Comments on: Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia: Not my dog’s best friend

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:59:00 +0000

That’s fascinating about the tick bite because I clearly remember getting one off Molly a year or so before. I’ll tell my vet. Maybe this will be a breakthrough that will help others…

These weird fevers and viruses that attack the immune system are scary. A friend of mine has spent half of the past month in the hospital with low white count and fevers and they still aren’t sure what he has.

Keep in touch about Simba. I know it’s not funny at the time, but I always smile when I read about your efforts to get your 100+ dog into a car. Molly is very transportable at 16 pounds!

By: Cbailey5150

Cbailey5150 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:02:00 +0000

Yes It is absolutely amazing. She is still in the hospital 6 days now and still not sure if she will make it. My Vet has been doing lots of tests and a specialist in Dallas has now found out Why the IMHA is happening. They said as some time in her life she was exposed to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from a tick. What is strange to me and I told the Vet as well, that I don.t remember ever having seen a tick on her. Always have had to fight fleas’s but not ticks. Vet said she probably found it and got rid of it herself. Vet said this has been dormant for a long time and is probably the reason that in 2004 or 2005 she was diagnosed with epilepsy and have been treating her for seizures. I dont understand alot about IMHA but it appears there is an underlying reason that it happens and when they find that the real treatment can begin.
Thank you Jane for the well wishes, all I can do is pray she can beat this terrible thing.

By: Cbailey5150

Cbailey5150 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:01:00 +0000

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Hope Simba is doing better. Isn’t this doggie blood transfusion an amazing thing. They actually have doggie donors willing to give.

By: Cbailey5150

Cbailey5150 — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:40:00 +0000

My baby girl Simba is having a transfusion right now. I just got word that it is IMHA. She is about 10 years old and is a yellow lab mix. She started out having seizures, which she is prone to when she gets sick as she is also epileptic. These were not the normal Grand Mal seizures. They seemed alot less severe, but almost continual. The Vet did blood work and said everything looked good except an elevated white blood cell count. They put her back on phenabarbital for seizures and gave a broad spectum antibiotic shot. She seemed to be doing better for a while when I had returned home with her. She seemed to get disoriented every time she sat up so she would almost immediatly lay back down. My biggest problem with all of this was getting her to the car to get her to the Vet. When a 103 lb dog doesn’t want to budge it’s all about bribery with treats and so forth. All prayers for my sweet baby are appreciated. I wish you all the best of luck.
Carol

By: Jane

Jane — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:10:00 +0000

Several years ago, Molly went through a similar bout with that version of IMHA–bleeding at all orifices, etc. There’s an excellent VCA urgent care specialty hospital in Sacramento and she ended up there for a week. This latest bout of IMHA, that you read about in my post, was the opposite. I think the fact that she had a transfusion is probably why she made it through. Veterinary medicine has caught up to human medicine, but it is expensive.

My thoughts are with you, Mary Jo
Jane

By: Mary Jo

Mary Jo — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:16:00 +0000

Our dog Meeka, an Miniature American Eskimo, age 6 years, 11 months old. She started with real bad breath, which improved with teeth cleaning and then returning about 4 months later. One day she was fine. Next morning she was fine and played outside. Didn’t eat much. Around 4PM she was restless and went to the basement and into her pen. Didn’t want to be bothered. Next morning we noticed her eye was bloodshot. Then a couple of hours later, both eyes were bloodshot. We made an appointment with the Vet. He thought at first it was from rat poison. Further test showed it was IMHA. Gave her a shot of vitamin K and sent us home with Amoxitabs and Prednisone. She had no fever but there was signs of blood in and around her teeth and gums. She went thru the night and once asked to go outside. She just layed on the cool ground. The next day she was worse. She vomited up dried blood twice and was real restless. She went into a coma and died in our arms 2 hours later. We had never heard of IMHA before and wonder if anyone else had a dog that had the same progression. Yes, we used prayer but she went from being fine to death in 53 hours.

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:22:00 +0000

@Nancy,
I’m so sorry to hear about Millie. I never heard of a pain med being responsible for it. Molly had had heartworm meds right before she got sick, but my vet didn’t think that was related. What a horrible Christmas for you! I hope 2012 will look up.