Dog diagnosed with IMHA

[Linda]

Hi Eric. Denamarin needs I prescription. I buy it from Amazon, but if you google it, it pops up on many pet supply web sites like chewy.com, 1-800petmeds.com. I have prime with Amazon do I get it there within 1-2 days. Now, it is sold in three sizes and all are noted by weight. Be sure to get the appropriate size. And THIS is the beauty of Denanarin – it’s precise amounts of SAMe and milk thistle. Great stuff. Sadie is on it now, along with Sucralfate (tummy) and Plavix (anti-clotting).

I agree with Brigitte too on the length of time it is taking to get these test results back. I complain all the time about how very slow Sadie’s vet is to get these results back and that’s only 3-4 days (which still, is nuts!).

I hope this helps. Keep asking – we’re here.

Love and hugs, Linda and Sadie

[Linda]

Oh Eric – I MEANT to write, Denamarin dies NOT need a prescription, and I buy from Amazon. All prescriptions – Atopuca (cyclosporine), prednisone, Placix, Sucralfate, etc., I get at Costco. Sorry – my fingers on this phone get confused.

Love and hugs, Linda

[Eric]

Thanks everyone. I think there was some confusion as to how long her test results would take. The 10-15 days I mentioned was for the amount of time it will have been since she last had blood thinners running through her body. The test results are in, but we are waiting for the vet to call us back to discuss them. Torrie pooped a little last night and I didn’t see any blood which is good, but I will continue to monitor that.

Now time for some uplifting news. Despite having a stroke, Torrie made significant improvements last night. She ate whatever was given to her (finally) to include chicken and rice, a couple of slices of turkey sandwich meat, a little BBQ pork, a dog treat, a couple of peanuts, and a goldfish cracker haha. I know not to give her those things, but seeing as how just 24 hours prior she was having to be force fed I wanted to what all she was up for. She was also up and walking around like she had been doing it all along. The past couple of weeks I have had to carry her from the living room to the bedroom because she was unable to maintain her balance on the laminate flooring. Well last night we were eating dinner and heard some click clack of nails and in comes Torrie, wobbly head and all. Later on we got up and went to the back room, and moments later, here comes Torrie. I don’t think I have smiled that much since this hole ordeal started. She certainly is a fighter and I pray she makes it through this.

I would love for you all to see how wonderful she is.

[Linda]

Oh Eric – this is awesome news!!!!! But please (I totally get what you’re saying though, about smiling – amazing how that happens!!!) don’t give her the ‘weird’ human food. This will only facilitate other problems. Keep it pretty bland Right now, I’m dealing with pancreatitis with Sadie. Not good. Trust me, keep it bland and low fat. But SO glad she’s eating. I’m smiling too!!!!

There is a Ulisd Tour Photo that you can use. It will go to Patrice and she will put it on the site for you. Do you see it? It’s with the rotating pictures of all our pups. Let me know if you have problems. We would all love to ‘meet’ Torrie!

Keep on keepin on – you’re doing great – just watch the diet and her girlish figure. ;)

Please let us know how Tortie is prigressing. She does sound like an awesome little fighter! That’s a huge part of getting her back to health. :)

Love and hugs, Linda

[Linda]

H, and good about the blood work, but still, they should not make you wait too know. I hound (no pun intended!) them until I get the results. They put up with me – they know I’m all about Sadie. 😉

Live and hugs, Linda

[Brigitte]

Good morning Eric!
It is only 7:30 am here, what a way to start the day!!! I am so happy Torrie is improving. This disease sure makes you celebrate the small improvements and celebrate you should! Yes we all understand that when they finally eat, you give them anything their little heart desires, we have all done it. But now you have to become tough. As Lind said, bland and very important, low fat. her is the link to Dr. Dodds liver cleansing diet that we recommend:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/nutrition-resources/#!mg_ld=13905
If you read it you see fish as one of the main ingredients. Please use white fish, not salmon (too fatty) and North American not Asian fish. The Asian fish (Basa) although very cheap is usually farmed in bad conditions and does not have much nutritional value. Unfortunately you get what you pay for. You can however also use lean turkey and chicken meat. Linda mentioned pancreatitis and she knows what she is talking about. The high doses of prednisone combined with fatty food predispose these dogs to it and it is painful and no fun. I want to again stress that you will get the sucralfate for Torrie. Even if she has no bleeding now, the drugs are very harsh on her intestines and unfortunately we have it seen all too often that dogs take a big step backwards because of bleeding ulcers. I really can not stress it enough. Also talk to your vet about liver protection. As a supplement we recommend petinic, it contains vitamin B, folic acid and iron. All very important to build blood.
Have a great day! Celebrate!!!
Best wishes,
Brigitte

[Sheena]

Hi Eric

What a beautiful girl & such a happy face! I’m glad to hear about how much she’s improved- fantastic news. I know we are raining on your parade a bit (sorry!), but as Linda & Brigitte say, we have to be careful with diet as we don’t want to add to their problems. So – proper boring good dog food from now, I’m afraid. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be over the moon – you really should be! I confess to resorting to the smelliest, fattiest Toulouse sausages when Worzel wasn’t eating much, but knew we had to “go sensible” when he got his appetite back.

We are all very wary of pancreatitis and ulceration because we have seen so many dogs on here succumb to those things – nothing we tell you is said lightly, I promise.

Adding denamarin/petinic AND sucralfate (please, please the sucralfate is SO important) will make a huge difference too.

Thanks for the lovely photo – she’s such a superstar! Come on Torrie – keep on getting better, you lovely girl.

Love & hugs
Sheena xxxxx

[Brigitte]

What a beautiful girl! Torrie looks a bit like an Australian Kelpie. They are herding dogs who even run over the sheeps backs when they can;’t get around them. She looks so smart and loving, no wonder she stole your heart!

Brigitte