Pit Diagnosed with AIHA

[admin]

Alyssa,
you have done so well with Sassy’s treatment and I am sure that part of that success is, to have a knowledgeable vet by your side. However I find the drug reduction protocol your vet wants to follow more than a bit unusual. In over 6 years and reading about hundreds of dogs I must say I have never heard of it being done that way. I also agree with you that the doses she wants Sassy to stay on for life are very high. I understand that vets and MDs are fed up with people coming to them after consulting with Dr. Google, but this is a phenomenon that is here to stay and whether they like it or not, they will have to deal with it one way or the other. I remember my vet even asking what the people on the forum said to certain issues!!! She realized that although we are not vets, we had heard of more cases than she had. She was thrilled when I suggested consulting with Dr. Dodds. Would your vet be willing to do that? My vet got to talk with Dr. Jean Dodds on the phone and she had nothing but praises and saying that she learned so much from consulting with her. I know that money is tight but I am pretty sure a consult with Dr. Dodds would run cheaper than doing it with an internal medicine specialist. Switching vets in the middle of this ordeal is not easy and I think you mentioned it would be difficult to do so in your small town. Maybe a consult with Dr. Dodds would be a last ditch effort to stay with this vet? If she does not want to do that it is up to you to take the consequences. Either you trust her and do what she wants or you find someone else that is working with you and possibly a specialist. Not an easy road and I wish you all the best.

Brigitte

[Alyssa]

I attempted calling dr. dodds earlier today and she is out of the country for over a month. :( there was a way to contact her Incase of emergency and I don’t know she would consider this an emergency. she won’t be back until June 16th I believe. Over a month is too long for a consultation I feel.

I am certainly not comfortable following this protocol and can tell you I won’t be doing it. I don’t know where to go from here; I’m going to call every vet in the area tomorrow, I guess.

[Vally]

Alyssa, I’ve only done 2 consults with Dr Dodds. I hadn’t come across the forum until after Bingo had actually stabilised, but the 2 consults I’ve done have been through the website by email. I’ve never spoken with her. She has always responded very quickly. Usually the same day. The last time I consulted was actually while she was away. I hadn’t realised.

It really annoys me to read that your vet has basically given you an ultimatum. My way or else. Sassy is YOUR dog and YOU should have the right to at least express your concerns and your concerns are very valid. Yes I agree with Brigitte. Dr Google surely bugs the hell out of so many doctors and vets and rightly so, because there is a lot of rubbish out there, but it’s true too the general population can now access a lot of real information too. Grrrrrr.

You’re right Sassy has done so very well and whether she can come off ALL the drugs should be up to her body, not someone else’s set plan.

Love Vally & Bingo

[admin]

Hey Alyssa

Don’t you dare let this get you down – we are here to back you up completely. All our information in the AIHA Terms glossary comes from bona fide medical research, veterinary sources & experience with many owners. Like Brigitte, I have never seen such a strange pred reduction in my life – sorry to be blunt. It is not logical at all. There is no reason at the moment for Sassy to stay on pred AT ALL if the normal weaning protocol goes to plan. The goal is to reduce it to nothing – occasionally some dogs have to stay on a small dose, but this is unusual, certainly not the norm. Careful weaning to avoid a relapse gives you a far better chance of getting her off the pred completely. And if she is one of the few dogs who needs a small dose, so be it.

If your vet is being difficult & will not listen, contact Dr Dodds straight away by internet consultation (see below). We have ALL learned a lot from Dr Dodds too – she is an extraordinary person – so compassionate, kind & clever, & she has a great team around her. Although she is away, her team will deal with your request & if they need to contact her, I’m sure they will. I always e-mail her via her team at Hemopet – they reply straight away saying they have received the information, then Dr Dodds usually e-mails me straight back. If not, one of her team does. Please remember there is a one-off consultation “fee” which is actually more of a donation – you will NEVER pay any more than that, no matter how many times you contact Hemopet. It’s the best $100 I’ve ever spent, I promise. You can send a message via our site’s Hemopet Resources page or use this direct link to a consultation:
https://labordatenbank.com/cake/hemopet/onlineorders/hemopet_add
Do not hesitate to mention us – she knows all about this site & many of us have consulted with her several times. Try to be as precise as possible with the information – list all the current medications in the appropriate box – include in the text what your vet wants you to do with the pred – then she will get back to you with any questions she or her team has. They might want blood tests results etc. I don’t think you have a choice now. It’s either that or you get stroppy with the vet & go in & tell them you are doing it the “usual way” & they will have to lump it.

Like some of the other owners, my local vets often ask me about things – Worzel is unique at that surgery in having this disease & they had no idea what they were dealing with at the beginning. They are really impressed with the information on this website & what we do to help folks. Shame your vet can’t be a bit more open-minded!

Please don’t let them railroad you into doing this – it’s not fair. You have done such a great job with Sassy & it would be a real pity to mess things up now with the wrong weaning protocol. I am annoyed on your behalf, Alyssa – you can sort this out though. Have no fear & keep fighting for Sassy. She’s YOUR dog, not theirs – how dare they treat you like this.

Love Sheena & the boys
xoxoxox

[Vally]

Alyssa, I hope you do do the consultation with Dr Dodds, you won’t regret it. She is truly a lovely lovely lady. Unless I did something wrong, I found that when I went to attach a second lot of blood works to the consultation, the first one dropped off. I believe it only accepts one lot of annexures. So what I did was scan them together into 1 document and then sent it as one annexure. Does that make sense?

Vally
xxx

[Alyssa]

I spent the day calling around, and after many calls I located a vet I didn’t know about here in town. It was the last number I called. She was kind enough to speak with me over the phone and not demand I bring sassy in first, and when I told her of the protocol my vet wants to follow she said “That’s not my protocol. I usually wean them off over 6 months until they are completely off medicine. ” She said she would have to see sassy of course to say anything further, and see if there is a reason that wasn’t explained to me for wanting her on steroids the rest of her life. I mentioned the weight gain, the depression, the hungry, all of that – and she said that’s why you wean off if it’s at all possible.

I made an appointment immediately. Going tomorrow at 2pm. While I could maybe patch things up with my current vet, I feel it wouldn’t be in Sassys best interest. If I talked her into following a protocol she is very much against, how can I be sure she’s still doing everything she can? I don’t know – it doesnt feel like the right thing to do, knowing how against it she is. And I do not think I could convince her anyway.

There are other mishaps with this vet – things I’ve let go because she did save sassy – but concerning things. The second time Sassy needed a transfusion, she was given an injection of benadryl just before hand (she was given this before the first one too). I feel in my heart that the vet tech injected this WAY TOO FAST – I was in the room watching the whole time, and it was done very fast. I thought so as I watched the plunger depress. Not a minute later, sassy started acting very bizarre – almost like a seizure. She was suddenly EXTREMELY scared and acted like she was being hit, blinking rapidly and shrinking down to the floor/cowering away from any hands. She was at 10% PCV at this point and I thought she was dying in front of me. It only lasted about a minute, thank god, and then she was okay. But I feel this reaction happened because they did it too fast.
Every single time she has her pred changed, what I am told in the vets office is different than what gets printed on the labels – wrong. The first time it happened, sassy was on 1.5 tabs twice a tab – so 3 tabs a day total, 60mg – and when I refilled her meds the new bottle said “3 tabs, twice a day” so 120mg a day. This is when she was recovering well and we were just talking about REDUCING. So I knew it was wrong. I called and was told twice it was right. I insisted on talking to the dr, and of course I was right. The notes in sassys file were wrong. This happened 3 more times. It happened this Saturday. Saturday was when we discussed 1 tab every other day. The bottle said 1/2 a tab every other day – so an even higher reduction than 50%, had a followed the bottle. Honestly, that was a “last straw” for me and then with her reaction to my request and concerns, I’m done there if it’s possible.

If I need to, I will contact dr. dodds. I am going to see what happens with this new vet tomorrow, I am hopeful. She immediately disagreed with the reduction protocol and told me of the one all of you suggest. I realize switching vets mid-treatmeant can be bad, and hard, but in the end given everything, I don’t think this is the right place for sassy long term. She saved her life and I will be forever grateful for that. But I want her to have a happy, healthy life – not just be alive, constantly starving, gaining weight and becoming weaker and weaker.

[Alyssa]

I want to offer my sincere thanks to all of you. I would be lost had I not found this group of amazing people, and Sassy might not be doing as good as she is. When I feel totally lost and desperate, your post do help calm me down. And not cave into what I know in my heart is a bad idea.

[admin]

Hi Alyssa
Good luck with the new vet tomorrow – you have done the right thing trying to find someone else, someone better. It’s always more difficult when the critical care has been OK initially & you somehow feel obliged to continue with them. There are quite a few people on here who have changed vets for similar reasons & no-one has regretted it – sometimes, you must take things into your own hands & trust your instincts. You are one great Mum – Sassy knows that too. Please let us know what happens as soon as you can – give your beautiful girl a big cuddle from Auntie Sheena – you deserve a huge hug too
Love Sheena & the boys xoxoxox