diarrhea.

A couple of questions. Is she on anything to protect her tummy against the prednisone as it can cause ulcers – it did with my boy, Bingo. Are you giving the pred with food? What does Bella weigh? What antibiotic was being used and what dose? Sorry the more information the better.

Is she hungry? What are you feeding at the moment. Keep it very bland, and maybe do small meals. Cooked chicken (no bones) and mushy rice is good.

Patrice is very clever with blood results, so she’ll respond about that.

My very best.
Vally (my angel Bingo) and Saba

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Bella Tina

Guest

Hi Vally,

Thank you for getting back to me. I’m sorry to hear about Bingo also suffered tummy problems. I’m afraid that we damaged Bella’s tummy :(

Here are the answers to your questions above:

Is she on anything to protect her tummy against the prednisone as it can cause ulcers? Pepcid AC for a couple weeks & now probiotic. We have repeatedly asked the vet for something to protect stomach, but they said Pepcid is fine.

Are you giving the pred with food? Yes

What does Bella weigh? 26.5 lb (probably because she is having diarrhea)

What antibiotic was being used and what dose?
Amoxicillin – 250mg pill twice a day for 3 days
Clawamox – 125mg pill (one and a half twice a day for 7 days)
Metronidazole 250mg pill twice a day for 3 days (for diarrhea)
Today starting Doxycycline 100mg pill, ¾ of a tablet twice a day for 2 weeks

Is she hungry? Yes, until this throwing up and diarrhea she was always starving, but now she is being picky and it’s hard to get food into her.

What are you feeding at the moment? At the moment cooked beef and rice. Before she was getting beef, liver, broccoli, rice

Thank you,
Kristina

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BellaTake2

Guest

Hi Vally, sorry to hear your baby Bingo had tummy problems too. I’m afraid Bella has the same problem. When she throws up, there is no blood, so maybe that’s good news. Here are the answers to the questions you had. Thank you so much for your help.
“Is she on anything to protect her tummy against the prednisone as it can cause ulcers? Pepcid AC for a couple weeks & now probiotic. We have repeatedly asked the vet for something to protect stomach, but they said Pepcid is fine.

Are you giving the pred with food? Yes

What does Bella weigh? 26.5 lb (probably because she is having diarrhea)

Is she hungry? Yes, until this throwing up and diarrhea she was always starting, but now she is being picky and it’s hard to get food into her.

What are you feeding at the moment? At the moment cooked beef and rice. Before she was getting beef, liver, broccoli, rice

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Patrice

Keymaster

Kristina,
I am heartbroken to hear this. If I had a nickel for every dog that had a tick disease and the vet said “we don’t test for tick disease, it isn’t common,” I’d be rich.

Anaplasmosis is pretty serious. I want you to read some about it. My friend Gil has been collecting information for her website for many years. We both know each other from being on Tick-L, an email list for owners with dogs that may have tick disease. It’s been in existence for many years. I been on it and studying tick diseases in dogs for 10 years now. Gil has pulled the best of the best from our discussions. The list owner is a scientist and there is a consulting vet who contributes as well. Please read all the information about anaplasmosis and treatment. I will return to answer any questions you have.
https://sites.google.com/site/tickbornediseaseindogs/

https://sites.google.com/site/tickbornediseaseindogs/in-a-nutshell
(Tick disease in a nutshell)

https://sites.google.com/site/tickbornediseaseindogs/ehrlichiosis
(Anaplasmosis is discussed on this page.)

https://sites.google.com/site/tickbornediseaseindogs/treatment

Please remember that we are all hear to talk with you. I know so many things about tick disease it would make your head swim. Let’s solve this problem together.
my best
patrice

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Vally

Keymaster

Kristina, I’m sorry to hear about the vets. It’s funny, I’m in Australia, which is supposedly lyme disease free, but because when Bingo was diagnosed, he was showing all the signs of the disease, and so he was treated for it. In fact, I don’t think we have the test available here. Well we didn’t in 2011.

So is the only drugs Bella is on now prednisone and doxycycline. She should definitely still be on the pepcid at least, which should be given away from other medications, or it may block them. That could be contributing to her not wanting to eat right now. The prednisone is very harsh on the stomach.

I’m also worried that the dose of the doxycycline is not enough. I work out it should be 135mg twice a day for 8 weeks. Patrice is the expert on this though. If the disease isn’t completely removed, it stays in the body and can cause more problems later, so it needs to be a strong course of the doxy. I know you don’t want to hear that as it is, again, very rough on the stomach.

Regards, Vally

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