Staffie X Tiger Diagnosed with AIHA

[Adam]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your advice about tigers skin, I will ask the vet on Saturday when we go in for the next PCV.

I did have one concern, tiger has had diarreah for the past 24 hours. Is there anything I can feed him to firm up his stools again? Lately he has only wanted to eat meat (I’ve been cooking him steaks on the BBQ and chopping it up). I want him to eat some fibre as well but he doesn’t want a bar of it.

Thanks everyone
Adam x

[Patrice]

Adam,
Oh darn, I was expecting the vet to give you some antibiotics. Not what I expected would happen. Then you need to find some kind of topical dog shampoo that has chlorhexidine in it. I know Amazon has a lot of this stuff, do you have an au branch of Amazon?

Is he taking cyclosporine, Atopica? This is the one main side effect of this drug. Sometimes for a few days it’s ok to give it WITH food to help ease the problem.

I know it may be hard to find where you are but a few tablespoonfuls of plain canned pumpkin will help quite a bit. You can substitute any type of cooked winter squash. It works very quickly if this is a simple case of diarrhea.

Easy on the red meat! I know he loves it, but I am worried about the fat. Can you instead boil some ground beef to get some of the fat off? Or whatever meat you have their down under! I think some of your meat is lower fat than ours is in the US.
my best
patrice

[Vally]

Adam, you can try some slippery elm for the poos. You can get this from some chemists, more from health food shops (no chance today though). A heaped teaspoon in a cup of water and boil it until its thick and mucous y. Add about a teaspoon to all meals for now. You won’t be able to pick it up with a teaspoon. I use a baby syringe to add it.

Patrice, we can’t get any medicinal stuff through Amazon here. It’s blocked. Same with canned pumpkin. Never found it here.

I steam some pumpkin and orange sweet potato. That’s very fibrous and is good fibre but also absorbs liquid. So its really good for diarrhear and also constipation.

Good luck tomorrow at the vets. Are you seeing the specialist or the regular vet. If it’s the regular vet, just be sure you double/triple check that whatever you use is safe for an AIHA dog. Many regular vets don’t know and will simply give you something that is NOT safe.

Brilliant blood results Tiger!!!

Vally & Bingo
xxx

[Patrice]

Vally,
Can vets obtain chlorhexidine shampoos? I found this rather complicated to read but good study about the use of shampoos on dogs with staph.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2021238

Any antibacterial shampoo is better than nothing. It doesn’t take a lot of it to wash these small areas and keep it from spreading all over. And it will spread, rapidly, if not treated. Best to catch it early to keep from having a hairless spotted dog. I am always concerned about it becoming more serious called MRSA.

I knew instantly that Chance had staph, I called the vet and told them I thought he had it, they didn’t even bother to see him but prescribed Cephalexin which I picked up in the outside mailbox they keep for overnight meds. “Cephalexin is a good broad spectrum antibiotic, which means it is useful in most common and uncomplicated infections. It is especially useful against staphylococcal infections (most skin infections) and is commonly used for long (6-8 week courses) against deep skin infections (pyodermas). ” He was fine within a day or two and these spots healed over time.
my best
patrice

[Adam]

Hey all,

Thank you for your advice about the staph, you guys were spot on with the meds.

I spoke with the specialist this morning and tomorrow the regular vet is going to give me cephalexin for the staph infections. He said this shouldnt have any major complications.

I have two questions for you today. The specialist has asked that I drop the dosage of the presdinole (20mg) and cephalosporin (100mg) to one dose a day to reduce the diarreah. We were due to drop this dosage on Sunday evening but he said it would be safe to move this schedule up to today.

Tiger has been off his food all day today, it was a struggle getting him to take his pills this morning, one concern I had was that he “chewed” the cephalosporin tablet this morning and pierced the liquid cap pill. Should I be worried that he didn’t get a correct dose?

I am going to give him the losec now. Hopefully his appetite picks up today.

Adam x

[Vally]

Adam, what does Tiger weigh?

You meant cyclosporine right? If the capsule broke, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. How are you giving it? Ideally it’s without food, but it can cause stomach problems with some dogs. Maybe that’s what’s happening. If that’s the case, then it can be given with food, but stick to one way or the other. Another trick I’ve heard is to place the capsule in the freezer for 30 minutes before giving it to help if its causing stomach upsets.

The reduction of both drugs at once by 50% worries me. I was always told and we did reduce one drug at a time. I’m guessing the diarrhear is the reason for wanting to cut them both down.

Have you tried feeding boiled chicken and pumpkin? That’s a lighter meal than the steak on a tummy.

Hope Tiger’s feeling better soon.

Vally & Bingo

[Adam]

Hi Vally,

Tiger weighs 20.4kg. He surprisingly hasn’t lost any weight since he started treatment, but has lost lots of muscle mass and instead gained a bloated stomach.

I did ask the specialist why we were dropping both at the same time, he said that both dosages were already very high (200mg and 40mg) and bringing them down to 100 and 20 was still a sufficient dose to maintain the suppression, he seems concerned with the diarrhea (this is what prompted him to drop from 400 to 200mg cyclosporine in the first few days of treatment.

I will head out and buy some chicken and pumpkin to boil up for dinner, hopefully he eats that.

I am going for another PCV tomorrow, but will keep you all posted if anything changes before then.

Thanks again, hope you are having a good easter.

Adam x

[Vally]

Adam,

Maybe keep meals smaller too so they’re not so heavy. Do smaller meals more often.

The loss of muscle and the bloated stomach are some of the side effects of the prednisone.

Good luck tomorrow and hope the diarrhea eases up.

Vally & Bingo