AIHA or IMHA

Just back from China in time to read your sad journey and beautiful tribute to Daisy.  It sounds like you saved her life many times over and she gave that back just as many times in love.  I am so sorry for your loss but grateful you all had each other for nine wonderful (shoe-filled) years.  Like you, I wish no one had to come to this forum, but I was so glad it was here when I was in your shoes.  Shayna now has a new friend.

NEW COMMENT!!  Yay -- FINALLY we have page numbers and a "last page" button again!!  Again I want to reiterate my email is callieatcritturs@yahoo.com -- please feel free to email me if/when you post.  They are working on the software but it's a slow process to repair, and THIS is an important thread, so if you post, feel free to email me so I can make sure  you get attention!!

Hi Everyone, I last posted in September 2014 about my dog Tango suffering from IMT (Immune-mediated thrombocytopenia).  I am happy to report that after having gone through months of medication, supplemented by milk thistle and other natural remedies recommended by Callie, Tango has been "healthy' for the last 6 months.   Tango took months of strong meds including steroids but after putting him on milk thistle, his liver size shrunk back to "normal" noticeably.  I emailed Callie about Tango's recovery and she encouraged me to share our experience here.  

When Tango first got sick (IMT), the vet we were seeing kept saying it's probably hereditary as he's a cocker spaniel and more prone to such disease.   I checked with my trusted breeder and she assured me that none of her other dogs has ever had the same issues.  I then went to another vet and voiced my concern that the IMT might have been triggered by Tango having contracted tick fever twice before which might have messed up his immune system.  The vet then told me about some drug trial conducted by a scientist called Suzuki and put Tango on his "drug cocktail" for three months,  Tango's platelet count then started going back to normal (previously up and down a lot) and his blood work has been good for the last months (we used to check his blood every week but now we only need to go back once every couple of months).  This is the drug therapy and relevant research paper:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../17551236

I want to stress that every dog's medical condition is different.   But this treatment saved Tango's life (he was under different medication for months without sign of improvement before we switched to this) so I want to share this with you, just in case it can be of help to others.  Please do consult your vet before trying it,

Thank you for the tremendous support lend by this group, especially from Callie.  Wish every dog a happy healthy life!