God I learn stuff everyday on this forum that I have never heard of before...can someone tell me what this disease is? what symptoms go with the disease? How a dog gets it?
Thankyou
It is a horrible disease that claims way to many lives. There is no cure, just remission. Some times dogs will stay in remission for years and years, other times they have relapses every few months. There are some breeds that are more prone to it, but it can strike any breed, any age. Many times it is brought on by vaccinations. It is also thought that if a dog does have an immune problem, it can also be brought on by stress, illness, even a change in food.
My golden retriever got his 3rd ProHeart6 injection on aug. 28, 2003. On Oct. 9 I was checking teeth for dentals (his was as white as the day they came in) and I noticed his gums were very pale. I called my vet and got an appointment for 11:20 that morning. A little while later Hunter's sister, KayCee squatted just off the patio and being a male, he had to go on her "spot" and his urine was the color of rusty water. Normally he went on the back fence, but this time, I happened to be on the patio and see. By then I was really worried. Just before taking him to the vet I took him down the street a couple of houses to a place he always wet on, and caught some urine in a cup.
When we got there we found he had lost 9 pounds in the 5 weeks since he had been weight when he got his proheart6 injection. He had such long thick fur it was not really noticeable. His temp was 103. I could tell by my vet's face he was very concerned. He said he would need to keep Hunter and run some tests.
Later that afternoon he called and said had autoimmune hemolytic anemia. I had never heard of it. He told me to come in and we would talk about treatment, etc. When I got there we went over everything in Hunter's past two m onths and the only thing different was the ProHeart6 injection. He had always been in top health and the most laid back easy going dog you ever saw. My vet said "When it comes time for his next proheart injection, we are going back to the monthly pills." He also said he would have to keep Hunter for a few days.
I had no idea how to use a computer, so i went to the little local library and got them to show me how to use one and I googled canine autoimmune hemolytic anemia and found tons of info on it, most of it not good.
For some reason something gets into the body and the body decides the red cells are bad and starts attacking them and killing them. In Hunter's case, his spleen killed so many it coudln't begin to get rid of all of the dead ones. His HCT which should have been around 50 dropped to 9.7 on the fourth day in there and he was given 2 units of blood. My vet also considered taking out the spleen, but did x-rays and ultrasound and they both indicated cancer in liver and spleen.
I was going to visit him 3 times a day and taking fresh boiled chicken, which he gobbled down. I was also allowed to take him outside to do business and pet and hug on him. By the 7th day we knew the standard first line of treatment was not working and he was started on other drugs. But on the 8th day when I went to visit him at noon my heart sank and when I went back at 5:30, I knew he would not be on this earth by morning. He had been given two more units of blood, but his HCT just wouldn't come up. They close at 7:00 but the receptionists stayed so i could spend a little more time with him. I left at 7:15 and at 9:02 I got the call from my vet. Hunter had gone into siezures and died at 8:40.
He did a necropsy for me and sent samples of liver and spleen to the state lab and when they histopath report came back, there was no cancer cells at all. However, Hunter's liver, was dying a drug induced death. The necrotic tissue was not cancer, just dead liver. The spleen was HUGE because of all the dead red cells, but it was just splothcy, not dying, and no cancer.
There were many reported deaths due to AIHA brought on by the ProHeart6. Also many reported deaths due to severe liver damage. My precious boy had both reactions and just couln't beat them both. Just before Chrismas last year a lady from England came looking for help. Her dog, Molly, had developed AIHA following routine vax. That was the first one here since my Hunter, and then suddenly they are cropping up all the time and to be honest it scares me. Many dogs had reactions following first injections, some I know of was as long as 4 injections. One dog, a border collie mix named Bandit died 36 hours after his 4th injection. He went into seizures, first time in his 7 1/2 years, and they couldn't be stopped. He died in Wis. on Oct. 16, 2003, the same day my Hunter died here in Texas.
My one golden retriever had no problems with her puppy shots, nor her first set of annuals. But 45 minutes after her 2ed set (4 1/2 years ago), she was covered in hives, eyes swelling shut, muzzle covered in bumps that looked like pencil erasers under the skin, temp 106.9. Rushed her back to the vet--we had been the last to see him that day and he had been paged and met us there. He said nothing but law required rabies for her ever again.
I try to make no changes in my dogs lives, from what I feed them to what type of flea control to what kind of heartwomr meds--back on Interceptor. Once you have been thru this horrible disease, you do everything you can think of to try to prevent it from hitting another of your beloved dogs.
BUT dogs do live and do go into remission and many live for many years and do great. My Hunter had the misfortune of not only fighting it, but also the liver damage and he just couldn't beat them both.
If you really want to learn more about it, just goggle Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia and you will find tons. It is also called IMHA.