Dropping red blood count

This isn't going to be much help, but my dog is in kidney failure, and we are trying to boost her RBC count also (it's not as low as yours, though).  She is taking an iron rich supplement called Pet-Tinnic.  This morning I was told that if the count does drop below 25, she will need shots to stimulate the RBC production....I can't remember the long name of them, though.  

 Welcome to idog; This could be IMHA;
 [linkhttp://www.petplace.com/dogs/immune-mediated-hemolytic-anemia-in-dogs-imha/page1.aspx]http://www.petplace.com/dogs/immune-mediated-hemolytic-anemia-in-dogs-imha/page1.aspx[/link]
[linkhttp://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/deimha.html]http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/deimha.html[/link]
[linkhttp://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/]http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/[/link]
 
I think you should send Callie (user name calliecritturs) an e-mail. She has a dog that's fighting the disease and knows a great deal about it. Here's a link to her profile with her e-mail address;   [linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/showProfile.asp?memid=2536]http://forum.dog.com/asp/showProfile.asp?memid=2536[/link]  Good luck.

AIHA was my very first thought also, altho many things can cause a drop in red cells.  It was 3 years ago this past Monday (the 9th) that my Hunter was diagnosed with AIHA.  Ask your vet to check for that as it seems to be getting more prevelant.  I had never heard of it before my Hunter was diangnosed and now I seem to see it quite often on this forum.  One thing, had he had any vax or anything different in the weeks before he becamet this way.

I just re-read and you say $700 for a transfusion? I just pulled my Hunter's total bill for the 8 days he was in ICU (total bill was $2300) and checked about transfusions.  He had two of 2 units each time and the total for the TWO tranfusions was $178.50 plus $36.60 for the two sets of equipment to give the transfussions.  I don't know why some vets charge so much.  My vet charges half the going rate (in cities) for luxating patella surgery.    He just charges less.

Actually I caught this on my way out at 6 and emailed her my number and a bit of history on Billy.  Now if I didn't scare the poor people to death by being TOO friendly and helpful, but this is such a vast subject that if I typed til morning I probably couldn't tell them all I know or what I've learned.
 
The problem is in order to DO the transfusion they probably also did a ton of blood tests to try to determine what was causing the anemia -- and a whole lot would depend on where they got the blood FROM.  If this was from a donor dog, I'd wonder if they had to do tests on the donor to find out if it was healthy first (and charged them for the tests?), but if they did use an actual donor it should make further transfusions easier and cheaper.  The problem with Billy's 2d thru 6th was they had to be typed and cross-matched (altho I think they had a pool of donor dogs up at UF so it was probably the 2d that was the most expensive and he was in ICU at that point).
 
It sounds to me like the vet suspects the reticulocytes (the baby red blood cells) are disappearing in the bone marrow and he won't 'know' for sure it's IMHA until he knows that reticulocytes are disappearing there.  They may just plain have to treat with other steroids and do another transfusion, but the next transfusion should NOT be that expensive.  Even at the emergency vet it was only $400 -- so they may be taken advantage of here.
 
I sure hope they either answer my email or post -- I can at least explain things to them and explain what the test looks for so they can make a more informed decision.  Vets know SO little about IMHA but this dog's pcv isn't dropping nearly as fast or as hard as Billy's.  If it was 10 and went to normal with the transfusion and is only down to 24 after a month -- Man, Billy had gone thru FOUR transfusions by then.  So it sounds like altho the PCV may still be falling it's not plummeting as it might. 
 
It also could be something OTHER than IMHA, like tick disease.  A lot of things can cause anemia.  But if you strongly suspect IMHA then you don't want to give drugs for a tick disease you can't 'prove' because that could really trigger IMHA to go off the scale (like that's exactly what happened in Billy's case -- we tried to treat for a tick disease and the IMHA reacted to the anbiotic). .  And it all depends on whether this vet suspects something he gave may have triggered IMHA too.  *sigh* 
 
This is tough stuff -- they must be SO worried.
 
Like I said it gets SOOOOOO complicated. 

This isn't going to be much help, but my dog is in kidney failure,

 
marty, I'm very sorry that your dog is so ill; I'll say some prayers for her. Our cat was in kidney failure but with a prescription diet and subcutaneous fluids he lived another two years and died when he was 18. I hope you're able to increase the RBC production. Sending healing vibes your way.