Forum Replies Created
Lynda
Please tell me they have tested for tick disease. These are rather classic symptoms of certain tick diseases, not all, but for most of them (not all) it would respond to high dose, long term doxycycline treatment. And we are talking twice the dosage most vets are willing to dose and we are talking for as long as 8-10 weeks. My local vet? She is adamant that if there is a possibility of a tick disease, she says “why mess around? Treat it hard and long immediately.”
Just trust me on this, I have been on a tick forum list since 2007 and have seen these descriptions by owners a few hundred times.
You may hear things like “we don’t have a history of tick disease in “X”, but the world is changing and ticks are on the move. They don’t honor border lines on a map and will go wherever there is a meal and the opportunity presents itself. In the US there are actually two new tick diseases that I know of that either didn’t exist before or have migrated from some other location.
So just a thought, something to RULE OUT. Once ruled out, then you narrow the other choices. I can help you go through those other choices.
my best
patrice
Terri,
I am sorry that the news you are receiving is not good. I can’t imagine how upset you are.
I built this website for everyone who has a dog or cat and needs help with just about anything. There is no time limit on your stay and there is plenty we can still help you with.
Many of the folks who are posting to you have stayed for a long time, well past when their dogs recovered or passed. My dog Chance, who this site is dedicated to, passed from an unrelated heart condition 5 years ago. I promised, in his memory, that I would never let an owner go through this alone. Each time I read a new owner’s plea for help, I remember all over again the terrifying panic I felt about Chance. I had no one to talk with and I felt a huge weight on my shoulders.
Please stay here and visit with us often. You are welcome for as long as you wish to be here. We will work through what is wrong with Koda.
my best, patrice
Thought you all might appreciate the addition to our business website… Jack’s Deals! It’s my memorial for my buddy at http://www.rv-center.net

Terri,
I am glad to see that you were able to get into your vet office.
You know, when Chance was on these drugs, (and so too with all dogs on prednisone) his liver enzymes were very high and he was in a lot of pain. What does this mean?
Drugs must be metabolized in the body to be useful. In the case of some of these drugs we use to treat AIHA, IMHA and non-regenerative anemia, the liver is the organ that metabolizes these drugs. Each time you give prednisone, for instance, the liver is the organ that breaks down the drug and makes it available to the body. And each time this happens, some of the liver cells are damaged. They release enzymes into the blood which are markers of this damage. The chem screen monitors Alkaline phosphatase (ALKP) and Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), among others. These values can become very high in our dogs during treatment.
We can’t avoid this situation, unfortunately, because this treatment is necessary to save their lives. However, this inflammation can be darn uncomfortable for a dog. The liver can be extremely swollen and tender. And this was the case with Chance. His ALKP was many many thousands of times higher than normal for instance. I noticed him groaning and having trouble laying down. He no longer wanted to get on anything soft like the couch or bed. I asked Dr. Dodds about this and she told me he is in pain because of his swollen liver.
I am betting that this is the case with Koda. Take a look at the most recent chem screen test results and tell me what the ALKP and ALT are. I bet they are very high. But before you worry, the liver is a very regenerative organ and can survive severe insults. If there was no organic disease before now, then most likely once you decrease the prednisone the liver will recover.
What do you do right now to make him more comfortable? Well, here is what Dr. Dodds had me do. I used a supplement called Denamarin, which is a veterinary blend of silybin and Sam-e. That supplement is known to assist the regeneration of liver cells very well. Once I started him on that his liver enzymes began to drop FAST.
The other thing that Dr. Dodds recommends is her liver cleansing diet. It generally consists of some type of white fish and some vegetables like green beans and white potatoes or yams. Why does this work?
The liver has the job of processing many things, including the old worn out red blood cells in our body (and in AIHA, all the destroyed cells). It does have to work to do this. So the thought is to reduce the work load of the liver by also removing all red blood cells from the diet. When we eat meat those RBC must be processed too. So thus we change the protein to a food that doesn’t contain RBC.
I, too, am a little uncertain about the aspirin. The risk is giving it to him if his platelets are low which can hamper is ability to clot internally. Do you know what value is last test showed for this? PLT.
However, any dog that is currently still actively destroying red blood cells, via the autoimmune destruction, is at risk of developing certain conditions in their vessels that make them at high risk for abnormal clotting. That’s what the aspirin is given for, to reduce that risk of abnormal dangerous clots. We are all worried about this condition called DIC disseminated intravascular coagulation.
Your vet needs to work closely with you to determine what his risk is for this, vs what his risk of low platelets is. We are all sitting on the edge of our seats right now for you.
Do dogs survive this? Of course they do, we are happy to always say that. I have seen some amazing recoveries, beyond belief. Owners play a large role in these recoveries, their home nursing care is so important.
my best
patrice
Terri,
Good luck. I think this will go smoothly. It’s really a simple thing, a second opinion.
That is exactly why we do this for you, we want no regrets, we certainly have enough of our own to go around…. We want you to be able to make the best decisions you can with the knowledge you had at the time. That is all any of us can do. We understand how much Kodi means to you.
Seeing a specialist is a really good start. If this falters, then you can also contact Dr. Dodds, another specialist, who will consult with you and your vet long distance. Many of us have saved our dog’s lives with her help. The consultation fee is $100, very reasonable.
You can see the links to information about Dr. Dodds and Hemopet here:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/hemopetresources/
You are off work now for two days? That will be good for both of you. Kodi really does need to see you, as happy as you can be, it is good for his health.
my best, patrice



