View Single Post
  #53  
Old April 24th, 2012, 06:29 PM
will2power will2power is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Newfoundland
Posts: 38
So, here's the latest. The vet called this afternoon with the results of Skye's aspiration. It was completely unremarkable. All they saw on the slides were red and white cells. The plan is to continue on with her current med regime with telephone updates to the vet every 2 days unless there's a change in her symptoms. We'll go back for further assessment when we get toward the end of the prednisone/antibiotics/Zentonil "protocol" (for lack of a better word). Skye continues to feel good, so I'm taking that as a positive and running with it.

Robyn, thank you for the wealth of information and for the link on Rover. IMHA is certainly a terrifying condition. I've read a few abstracts and articles this evening to try and learn more about it. Some of it seems to fit with Skye, but other features of IMHA make me wonder. It seems that most dogs present with anaemia (most often severe anaemia). There's also often times associated low platelet count and leucocytosis. Even when Skye presented initially with severe bloody diarrhea (on Day 2), she wasn't anaemic. Her CBC looked normal and only her electrolytes looked slightly low. Her first sign of anaemia was yesterday, and that was only slight. Platelets have remained normal and bilirubin is only up slightly. The jaundice can't be very bad, because I can't see it. The vet said she could see it yesterday, though it wasn't pronounced. I also wonder if, given all the smears that have been done over the past week, spherocytes would have been detected. Would they have to be looking for them specifically?

I'm really concerned about the white cell count being so high. The vet didn't specify what type of white cells (I'm guessing neutrophils), but you mentioned that prednisone can drive that up. Do you have any other resources that I can read on this? She's getting a pretty high dose, as you know (100mg/day). I'm so worried about possible infections. To be honest, I don't even know if I want to walk her in the back yard, because I'm afraid she'll stumble upon bird poop or some such thing. We live in a wooded area, so we get all kinds of wildlife back there. Even an occasional moose. But getting back to the IMHA...the literature I've seen shows a high mortality rate (20%-70% occurring primarily in the first 2 weeks post diagnosis). Skye was admitted in crisis and required intensive care with lactated ringers and colloids, but she didn't require transfusions and seemed to respond well by Day 4. Saturday coming will be 2 weeks for us and she continues to visibly improve. I hope and pray that what's happening on the inside is heading the right way, too. This is all so confusing to me. My husband and I have already decided that the possible risk of further vaccinations outweigh the potential benefits. I just can't shake the suspicion that there's a link there somewhere.

Thanks to Marty and Dog Dancer for the suggestions regarding diet. Tomorrow I'm going to try something different. I hate moose meat and I've never even cooked it before. But Skye's getting some tomorrow. I have a feeling she'll like it. And hopefully her body will, too.

Whew. In case I ever meet any of you, you should know that I talk this much in person, too. Forewarned.
Reply With Quote