Forum Replies Created
Hi Meghan
Oh, I’m so pleased you can bring her home!!!! Great! – a PCV of 25 is pretty good in these early days. Gabby will be much more comfy back with you & you can really pamper her. As Brigitte says, she’ll be very tired, drinking lots of water (they need to) & pee-peeing a lot too. If you are concerned about anything, just tell us.
Please don’t worry about the heparin being stopped. I am sure your vet is keeping a good eye on Gabby’s clotting problems – if they say just Plavix, that is absolutely fine – it would be unusual to have to inject heparin yourself at home – they probably wouldn’t want you to take her home if that is the case anyway.
There are several blood tests (blood smears to look for spherocytes or other abnormal blood cells, prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time etc) that they would do to determine which & how much anti-clotting medication is needed & I think you have to trust them to give you the right advice. Most of the dogs on here only need aspirin or plavix (clopidogrel) after the initial crisis – I can only remember one person having to inject at home off hand. Incidentally, I have a good friend who has a blood clot in his neck (really scary) – he’s only on his early 40’s & a very fit guy – we have been really worried – he was on heparin for the first 4 days, but came home & he’s only on plavix now, so it seems to be the “norm”. It should certainly prevent further clots, which is exactly what you want.
(Thanks Brigitte for the lovely compliment, you kind lady, but I’m not really an expert on this – still learning – clotting is a very complicated subject with so many factors being involved – I only have a “reasonable” overview).
Please tell us how she is when you get her home – thinking about you
Love Sheena xoxox
Meghan,
I can not give you any advice on the heparin, that would be Sheena’s specialty:) All I want to say is I am thrilled Gabby is coming home where she belongs! You will see that she will make great progress once she is in her familiar environment. Make sure to take it easy. She will need lots of rest to heal. She will probably eat pretty good, the steroids make her hungry like crazy. She will also be thirsty like crazy so have clean water available for her all the time. Don’t be alarmed if there are some accidents, what goes in must come out:) But if you take her out lots that should not be a problem.
I am so happy for you that Gabby will be home soon, best wishes,
Brigitte
Hi Meghan
I am really sorry to hear poor Gabby has this disease – the treatment your vets are giving looks superb & they are covering everything very well. As Brigitte says, they must suspect an infection of some kind if she is on doxycycline – that is the best antibiotic for killing off tick diseases & such things. Vally & Brigitte have already given you some brilliant advice & I couldn’t agree with them more. Please try & stay positive for Gabby – vets always tell you the bad side because they have to point out the worst scenario. When you go to see her, try & be as happy as you can – I know how difficult this is. I never cried in front of Worzel – I just went & sobbed my heart out in the garden where he couldn’t see or hear me. The rest of the time, I was completely determined to beat this damn thing – I believe our emotions & feelings rub off on our dogs – they are psychic for sure!
Triggers are many – I personally have always used Frontline Plus (Combo here in France) because of the millions of ticks we have around here. I’ve not heard of a case triggered by that particular treatment, but I have heard about cases triggered by vaccinations, certain heartworm medications, certain drugs & many tick diseases. My dog Worzel had ehrlichiosis (unbeknown to us – he may have had it for some time, even years) & then he was vaccinated, despite my saying he was under the weather. I could kick myself of course. The combination of the two gave him bone marrow failure because his immune system went right up the creek. At the end of the day, some people never find out exactly what triggered this in their dog or cat – and it’s no-ones fault that this happens, so you must never, ever blame yourself.
Regarding the abnormal clotting, this is very common with the disease & having a transfusion exacerbates the risk too. The treatment looks excellent & I would imagine they won’t let Gabby come home until those clots are starting to disperse. I also imagine you will have to continue with the heparin injections if you take her home – are you OK with that? I can help you with how to do that if you need advice – it is normally given subcutaneously & needs a “sideways” technique – you’ll soon catch on! There is no real “time” that anyone can give you for this to happen – in humans, some people’s clots disperse quicker than others, so you have to be patient & careful. Sometimes changing the anti-clotting medication is necessary if the clots are not responding – just a matter of watching what’s happening – is she having regular ultrasounds?
I personally like heparin treatment – it is commonly used successfully for IMHA dogs in many studies, for example Cornell University Vet Hospital. It is a standard treatment over here for people who have knee/hip replacements (6 weeks course of injections) & is often use for clot dispersal – good stuff. For clot dispersal, it would only be stopped when the clots have gone, then you continue with aspirin or clopidogrel to prevent further clots from forming. Once Gabby’s immune system is stabilised with the IMHA drug treatment, the clotting risk will become less & less – let’s hope that happens very soon, fingers crossed. Her PCV is already improving & that is great news.
Please feel free to send us anything in the way of test results & ask us anything you want to – I had a million questions when Worzel was first diagnosed & it’s hard to get your head around everything. Let us know how things are going as often as you can – we will all be thinking about you.
Sending loads of love & a big hug for you – and a very gentle hug & a kiss for Gabby
Sheena, Worzel (diagnosed Dec 2012) & his friend Ollie xxxxx
Meghan,
there are many possibilities for triggers. You are definitely on the right track with all you mentioned. Vaccines, insecticides, certain medications and also stress. Please don’t blame yourself though. Most of us had never heard of AIHA/IMHA before our dogs got ill. And as far as I know there is no way to tell if a dog is predisposed to getting it. it seems there are certain breeds we see more than others, but there are not many breeds or mixes that we have not seen.
I think you should be very hopeful that Gabby will recover from this. If you come across a vet who is not giving you much hope, please just brush it off. Maybe he want’s to paint it black and then when Gabby is recovering he is the hero:) We know many dogs here that have recovered and lived many happy and healthy years after that. I think it is very important to stay positive and bring that across to your dog. If you are constantly worrying and fretting, your dog will feel that, be insecure what is going on and you guessed it, be stressed. You certainly don’t want that. So please Meghan, be positive and confident that Gabby will be just fine. It will take time and you will have to be patient, but it will happen!
Best wishes,
Brigitte
Hello Meghan,
please don’t apologize for long posts! We want to know as much as possible, so long posts are more than ok. It was great to read what your vet has done for Gabby, they really know what t hey are doing and it is good to know she is in good hands. I totally understand that you want to take her home and I think you should as soon as it is possible. With this disease (or any other) dogs should be in their familiar environment to get better and heal. The question is, how close are you to your vet? If it is not too far, you could always go in and get a quick PCV check, to make sure Gabby is not loosing precious red blood cells. I am pretty sure you will notice if she would decline. It would be pretty much the same as it was with her initial diagnosis. No food intake, not moving and just not being herself. I am also pretty sure that the vet would not let you take her home if they were not sure that she is stable. Once that is the case, don’t worry, she does not have to be under doctors supervision. All she needs is to get her meds on time (take Vally up on that meds chart!) have good food and lots of TLC. It is a big job but you can do it! We are here to support you so please keep those long posts coming and ask anything that comes to mind.
I was glad to read Gabby is on a stomach protectant, with he hash drugs that is so important. Do you know if they suspect a tick parasite? Is that why she is on the antibiotic? I would also talk to the vet about getting something to help Gabby protect her liver. We usually recommend Sam-E, Denamarin. An other great supplement is petinic. What are you feeding Gabby? You might want to look at Dr. Doods liver sparing diet:
http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Liver%20cleansing%20diet.htm
You can replace the fish with chicken or turkey, just remember it should be lean.
Please keep us posted, best wishes,
Brigitte
Hiya Susie
You should be very happy! 38 is normal – some dogs who have never had AIHA will have a normal PCV lower than that, or the same – 35 is the lowest “normal”. If you don’t know what her PCV was before the illness, it’s hard to say what her “personal normal” level should be for certain. It might well go up in the future, but you have every reason to be happy. The protein level of 7 is within normal parameters for this test result to be accurate too (6.5-8.0). Congratulations, Susie & dear Emily
Love Sheena & the boys xxxxx
Hey Alyssa, you have done the right thing. What a huge sigh of relief you must have let out – so did I – BRILLIANT! If you doubt your vet, it is a horrible position to be in. If you trust your vet, it is such a happy position to be in. You fought hard for your girl.
Love Sheena xxxxx
PS Yipppeeeee!
![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\\"")
