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- English springer AIHA Bone Marrow Aspiration
Hi I have an English Springer Spaniel Flossie She is 3 yrs of age. On April 21st after refusing to eat and heavy panting I thought she may have a flu and fever and turned her over to put a cold cloth on her tummy. I noticed her tummy was yellow ( jaundice). I immediately took her to our local Pet ER .. ( on hind sight she had been showing signs the week prior, such as not wanting to go for a walk, when walking being slow moving, a few times she let out moans while laying on the bed, not eating as much etc. but we thought it was due to change in weather it had gotten hot and she doesn’t like the heat )
Upon arriving At the ER her PCV was at 25 at Midnight . By Morning it dropped to 12 and they cross matched her blood type and began blood transfusion. Along with Medications ~ Prendisone ~ Baytril ~ doxycycline ~ Methaphenolate ~ Folic Acid and Vitamin b-12 shot ~ (Folic acid and baytril were introduced a few days later)
She did have 2 tick bites last year when we traveled to TX from CA. Thus the Doxycycline. Test came back negative for tick but they said those tests can five a false negative so felt best course of action is to treat just in case.
Also have sent out a genetic test to University of Penn but that test will be sometime before returning.
Either the 24th or 25th her PCV dropped to 18 and they gave her a second blood transfusion. She then bounced back to 25.6 By the 27th she had dropped to 20 Reticulocytes 10,000 the 28th up to 21 and reticulocytes 12,000.
We added on the 30th at my asking if there were any additional things we could add naturally for help ( 400mg Sam-E, 300 Mg Milk Thistle, 1711 mg Omegas, 500mg Blue green algae)
Today May 2nd she is now down to PCV 18. Reticulocytes at 18,000.
Now They would like to do a bone marrow aspiration. I have not read about any AIHA stories regarding bone marrow aspiration and how someones dog has faired through the procedure or the outcome and will this definitely bring an answer or not. I guess I’m even more afraid now .. I thought with all the treatment she would begin a turn around like many of the dogs I have read about. She is bright eyed great appetite of course drinking and peeing alot with steroid and looks good, even the Dr. commented how good she looks but that gums are pale and PCV slowly dropping.
Also removed Baytril from meds today. On the 28th and 29th after administering she began heavy breathing was dazed and could not get up . I gave it to her at 6p.m. and she was unable to get up until 4 a.m. at that time she was back to normal and remained that way the rest of the day administered again and same thing so called vet next morning .. we skipped a dose to see if it happened again .. it didn’t and then we administered lower dose following night ( Sunday) on lower dose she was able to get up but was dazed in her eyes and had heavy breathing for 2 hours. So Dr. said today not to give it to her any more.
Any thoughts to help us make a decision on what’s the best course to take would be appreciated. There was a mention of a third blood transfusion to give more time for the body to kick in a few days back, ( nothing mentioned of it today) but I know giving transfusions isn’t the best either .. so what to do …? Any support or help is much appreciated . Just as everyone else we love her so much and the thought of losing her is just horrible. We have gone a long way and we are willing to go further if need be but would like a little input, help etc …
Thanks so much for this forum looking forward to hearing back from someone.
Sara
Hi Sara, I’m so very sorry you’ve had to come looking and I’m sorry Flossie is so sick right now.
First of all, the marrow aspiration. My specialist said to me that whilst it may give them some information about what is going on, it doesn’t change the treatment, so we didn’t do it.
The transfusions, don’t be scared of them. Many dogs have needed a few of them to keep them going until the meds started working. They’re good things. Make sure, and I’m sure your vets have it right, not to transfuse over the 25% mark, or the body slows its red cell production down, thinking it has enough.
The reticulocytes are going the right way so that’s good. That means she’s making red blood cells, but the disease is still killing them off for now. Hopefully the drugs will stop that.
What does Flossie weigh and what is the dosage of the prednisone. Is she home with you? Is she on a second immunosuppresent?
Methaphenolate, is that the correct name? It’s not Mycophenolate is it? Methaphenolate I don’t believe is is an immunosuppressent. Mycophenolate IS. That’s why I’d like to check as most dogs do need a second immunosuppresent. The second drug of choice is usually cyclosporine, as it has fewer side effects that others.
Do you have a copy of blood test results? If not, please ask for them. If you send them through on the Urgent Advice, they are sent to the moderators and there are a few ladies here that understand them (not me) who can help to explain them to you.
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/urgent-advice/
Ask anthing at all, we’d love to help.
Regards, Vally & Bingo (diag Nov 2011, in remission)
Thank you for your quick response ..
Yes her vets won’t transfuse over 25% and said they really don’t like to transfuse until they hit 15 % ..
Flossie is 50.5 lbs. She is on Prendisone 20mg in A.m. and 30 mg in the evening.
I got the bottle on the medication and it is Mycophenolate 500 mg tablet 1/4 tablet given every 12 hours ..they told me what it was for but I am so stressed right now I can’t remember what.
She is home with me. She was in hospital from April 21st through the 26th and has been home since.
She is not on a second immunosuppressent. Dr. mentioned that she felt the Bone Marrow Aspiration was the direction to go before that because the aspiration would point them in the right direction and the 2nd immunosuppressent came with it’s own set of issues…
I will call now and see if they will e-mail me her CBC results from today.
Thank You .. Yes her appetite is veracious .. We are feeding Canned white chicken, with a little beef, mashed potatoes, and she has been wanting her dog food too .. ACANA Wild Prairie Formula,
She turns her nose up at Green Beans .. I tried Canned pumpkin because she always loved it ..but won’t eat it right now.
We are in an odd situation. My parents and I share a home .. My dad has chronic anemia due to health problems. We were moving out of state 1 yr ago got on the road and he became severly anemic and we had to return because there just wasn’t enough time to get him a specialist. Anyhow long story short we had no where to go but a hotel ..it’s taken that time for him to recover .. and we were literally planning leaving 3 days after Flossie got sick to head out of state again to move… Anyhow all that to say we are limited to being able to cook foods ..that’s why were are doing the canned foods .. or if anyhow else has any suggestions for what to feed we’ll be glad to take it all into consideration.
Thank you again for all your help !
Sorry, I’m very disjointed today (gee only today Vally???). I would stop the blue-green algae. That’s not proven to do anything, and in fact, the claim is that it can boost the immune system, and that is the opposite to what you want to do right now. We want to shut it down for now and let it reset.
Dr Jean Dodds is a specialist in immune matters and many times we’ve called on her for help. Her protocol for treating AIHA is to also use thyroxine, even if a dog is not hypothyroid. I can’t see a thyroid test result on the lab results, but don’t trust me on that. Thyroxine has often turned it around for dogs that couldn’t seem to improve. I’d ask about that.
Other things are aspirin if needed, but again, wait for someone to check the blood results. Stomach protection is usually recommended too as the drugs are very harsh on the stomach – the best is sucralfate – must be given away from other drugs.
Vally (again)
Sara, the food sounds fine. It’s best to keep it low fat as the liver is doing a hell of a job right now, and also high fats can cause pancreatitis, which we want to avoid, but the food you’re doing all sounds good. I’m glad she’s eating. No Bingo says green beans are not good for you too.
Vally
xxx