Page 70 – Second Chance AIHA Dogs

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Keymaster

Looking REALLY good Mike – I bet you are thrilled at Lola’s improvement. I hope she is feeling much better & getting back to her usual self.

My opinion is that the aza reduction & Pet Tinic have helped. Without the “building blocks” for making blood cells such as folate & Vit B12, you will get little or no improvement. It is extremely rare for pred to suppress bone marrow in humans except in the elderly – I can’t find anything to say it’s any different in dogs. Aza is far more well known as a bone marrow suppressant. A simplified view – prednisone stops red cell destruction (haemolysis) and destruction of other cells too by suppressing the action of T-lymphocytes which have “accidentally” targeted the body’s own cells. Azathioprine does this too – it takes longer to do this & can definitely suppress the bone marrow. Bone marrow failure can also occur as an immune-mediated response (as in Worzel’s case) & the pred & aza can actually help stop this happening. Does this help at all?

Atopica does not normally suppress the bone marrow; that is why it is used in preference to aza by many vets these days. However, it did work well for Worzel. His improvement in PCV was directly correlated to the aza dose being lowered. Every month we lowered it & his PCV went up. I offered to send you a spread sheet which shows that. You can also see a huge improvement in his haemoglobin level with the folate supplement – haemoglobin level is also very important. We reduced the pred to zero before starting the aza reduction & I saw very little difference in PCV with the pred reduction, so you are right to take it slowly. I appreciate Lola’s scenario is different from Worzel, but the trends seem to have been the same for many of us on here.

We all need to be very aware that dogs that are unable to absorb the essential nutrients from their food because of any kind of malabsorption problems are in the same position – poor PCV/haemoglobin, so will always need extra help from supplements like Denamarin & even B12 injections & antibiotics, pre/probiotics to get the gut bacteria back to normal.

PCV can even vary up to a difference of 4 or 5 with changes in pred – that is not uncommon. It also depends on their level of hydration/dehydration. So a small difference is nothing to worry about – a recheck in a few days is the easiest way to put our minds at rest! In my nursing (& personal) experience, pred always has some effect, even at low doses. That is why some dogs need to take a low dose forever. No big deal if that happens as long as their are well & happy.

Fingers crossed for a good result tomorrow!

Sheena

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