Help and advice – Experience with Acute Respiratory Syndrom in AIHA dog

[Tamara]

Awww I love the belly!!
sending you all hugs and love —
tamara and ashki xoxox

[Anne]

Hello everyone,

Hope that you are all doing well! Glad your liked the pictures, I thought it would be a more positive sight that the previous ones, when he was at the hospital. :-) Just wanted to give some updates again, since Bilbo had some new blood tests this week.

His condition has improved greatly, and we’re ecstatic about it: apparently his white cell count finally dropped, his red cells count jumped close to 37% (that’s so fast, I never expected this!), his heart murmur is gone (!) so no need for medication, and the pattern on his lungs is similar to what it was when he was first admitted, which means that it improved.

Now, he stills has what they term “virage à gauche”, but I’m not sure what it means – they do not seem worried about it, which is good. He’s a bit sensitive when touched on the belly, so we’ll be on the lookout for what it means.

We can now start short 5-10 minutes walks. Apparently we’ll reduce the prednisone by 5mg: he’s now taking a totall of 20mg per day (10mg morning, 10 mg evening). He now takes Immnuran every two days (25mg) and cyclosporin (75 mg morning and evening) everyday, akong with an aspiring to prevent clotting. He stopped clavaseptin, baytril and furosemid.

This makes me nervous, as I understand that reducing the dose can present a danger each time. What should I expect, from your experience?

He’s temper has changed a bit since his illness, but perhaps this is unavoidable, since he’s bene through a lot. He’s a bit more insecure (a bit of separation anxiety which he never had before) , he sleeps a lot more. But we can see now that he’s comfortable, and we’re just happy that all the care and support we gave him now seem to pay off

Thanks again for your help and support! Bilbo has been there and back again! :-)

Cheers,

Anne-Marie

[Tamara]

Anne-Marie, what wonderful wonderful news!! I am so happy to read how well Bilbo has been doing. I have been thinking about him and you — the fur on Ashki’s feet has gotten very shaggy and I told him he had little hobbit feet, which of course made me think of Bilbo :) .

The prednisone can cause some changes in temperament, and of course being very ill can too. I was on pred for a back problem and it made me very anxious (almost panicky) which was a very uncomfortable feeling.

Here we recommend that reductions be made 25 – 33% at a time and very slowly, generally 4 weeks between reductions. This is because some of us have experienced relapses when reductions have been done more quickly and/or at higher increments. Relapses of course are very scary because it usually means starting all over again at the high doses of these drugs.

Some of us have had to reduce more quickly due to side effects; this has been the case with Ashki and prednisone, as we think that was affecting his kidneys in a negative manner; we also reduced his mycophenolate by 50% because the new specialist was concerned it was affecting his bone marrow and contributing to his non-regenerative state.

As you say, Bilbo and has been there and back again, no wonder he is sleeping more! I am sure as he continues to recover and is weaned from the drugs his energy will return over time. You have been there and back with him, and he is alive today from your good care and love for him. I’m so happy for you both.

Sending you all much love, please give Bilbo a gentle belly rub from me :)
tamara and ashki xoxoxo

[admin]

Hi Anne-Marie
I have sent an e-mail about the test results directly to you – I am really happy to hear Bilbo is doing so well. Take the pred reduction nice & gently & keep an eye on his sore tummy – but you have to give that inviting tum-tum a gentle little rub from me & Tamara too!
Sheena xxxx

[admin]

Hi Anne-Marie

Fantastic news to hear that Bilbo is doing so well! I am sure you are over the moon, and his photos are gorgeous!

As others have said, slow reductions are recommended. It sounds as though you will be reducing by 25%, which is quite sensible. Pre and post-reduction PCV’s are a good idea.

Steroids and illness in general can affect temperament, but hopefully this will settle in time. I hope that little tummy of his is now feeling better?

Keep up the great work!

Mary and Mable x

[Vally]

Anne-Marie, that’s great news and no heart murmur. Bilbo, see all your hard work has paid off! Although perhaps mum had a little to do with it maybe???

Yes reductions are always scary times, but I think doing it slowly, the way you’re doing, keeps it safer with less chance of problems. I often found that the first week, sometimes the blood count did drop slightly but usually picked up again very soon after that. That seemed to happen with Bingo each time until he was down in the lower doses. When does Bilbo get checked again?

Love Vally Bingo

[admin]

Dear Anne-Marie – Reading this is the best news of the day!! Keep it going!!!

Love and hugs, Linda and Sadie

[Anne]

Hello everyone,

It’s with a very heavy heart that I write today to give some updates on Bilbo. We went to the vet this morning, and his RBC has fallen to 21. He also started to develop some form of dermatosis this past week. The vet told me that this was due to the fact that he is immunosuppressed, and thus cannot adequately fight bacterial infections. He has patches on his body, some with no fur.

The vet is very concerned about this fallback, and for the first time, hinted at thinking about letting Bilbo go. I’m heartbroken and devasted, as he was doing so well not long ago – I was so happy to post my last update last week!

He seems to be developping reactions to the strong medication (nothing to fear right now, she said, but she sees some traces on his liver), and this is what concerns her, as we only reduced the dose by 5 mg 3 weeks ago. The fact that this first small reduction led to this setback is what is so disheartening. He’s only 13 kg and has SO any meds. I cried just at the thought of adding 3 others, I feel like I’m drugging my dog.

She said that if he declines, we might have to put him on a 4th immunusuppressant, but clearly indicated that it would be quite a lot, as he’s already on quite a lot of things,.

So my question now is how am I supposed to react with this setback? Is this indeed a confirmation that there’s notghing more I can do? Has anyone here experienced this after their first medication reduction? If so, what happened, and what did you do?

This happens at the worst of time, as David is away on a business trip, and I’m alone with my three furbabies. I’m anxiously waiting for the detailed bloodwork, and she should send me the results by tonight. I’ll email them to you, so you can tell me what you think.

In the meantime, in a really selfish way, any words of advice or support would be appreciated, as you all have so much experience with this disease. No one around me understands it (as we all know, it’s quite complicated) or understands why I care so much about my dog.