Camilla, AIHA-dog from Italy

[Sheena]

Oh Eleonora! I’m so sorry. That’s my fault not reading your message closely enough. I hope YOU haven’t got anaemia!

Because Camilla is on pred, the aim is to stop the T-Lymphocytes from attacking things they shouldn’t. It doesn’t usually work well enough on it’s own to get a good recovery & I’m expecting they will want you to add another drug. These T-Lymphocytes can destroy bone marrow cells too (as well as blood cells in circulation) which is probably what’s happened to Camilla. Worzel’s reticulocytes were being destroyed in the very early stages of development in his bone marrow, so none of them got a chance to get into his bloodstream – this was turned around by the addition of a second drug & those reticulocytes started to pop out in their thousands!

As Vally says, Camilla’s doing OK, & I’m sure the haematologist will tell you more soon. Hope you had a lovely Christmas!

Love Sheena & the boys xxxxx

[eleonora]

Hi Sheena, don’t worry! ;) I have hashimoto’s thyroiditis but i’m not anemic … and think that I do not eat much meat! Yesterday (Sunday!) I had to call the hematologist on his mobile phone so I would not drown questions, we just fixed the next date for the control (Wednesday morning), as soon as I see him I’ll ask him questions. Yes, we have spent a good Christmas day, thanks! I hope you too. Yesterday we brought camilla to the park and we took off the leash: she trotted quite a while. of course, she didn’t run, but she had a good pace. she didn’t look like a sick dog. I noticed that she is apathetic when is inside our home and beginning to wonder if, by chance, she is a little jealous of the baby (my daughter is 9 months old)…i don’t know… but I suspect that her apathy not only depend on the sickly or prednisone…however I will let you know what the hematologist says.

[Sheena]

Hi Eleonora & Camilla

Good luck on Wednesday – I’m really happy she is enjoying her walk – it’s so important to see them having fun & she’s obviously feeling pretty good! You may be right about the baby! Who knows what goes through dog’s minds, but Retrievers are normally great family pets & good with children. Maybe she just hasn’t enough energy though – Worzel was very lethargic until his levels came right up – hoping for good results Wednesday for you. Keep us posted!

Love Sheena, Worzel & Ollie xxxx

[eleonora]

Hi girls! i’m just back from the clinic. First of all: camilla’s blood count is going another little bit better!!!! :)) now she has 4.8 RBC…. i think for you this is a normal value, in italy it isn’t…. for us the minimum is 5.6, but we are quite near!!!! when she’ll arrive at 5.6 i’ll open a bottle of champagne!!! :D about the antibodies: at the last control she hadn’t antibodies against RBC. the hematologist says it means that in this moment there isn’t an autoimmune process in her body. that’s a great thing!!!!!!!! he doesn’t use the term “autoimmune anemia” but the term “immune-mediated anemia”. He thinks that something unspecified, such as an inflammatory process, has triggered this reaction in her immune system. he tells me to decrease again the prednisone a little bit (from 1 and 1/2 tablets to 1 a day), we’ll do another control on january the 8th. The
only “small” problem that remains are reticulocytes that, according to him, although in the normal range, are a little few . the ideal would be to have a value higher than the normal range. however he wants to wait a while and see if Camilla continues to improve. if her RBC return to normal values, he will not submit camilla to the marrow’s levy, otherwise he will have to do it to know why her body doesn’t regenerate enough. Finally, he told us to use great caution with vaccines. Camilla is not hyper-vaccinated, every year she only do the recall for leptospirosis and heartworm (and rabies only if we have to travel, for example to go on holiday …. depending on the destination is required to make the vaccine for rabies, but he told us that from this year also in Italy the length of rabies vaccine was increased to three years (before the recall was annual). he told us that camilla shouldn’t do the live-attenuated vaccines, but use other types of vaccines. for heartworm, for example, she will not receive the injection that has always done but she must take the tablets. however he ruled out that this immune-mediated anemia was caused by a vaccine because it’s occurred many months after the recalls. He explained that if the vaccine is the cause, the anemia occurs within 2-3 weeks after the recall. that’s all for now! good last year!!! our best wishes for a happy 2016, possibly without drugs! Eleonora& Camilla

[Sheena]

Hi Eleonora

The term IMHA is broadly used today – it’s very good news all round from your visit & I think you should be really happy right now!

See
http://www.2ndchance.info/normaldogandcatbloodvalues.htm
and open the champagne anyway. Camilla is doing OK!

I would not give my Worzel any vaccinations again. Full stop. Do you travel a lot? Rabies vaccinations for example, actually last for 5-7 years anyway when looking at titre tests! Your vet is right – I use Dr Dodds guidelines:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/vaccine-resources/

In europe, we have COMPLETELY different laws from the USA. Here in France we are not forced by law to give any vaccinations at all, but if I wanted to take Worzel back to the UK, I would have to give him a rabies vaccination or get a titre test. So we’ll just have to stay here! You need to check the law in Italy. We do not have heartworm (yet) in this region of France (further south, they do), but I would check out the risks in your area & use Dr Dodds guidelines – some heartworm preventatives are known AIHA/IMHA triggers, so please be very careful.

Can I remind you about the thyroid issues – I am concerned that low thyroid/ lack of thyroxine is holding Camilla back from GREAT recovery.

Have a very happy New Year & please celebrate Camilla’s improvement!

Love & hugs
Sheena, Worzel & Ollie xxxx

[admin]

Hi Eleonora.

I’m sorry I’m so late coming into this, but just wanted to say hello and welcome to you and Camilla. I have lots of catching up to do, but can see that things seem to be going in the right direction, which is fantastic.

I hope that you will be cracking open the champagne tomorrow. Wishing you and your girl and happy and healthy 2016.

Mary and Mable x

[Brigitte]

Hello Eleonora,
your vet does not think it was vaccinations that triggered the AIHA/IMHA. It is always such a detective work to try and find out what did. I think that it is usually not just one thing that triggers it. Maybe the immune system has been in overload from the vaccinations, then you add heart worm protection and maybe a third thing like flea control or some other chemical brings the barrel to over flow. I would definitely never immunize a dog that has recovered form AIHA unless required by law. Always do a titer test to make sure the dog is not already immune. A vaccine can not make immunity better if the dog is already immune. Dr. Dodds actually does not recommend to vaccinate for Leptosporosis, there are just too many side effects.
I know that Sheena is right on suggesting that Camilla is taking a thyroid supplement. I remember my dog making a big jump after we started to give it to him. Camilla is really doing great but the thyroxin could give it that extra push.
You are doing a great job Eleonora, you have good reason to crack that champagne!
Happy New Year from Canada,
Brigitte

[eleonora]

hi girls!this morning, Camilla had her control. Unfortunately this week she has not improved: the red blood cells and reticulocytes were exactly the same level of 30 December. the hematologist asked us if we wanted to wait another week to see what was going on or if we wanted to make the marrow’s levy to find out why her body doesn’t regenerate sufficiently. we decided to make the marrow’s levy immediately and now we are awaiting the results. I want to know exactly what’s the problem in camilla’s body, i hope this time to have an exhaustive answer. the hematologist told us that there could be a cause that prevents sufficient regeneration but also told us that in some cases the dogs who have had episodes of immune-mediated anemia can never go back to a normal level of red blood cells. I will let you know the results ….