Dog diagnosed with IMHA

[Eric]

Hello again everyone!

Sorry I haven’t been able to update more often. Work has been incredibly crazy and I don’t really have a chance to use the computer at home.

Well Torrie had a checkup on Monday and her RCV was at 40%!!! The normally calm internal specialist was pleasantly surprised and smiling. So needless to say, Monday was a good day! She did develop a bacterial infection on her belly but the doctor said it wasn’t anything to worry about and to put Neosporin on it. We have been and it is already beginning to clear up. We took her off the Doxycycline because her test came back negative and it was causing her to throw up after every meal. She has been doing great recovering from her stroke. She went for a walk around the entire block and wasn’t even tired afterwards. She wants to play more but its hard because her balance still isn’t perfect. She doesn’t fall anywhere near as often as she used to either going up and down the steps when we take her outside. Her jaundice even appears to be subsiding a little bit. Her gums and eyes are still yellow but her legs where she was shaved for IV’s no longer look as yellow as they used to.

As of today the only negative things we are seeing is she pees in the house every day because we are both gone 8+ hours for work and aren’t able to let her out as often as she needs to. I know its a side effect of the meds she’s on so we don’t get mad at her. She is still being picky as to what she will eat but she is eating more. I think she is too smart and knows she can afford to be picky right now and get away with it.

Thanks for all your support and kind words. I will try to update again when we get her complete blood work back, hopefully today. Until then, I’m praying her platelet levels are getting better and her kidneys are looking better. The specialist said if they are he would like to reduce her Prednisone and possibly switch her to Plavix instead of Heparin shots.

Fingers crossed!!!

[Patrice]

Eric,
This really sounds very positive! That walk must have been very special for you, I remember Chance’s first walk around the block too, it meant the world to me.

40% is an excellent PCV and is probably why she is feeling so much better. She’s still weak from muscle tissue loss caused by the prednisone. Not much you could have done about that, it’s just a side effect. So do be cautious about rambunctious play, the joints aren’t well protected by muscles. I think this is when Chance injured his knee.

It’s also good to hear the jaundice is resolving, keep up the liver support supplements like Denamarin. The liver will regenerate faster with the help of the Sam-e and silymarin in this.

The peeing is unfortunate but you must work. Do you have any friends in church or other group that might be willing to volunteer to come let her out during the day? You would be amazed what people will do to help out.

Dogs are smart. If they eat something and then don’t feel good, they will remember that for a very long time. It is likely that she has associated some foods with the pain she gets from eating it along with her prednisone dose. So do be creative with what you use to dose her, making it a separate treat given after a meal. She will then associate the problem with the treat and not her meal. Rotate the treats so she can’t figure out which really good thing is the culprit.

Please send along a picture of Torrie on a walk, we would love to see her active again!
my best
patrice

[Vally]

Hi Eric, yes I’d love to see a picture too.

I don’t think anyone appreciates when our dogs can go for a walk again as much as us now.

I’m a great advocate (now) of dog socks. Bingo has quite weak back legs and he hurt his knee at the beginning of this year. Whilst I have mats down all over, he tends to walk around them (he’s so considerate). At his worse, he was slipping all over the place so I got some dog socks from ebay (they have them on Amazon too) with rubber bits on the soles. I just bought cheapie ones and they worked a treat. They didn’t seem to bother him at all. I watched like a hawk in case he decided to take them off to eat them, but he prefers real food. They made such a difference. Walking better, I think, also helped to build the muscles up again. I haven’t used them in a bit, but I’ve bought several pairs (oh and they come in 4s – of course they do, they have 4 feet).

Well done on all the good work Torrie. You too Eric.

Vally & Bingo
xxx

[Sheena]

Hi Eric

Great to hear Torrie is doing really well – it’s heartwarming to see them enjoying themselves again after being really ill. I agree about the peeing – they just can’t help it with the pred effects & it would be nice if you could get someone to let her out. Difficult with work, I know!

Hoping the blood test results will be good & you can swap to Plavix – much easier than injections. Keep us posted!

Sheena, Worzel & Ollie xxxxx

[Eric]

Quick update. We spoke with the vet on Friday and her blood results came back with good news. Her platelet count is up to 375,000 from 40,000 which is awesome. Her kidney levels are beginning to head in the right direction, and her jaundice is also starting to subside. They had us reduce her prednisone to half of what we were giving her and we are also tapering off her heparin dosage so we can get her on Plavix.

Needless to say we were very excited to hear all that this past Friday. She is also doing well recovering from her stroke. Every day she seems to be doing a little better. Fingers crossed she keeps up the good work!!!

[Vally]

Hey Eric, this is fabulous news and I’m thrilled to hear she’s doing better.

What pred dosage was Torrie on before and after the reduction. We’re all a bit paranoid here about reducing too quickly. Ideally 25% -33% reductions are safer rather than doing it quickly at 50% unless there are significant side effects. This (to me) seems even more important when you start to get to the lower doses of pred.

Bingo relapsed twice when down at the 5mg mark when reducing a 50%. Just trying to avoid that happening to Torrie.

My very best,
Vally & Bingo

[Eric]

Hello again everyone. I know it has been quite some time since I have updated, but better late than never. So Torrie is doing fantastic. She is pretty much back to her old self except that we discovered she is now 100% deaf from her stroke. It affects her coordination a little and she can be quite derpy from time to time, although it doesn’t seem to bother her the slightest. At some point she developed a liver infection but that was treated with antibiotics and she has recovered from that. She had a bacterial skin infection as well but a few antibacterial baths and some cream cleared that up quickly. Her medication has been reduced to a much more manageable load. We are still giving her Cyclosporine twice a day (and will be for a long time) and she still receives Amlodipine once a day. Her Prednisone dosage has been cut to only one half a pill every other day which is nice. The poor dog’s fur is taking forever to grow back from when they shaved her belly for her ultrasound. The internal specialist had a frank conversation with my wife on her last checkup and said he really didn’t think she would live initially, and to his credit he told us the odds of survival from day one. He also said on her last checkup that her blood work came back perfect and that she is one of his best success stories. There are ups and downs to her being deaf. She used to get terrible anxiety at fireworks, well not any more haha. She no longer goes crazy when there is someone at the door which is nice too. It does have its drawbacks too. She can’t here us when we need to get her attention in situations where she is being bad, aka eating the cat food. She has also been crazy hyper lately because she unfortunately isn’t getting enough exercise due to my work schedule and it getting dark before I get home.

Well that is it for now. Thank you so much everyone for all the help and support. It hasn’t been easy but it was all worth it and we will continue to do what it takes to keep her healthy. If you have any questions for me or about Torrie please ask away.

Thanks again,
Eric

[Sheena]

Hiya Eric!

So nice to hear from you & Torrie.

Well, it does show that every cloud has a silver lining with the deafness & not being able to hear those nasty fireworks! Torrie has done incredibly well thanks to YOU – I am over the moon to hear about her improvement. She has put up such a great fight, after being a very sick pup, plus having a stroke, & I truly believe that’s because of you doing everything in your power to help her. Your vet is absolutely right to say Torrie is a great success story.

Worzel still has no fur on his leg where the drip was – it never ever grew back & that was over three years ago! The hair took months to grow back on his chest where he was shaved- we don’t care if he’s a bit baldy – as long as he is happy & well, he’s beautiful to us. I know how beautiful Torrie is to you – AND to us all on here.

Sheena, Slightly Baldy & his friend Ollie!