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Old November 19th, 2010, 06:07 AM
MaxaLisa MaxaLisa is offline
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Location: California, usa
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I hope that you will be able to mix some of the tempting things with some more healthy things to get some nutrition in her - I know how difficult it is!

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Originally Posted by SuperWanda View Post
I was also wondering if the Imuran is decreasing the red cells but not sure why it would increase the platelets at the same time???
I think this is the way it goes.....the drug regimen with the Imuran is bringing the platelets up, but there is another process that is destroying the red blood cells. That other process is either infection or cancer The Imuran itself should not damage the RBC, but it can make things like infection or cancer worse, which can increase the RBC destruction and increase the WBC.


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I think the trouble is the vet does not know.
I think that right now there is no way for anyone to really know.


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I don't know what a normal RBC is? I think we started out at 4.8 or 5. Apparently Timber was a little low 2 years ago with the RBC so when she was slightly anemic it wasn't a big issue. I'm not sure what a normal WBC count is either. I know the only time the WBC count went down a little was when we were on the metronidazole antibiotic. After that we switched to Baytril and now WBC is high but I'd have to get another test to see what the doxycycline is doing.
Labs have different normals. Idexx normal for RBC is 5.5-8.5 and WBC is 5.7-16.3, I don't know if those numbers apply for the test that you have. Platelet normals are 164-510, at that lab at least.

Diseases like ehrlichia or babesia can take years to settle in and cause this type of damage. I'm willing to bet that 2 years ago, this disease process was present.

Baytril is not a good tick disease antibiotic, I'm not surprised that it hasn't helped. I think it might help a bit with Bartonella, but that's not a disease where you are going to see this blood profile. The metronidazole is sometimes used to get at lyme cysts, but is also used in the treatment of babesia, which can do exactly what you are seeing in Timber:
http://www.gopetsamerica.com/dog-health/babesiosis.aspx


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However, at this point, I feel it has been long enough and she continues to get worse in some respects so I don't know if I'm right to get her off the meds or not but that's the thing -- no one seems to know. If they suspect cancer now but they also want me to continue meds, I just don't feel comfortable with it anymore. Why didn't I go to medical school?
Yes, it's very confusing and frustrating. In my mind, it seems you should be ramping down the immune suppressants, and ramping up antibiotics that fight ehrlichia and babesia. I'm throwing in babesia here, because of the response to metro.
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