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- Jade, the cocker spaniel
Hi Angela, there is no test available.
There are certain breeds which seem to be more affected and they include poodles, English springers, cocker spaniels, collies, shih tzu and others however, it can occur in any breed, male or female, although there seems to be a higher proportion of spayed females.
I believe that if a dog is affected has come from a breeder, the breeder should be informed so if there is any report of another dog affected, the dog’s parents should not be bred.
Vally & Bingo
xxx
Hi Angela and Jade. Again, out of town and actually at the airport. I just wanted you to know that I have been thinking of you both SO much and that you both will get through this. Yes, cocker spaniels are predispositioned to AIHA. The stiistics say around 30%.
Unfortunately, cockers are also predispositioned to Horner’s Syndrome. But as all have said, it is not life threatening and there is no pain. Jade will come through this fine. He may have a bit of a sag on one side of his beautiful little mouth, even one ear may seem a bit lower – Sadie is this way. But hardly noticeable. And she told me, she could care less. 😉
They thought that Sadie had an ear infection too, but I don’t think she did. I think it was the second dose of high dose immune suppressants that broght it on. In the end, the vet thought so too.
Don’t let the fact that Sadie has relapsed many times, scare you and think this is what Jade will do. To the contrary, Sadie is very unique and what she has gone though is rare. As Sheena and Vally have said, we know it was the aggressive weaning of the prednisone that caused get first relapse, and unfortunately, that set her up to start back at square one, longer immune suppressants and the nasty additional complications that came with that. But, she, as are cockers too, is very quick to respond to the medications (immune suppressants) AND as cockers, is a little fighter. 😊
Sadie is our poster fur child of how and why we say, S-L-O-W weaning. And yes, she has some other problems, but it’s okay – we’ll make it, by golly. And this forum, and all the incredible wisdom within, is here with you both.
Please keep us posted. Sending huge hugs and much love,
Linda and Sadie
Good evening
With jadie we decided to treat her for a middle ear infection, there was some debris way down, at that point I wanted to be proactive so they put her on the antibiotic. Thank god my vet has been taking a very slow approach with the weaning of her meds. Since October I believe we started at 30mg of pred and now she’s down to 15mg. The cyclosporin hasn’t changed and the aspirin will be lifelong.
Jades fur coat has seen better days tho, when she was a puppy she used to break out and after having allergy testing done and realizing our little girl had a very lg list of things she was allergic to, we changed foods and and some lifestyle changes were made and she cleared up. One thing that she was allergic to was a kopak. I know…what’s that? I had to google it and discovered its the material found in comforters, some pillows, and couches.
I wish there was a place that the medications were cheaper. I’ve been having our vet call her meds into our local drugstore and its been the cheapest but its still an incredible financial strain. I now know how my mom and brother felt having had 2 cockers with imha.
On the brighter side of things, jade is slowly improving, she’s not as dizzy as she had been, her appetite is improving. She’s been easily spoiled with chicken with her homemade food, she still has right sided droop and food and water still fall out but the excessive drooling has stopped . she’s at the door to meet me when I get home from work and now her grin is crooked, so friggin cute. what more could you ask for??
Thanks everyone.
I promise to upload a pic of jadie once I catch my daughter home long enough to do it.
Hi Angela—so sorry that Jade is feeling so awful, but the blood test results are definitely great news. Me and my Charlie are new to this disease and have been struggling with it since October. I hope your vet was able to prescribe something for Jade’s nausea. When Charlie had troubles, our vet gave us something called Cerenia and it really helped. Thoughts, prayers, and good vibes being sent your way.
Hey Angela .. Oh my 2 dogs that’s alot to deal with. I have an English Springer which is one of the breeds that has the pre-disposition to this disease. My vet explained that both the mother and father have to carry the .. Oh gosh can’t think of it but i think chromosome for it .. They do have a test to determine if you dog has the chromosome that causes it. Our vet offered it and we wanted to know so we agreed to have her blood sent to a university here in the states to be tested for it. I think it was like $118- to have her tested. It came back that she was negative for having that chromosome so we knew then that it was something else but obviously like most with this disease nothing we could pinpoint. She had a tick bite 5 months prior but came back negative for lyme although i understand that’s a test that throws a lot of false negatives so it’s not very reliable. She had also been in our home of extreme stress due to my dad being ill and almost dyeing, and they say stress can cause it, And she had been itching severly but we didn’t know what from .. so it’s a mystery. Nonetheless we are 9 months out and she is off all meds. Only on supplements now and so far holding and doing well her recent blood test hematocrete came back at 47 and we go for another test in a few weeks to check again. Praying for Jade and your family .. looking forward to Jade’s full recovery along with everyone else’s dogs too.
![bingo-14-5_1200x775](https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/wp-content/gallery/aiha-dogs_2/bingo-14-5_1200x775.jpg "Vally\'s Bingo \\"Smile\\"")
![Brigitte_Cleo_Ripley_Enzo_4](https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/wp-content/gallery/aiha-dogs_2/Brigitte_Cleo_Ripley_Enzo_4.jpg "Brigitte\'s Cleo, Ripley, Enzo and Guest \\"Rockin\\"")
