Maltese with AIHA

[Christine]

Haha Lucy is always spoiled! Her platelets started out very low. but came back up right away. Today they were 303 so we were able to rule out any of the issues that effected the platelets. Today her white cells count has lowered .. it was extremely high previously.

[Vally]

Hi Christine, I’m thrilled by the numbers. She’s doing great.

Yes the words vaccination and heartworm jumped out at me. In the future, Lucy cannot have vaccinations unless required by law, and even then she may be able to get a exclusion from your vet, so be sure to check that out.

With heartworm, if you are in a heartworm area, use Dr Jean Dodd’s protocol which is dose every 45 days instead of every 30 days – but you cannot be late and check this:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/parasite-resources/

Lots of love, Vally & Bingo

[Christine]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. Yes, we believe it was the vaccines. Her heart worm med was a 6 month injection.

It is 8:30am here in Dallas Texas and Lucy is still showing improvement.

[Sheena]

Couldn’t post earlier – it dissappeared

It’s actually a “good” feeling to have a fair idea what caused this, instead of being mystified.

Great news on the platelets being fine – they take a lot less production time than the reds. So good news all round. Very happy to hear Little Miss is still feeling good & improving!

Sheena x

[AmyE]

Hello and welcome to the forum! I am so glad you found us but I am very sorry you had to. I am not very good at the medical part of all of this but I am always here for support! My puppy Coal went into her immune crisis @ 4 months of age and we have been on the steroid river every since! It is because of all the support on this board and amazing vets that she is alive today. I know how crazy and worrisome this disease can be so I want to assure you that all the feelings of chaos are totally normal. Also I encourage you to call your vet as often as you need to feel secure in this process. Even if you are driving them nuts your sanity right now is the most important thing. As anyone here will tell you this disease can burn you out very fast. The constant worry and medication and nutrition and the checking the gums and eyes will drive you to insanity. Give yourself a break. Cry and scream and stomp your feet if necessary. Then come here and vent. We are here to help and we get it. Trust me do we ever get it! Give your sweet girl a hug from us and a gentle hug to you and a big sloppy wet kiss from Coal the sassy poodle!
Warmly,
Amy

[Christine]

Thank you Amy! Yes, I am blessed with 2 awesome Vets and the whole staff is amazing!

On Lucy’s regular Vets day off I email her any updates so she stays informed!

What did you all do about the massive amounts of food they eat on these meds?

[AmyE]

Christine to be honest we went raw. It completely stopped Coals muscle waste and she needed much less food to satiate her. We also added goats milk, bone broth and fermented veggies which helped keep her very full. Lots of fiber!! You don’t want to let her get fat. we give raw carrots and celery as treats so she stays full with out the fat. This and the loss of bladder control a pain until she evened out.
Good Luck
Amy & Coal

[Vally]

Christine, I was always a raw feeder with Bingo, but being on the high dose prednisone, eating raw caused him a major gastro episode, which put him in hospital for a day. So I was told whilst on high dose pred, no raw food for him. When the dosage went right down, I started him back on raw. Try and do low fat, and vet suggested use pumpkin as a filler as opposed to rice as less carbs. If you do tinned pumpkin, make sure it just plain pumpkin and not the pie variety.

With feeding the monster, I was doing extra feeds during the day. One late at night and still he’d wake me up about 4 or 5, to suggesting it was time to get up and feed him. It was all I could do to hang onto him sometimes as he’d dive off the bed and start barking for food.

The buggar made me cut a piece of my finger off once too, because he was causing such a fuss and I was trying to cut up some food too quickly to shut him up, and I chopped a tiny bit off the top of my finger. Blood everywhere, Bingo barking, the pain for such a tiny cut was phenomenal. I’m trying to stop the blood and Bingo just really didn’t care at all. That finger is still sensitive in cold weather now.

Vally & Bingo (who says I exagerate)
xxx