Benny's Fight for life

[Jodi N]

So glad I found this website and forum. It has been so helpful to read everyone’s stories. Thanksgiving evening my little Benny became very ill very quickly! Upon evaluation at our emergency animal hospital he was given the dreaded diagnosis of idiopathic IMHA He had a 4 day stay with two blood transfusions. He was sent home on prednisone, nexium, mycophenolate and blood thinner. We have watched our little baby go through bouts of diarrhea, lack of appetite, not wanting to drink and having absolutely no energy! We have gone through the anxiety of the up and down Pcv blood tests. It is a horrible disease. I feel like we have taken our dog to the brink of death then brought him back. He was so sick from the disease and the side effects from the medicines. For all of you that are dealing with a recent diagnosis, please know things will usually get worse before it can potentially gets better. Don’t give up hope! It has been 21 days and Benny has reached a Pcv of 38%!!! We are now waiting and hoping he holds this number so we can eventually start to decrease the prednisone! He will need to continue the mycophenolate for a while then we will eventually work at reducing this as well….. feeling happy but nervous. For the owners who’s babies struggled with stomach upset, my vet had us use sulcrafate. It helped so much with the stomach upset from the pred. We crushed the tablets and added a tiny bit of water to dissolve it then gave it to him via oral syringe. When he had diarrhea we used liquid metronidazole. It worked well but he absolutely hated it. We are set to have his next pcv test this weekend ….fingers crossed.

[Vally]

Jody, thanks for starting this thread and I’m glad you found us too.

Sucralfate is the best stuff for tummies (Bingo disagrees). Whenever he saw me coming towards him with the syringe of it, he’d start shaking his head as though he’d already been dosed and was trying to get the taste out of his mouth.

Vally & Bingo

[Ramona]

Hi Jodi! Glad your Benny has shown great improvement. You are right it does feel like we take our beloved fur babies to the brink of death. Transfusions sound scary, but seems like they worked well for your Benny. What breed/kind of dog is he? Do you have any idea what may have triggered the IMHA? I know there’s a variety of theories about that and my husband thinks it’s coincidence, but for my Charlie I swear it was the vaccination he got 2 weeks before his health took a dive. Thanks for your encouraging message.

[Jodi]

Ramona I actually took Benny initially to the vet for his vaccinations and had him tested for Lyme’s disease. He did not show any symptoms of having limes disease but did test positive so my vet suggested we hold off on the vaccines and treat him for his Lymes disease. Two days shy of finishing his treatment is when he got ill. My Vet that has a strong feeling in his experience that tick bites can trigger IMHA. But there is strong belief that vaccines can trigger it as well. I just don’t think the vet community is really sure. Benny’s was determined to be idiopathic meaning no specific reason that caused it. My Vet does a lot of work with lymes disease and clinics and has said that sometimes when the disease is treated it fights back and becomes very active and this may have triggered his I MH A. I was told by several specialists that if I had him vaccinated earlier that month he probably would have died because his immune system would’ve been in hyperdrive and would’ve been difficult to suppress in time. I just took him to the vet last night and his P CV was 46% which is considered normal so we plan to stabilize him for two weeks then start to decrease his prednisone. At this point the prednisone is not doing much because the mycophenolate has kicked in. We will keep him on the mycophenolate over the next six months and slowly start to decrease the dose and keep our fingers crossed that his disease is in remission . We also have discontinued his blood thinner. As to your question what type of dog is Benny …..he is a “Dachshund/Yorkie mix,we believe and guessing about 4 years old…..we rescued him about 3 years ago. I real sweetie and quite a strong little dog …..every night we had a heart to heart and I would encourage him to keep fighting and that I would do everything to give him the best shot at beating this. Unfotunately he still has a long way to go but we are thankful for every day we get to spend with him! I wish the very best for your Charlie…..I hope that he beats this!!!!!!!

[Jodi]

Sorry for the typos and spelling. I was trying to speak into my phone and it doesn’t always get it right..

[Ramona]

So happy to hear of Benny’s progress, 46% PVC is awesome! He sounds like a cutie! Thanks for the well wishes. Charlie had a blood test today. We find out results tomorrow.

[Vally]

Jodi, this is great news. Good work Benny!! Yes totally agree, vaccinations can cause this disease as well as tick bites. Your vet sounds awesome. Keep it UP Benny.

Vally and Bingo
Xxx

[Sara]

Jodi so glad to hear your Benny is making it. My girl Flossie has made it so far. Diagnosed in April this year 2016 .. now off all meds and in remission. It took 5 weeks before she responded and she too had a tick bite last year although she tested negative and she too is considered idiopathic as well. At the 4 week mark of her IMHA she had 3 blood transfusions, had a immunoglobulin shot, was on an antibiotic for lyme disease just in case and she was on mycophenolate and finally at 4 weeks they considered her non-regenerative we held out hope and asked for another med they gave us cyclosporine and 10 days later she responded and started making RBC’s again .. it’s been uphill from there. 14 days ago she was taken off last med and so far doing well. It’s a crazy disease. I wish all vets went through the tough protocol our vet did. When I read what some vets do it’s just not enough and so many dogs pass on I think because they don’t have aggressive vets. Although some pass too because they just weren’t caught in time as well or bodies just are not strong enough. Anyhow glad to hear Benny is going so good !