Scruffy

[Julie]

Scruffy

 

I first met Patrice through the Vetnet forum in 2008 and I would like to say that I have just found this site.  I would like to say that the help I was offered then was what made sense to something I had never heard of before and I am so glad that this help is still available for any one whose dog gets this horrid disease.

Scruffy was only 9 months old when he came down suddenly with IMHA.  The vet I had was very unhelpful advising me to just “put him down”.  Through the forum I got help and decided to try and fight this.  I am so glad I did.

 

Scruffy lost his battle after 4 weeks and I think now I would do things differently.  He had a transfusion but gadually his blood count PCV dropped back slowly even with Pred and a secondary drug .  His bone marrow just never regenerated with results of “less than 0.1 regeneration and the term “sever worsening anenemia..   The vets in Australia just didn’t seem to know what to do.  I had bad advice telling me he would die in pain (un true) and I thought for his welfare I would put him down when his PCV went to 8.  I wasn’t able to afford an extra blood transfusion which I always regretted as I never knew if it would have helped or not.  I wish I had of had the resources to keep treatment up but it would have involved the University Vets and lots of extra money to do this.

I will always remember him and I am so glad that there is somewhere to turn to when things seem so bleak.

Thank you Patrice for having a website and forum  to help AIHA dogs.

[Tamara]

Hi Julie, I’m so glad you posted the pictures of Scruffy and your story.  I’m so very sorry that you lost your sweet boy to this horrible disease.  They are never with us long enough, no matter what age they go, but to lose your boy at 10 months — my heart goes out to you.

Sending you love and hugs —

tamara and ashki

in the fight since 4/30

[Vally]

Hi Julie,

Your Scruffy was such a beautiful boy and it’s so unfair that he was just a baby.

I live in Sydney and my local vets ummed and aaared about things for about 6 weeks before they eventually said they didn’t know what was wrong with Bingo and suggested I see an internal specialist.  The specialist worked it out very quickly.  I’m very very grateful Bingo wasn’t critical at that point, or I would most certainly have lost him.

Don’t regret what couldn’t be done or couldn’t be afforded – the cost of treatment is so unbearably huge.  We’re just meant to love them as much as we can.  Your love for Scruffy is so very visible.

Thanks for sharing.   Vetnet was a lifesaver back then and I’m so very very glad Patrice got this site going.  There is such a need.  Please visit, your experience, I have no doubt, would always be able to be of help to someone.

Love Vally & Bingo

[Julie]

The part that hurts was I was very new to the forum and still didn’t understand what his options really were.  He seemed to remain stable on the azath. and pred. but slowly his PCV dropped.  He was able to maintain a very low PCV for nearly 4 weeks.  I decided to take him to the Lort Smith Hospital who were the only vets that had expertise with this disease.  Unfortunately, I was given advice that if he dropped (PCV) any further he would die badly. I was given the option of a further blood transfusion and advised that it probably wouldn’t work in his case.  It could only be done at the Werribee Univeristy which was on the other side of the city of where I live.  I was told by the vets at Lort Smith that he probably would end up just like he was at the time (PCV 8).  I didn’t know what to do and I was under stress financially as it would cost $1000 for a further transfusion.  I loved him dearly and if I could have raised this I would have had the transfusion.  But at the time, with the vets telling me it probably wouldn’t hold.  I decided to go ahead and have him put to sleep.

 

I regretted not pursuing further treatment as I will never know if the meds might have kicked in and helped him.  Hindsite is wonderful and I learn’t after he was put down that many dogs do go on to survive if treatment can be maintained.  The forum vet net had many success stories on dogs that did survive.

I was never offered cyclosporine and had no idea of it apart from being told there is another drug but you could not afford it.

I hope this site gives others the information to go on and try and save their dogs.

Patrice is a wealth of knowledge and I always though “better advice than any vet”.  I hope many others get their help too.

regards.  Julie.

[Vally]

Julie, you were relying on what you were told by the experts.  Don’t feel guilty.  I think there are still so many vets that just don’t know a lot about this disease.

As you say, hindsight.  The money factor is a very real factor unfortunately.  It’s a huge expense especially if you’re told there isn’t much hope. I was lucky in that I had pet insurance which made it easier in the early days.

I didn’t truly trust the vets. I thought they were just stringing me along to make some money out of my distress, but having the insurance meant that I could go ahead with all the scans and stuff knowing I was covered for it.  Without the insurance, I’m not sure what I would done.  It was the vet who convinced me to give them a few days, I had already given up.  I was sure Bingo wasn’t going to make it.  I hadn’t found Vetnet.  All I read was doom and gloom stuff.

I was lucky that Bingo did respond quite quickly.  I know it’s not always like that.

Really Julie, please don’t blame yourself.

Love Vally  & Bingo

 

[Julie]

There is one thing I forget to mention.  When Scruffy was at the  Lort Smith Hospital when his PCV when to 8  from a high of 17 over a period of four weeks,  I was told by the vet at the time that his liver had enlarged and that he probably  had a tumour of the liver.

What I found out later through vet net was that this was just a side effect of Pred.  Talk about vets not knowing how to deal with IMHA.

I would like to add that I  now have a wonderful and knowledgable vet ( so different from the initial vet who advised me to “put him down”.  I refused to do so and Scruffy then went to Lort Smith Hospital for a transfusion.   She is all about how  we will save your pet if it is at all possible.  How I wish I had Jenny for my vet back then.

I  now have three dogs  from a shitzu x to a Pittbull with a wonderful nature.   (have to keep him hidden due to BSL).  But Scruffy  holds a special place in my heart.

Thanks you for letting me tell my story of Scruffy the  little shihtzu x with the shaggy coat.

[Vally]

Oh I’m so glad to hear about your other dogs and your vet. It makes a difference.  My specialist was supposed to hand Bingo’s care back to the local vets after he became stable, but because there were some problems with him relapsing, he kept looking after him – I also didn’t want to go back to the local vets.  I know there are policitical issues because by not sending  him back to the local vets, he risked them not referring other dogs in the worry of the local vets losing their business. He’s such a good guy.

Have a look at The Bridge page too, it’s beautifully written and I have no doubts will help a lot.

Julie, truly, if you feel up to it, please stay around.  Your experience would truly help others.

Love Vally and Bingo.

[Julie]

Thanks for your advice, I will read the Bridge page (probably where this thread should have gone maybe).  Yes a specialist vet is a must.  Lort Smith Hospital sent Scruffy back to that local vet after 2 days of the initial transfusion  when clearly he should have remained under their care much longer.  She tried but had little experience of IMHA .

I feel so much better for finally telling his whole story and hope someone learns from my experience.