Bunny and Wendi

[admin]

I am posting this on behalf of Bunny who contacted us about her Westie, Wendi.

“My westie Wendi was presented to the emergency clinic on 4/29/14. she has AMHA she also has diabetes and is 12yrs. old. today she is on prednisone 7mg 1x aday. atopica 50ml. 2x a day. famotidine 10mg 2x a day.and humulin n 11 units 2x a day. aspirin 5mg 1x a day. today she is doing well. almost normal. her pcv was 11. now is up to 39. she also had a blood transfusion.”

[admin]

Hi Bunny

First of all, I’m really glad you found us, but so sorry to hear Wendi has been diagnosed with this disease, on top of being diabetic, poor girl. The improvement in PCV is very good news & the treatment your vet is using seems to be working for her. Could you tell us roughly how much Wendi weighed before she became ill? I am asking because the prednisone dosage is rather lower than that usually prescribed (2mg per kilo)  – have you already started to reduce it?  I am pleased to see tummy protection & anti-clotting medications are there in addition to the immuno-suppressants. I presume she’s just had the one blood transfusion – when was that? Sorry – we are in the habit of asking loads of questions so that we can help you more! I have loads more I would like to ask you, but don’t want to bombard you just yet. How is Wendi doing in herself? We all know they suffer from the side effects of the drugs quite a bit sometimes. Please know we are here for moral support & advice – feel free to ask any questions YOU would like to.

Best wishes to you & dear Wendi
Sheena, Worzel & Ollie

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by admin.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by admin.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by admin.

[Patrice]

Hi Bunny,
We are glad you are here to get help for Wendi!

So it sounds like she is doing pretty well right now. Are you seeing a specialist or your regular vet? Please ask for copies of all the blood work they have done. We can help you understand it better.

What does the vet say about Wendi’s future treatment? Do they have anything to say about her diabetes? Sometimes prednisone can cause a dog to either develop diabetes or it can make it worse if they already have it. But it is really good that they have prescribed Atopica, that will help a great deal.

Please let us know more about Wendi!
my best, patrice

[admin]

Dear Bunny

Welcome, and I’m glad you have found us, although sorry to hear that Wendi has this horrible disease. Still, it does sound like she is making excellent progress and her medication list sounds good. Is she at home with you now? She’s a pretty girl!

I’m sure that you have lots of questions and we will ask you lots too, but for now I just want to welcome you to the site and to say that we have all been through this and know what a difficult time it is, so will understand a lot of the worries you might have.

Keep up the good work Wendi!

Mary and Mable x

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by admin.

[Vally]

Hi Bunny, welcome to the forum. I’m sorry your Wendi has been diagnosed with this disease. Sheena and Patrice have asked some good questions to help know what’s happened and happening. They are great with interpreting blood works and know their meds. Please post when you can.

Regards, Vally & Bingo (diagnosed Nov 2011, in remission)

[bunny & windi]

Wendi, weighed 18 lbs. the day she went to the clinic. she started on 5.5mg. 2x a day that was on 4/27/14. on 5/20/14 they cut it to 1x a day. she has had only one transfusion so far, that was on the same day 4/27/14. the only side effects are drinking a lot of water & urinating a lot. her glucose is very high because of the pred. she has gone from 7 units to 11 units. its still high . check it with urine strips 4 times a day. vet office checks it 3 x a week. thanks Bunny & wendi

[bunny & windi]

i can get copies of her blood work any time. i am 71 years old. worked for a vet 25 yrs. still go to the office 2 or 3 times a week for a few hours a week. i had a westie that had addisons disease. but i never heard of AIHA diease . will keep intouch with you because a lot of things i don’t understand. regular vets i go to but they talk to specialists at the emergency clinic where she got her transfusion. thanks again bunny & wendi

[Vally]

Bunny, Westie Wendy is just beautiful.

None of us had ever heard of AIHA before we received the news at the vet. I don’t believe it is very common at all and that’s why it’s better to be under a specialist. If your vet is consulting with a specialist, that’s great.

As Sheena mentioned, the prednisone seems low for the weight but perhaps that’s because of the diabetes, I’m not sure. She seems to be doing very well though and she has just moved back into the normal range with a PCV of 39.

The reduction of 50% in prednisone is a big reduction, but again, I’m wondering if that’s because of the diabetes. Dropping the prednisone quickly can cause a relapse so it’s usually better to drop down no more than 20-25% at a time with checks before and after and waiting at least a month before any further reductions. Bingo, my boy, did relapse twice when reducing, because we did it too quickly, so keep an eye on Wendy, but I can see you’re already doing that. Does the vet check the PCV also when Wendy goes in to check her urine?

Ask anything at all. The people on this forum are wonderful. Patrice and Sheena are brilliant at interpreting blood results, so if you post them, they can help you to understand them.

My very best, Vally & Bingo