AIHA or IMHA

A couple of his liver values are high (from Dr. Dodds latest analysis), most are normal.

• AST is normal (64)
• ALT is pretty high (380)
• Alk Phosphatase is high (534)
• All else are normal

I'll see if he's up for a belly rub :)

You may want to increase the milk thistle and add SAM-e (Cell Food makes a GOOD SAM-e that is a liquid and very easy to add -- if you have a Vitamin Shoppe near you they usually carry Cell Food Produts -- just be sure to get the Cell Food SAM-e -- typical human SAM-e is in enteric capsules and isn't easily digestible to the dogs.  Your vet could also give Denosyl but it's pretty pricey).

Its been a busy week like always. Rella's PCV is still falling we are not at 39 compared to 3 weeks ago at 46. So here is my next thought which will get ran by vet tommorrow he wasnt in today. What about chaning Cyclosporine to 100mg in the morning and 50 at night every other day on the day she doesnt get her pred and then the other day 50/50 morning and night. Since apparantly the 50/50 isnt enough all we have done is drop since we started doing the 50/50.   My plan is to go ahead and start it today by giving her an extra 50 pill today I am tired of waited I did good I waited 3 weeks but its been long enough her body isnt just reajusting its dropping no climb in 3 weeks I cant wait anymore.

Thoughts????

Thanks

I can't keep track -- Natasha - are you supplementing her thryoid?

Are you giving her iron in food??  It's such a slow drop -- I'd have to wonder if her body is hard pressed to make *healthy* blood if the iron is low in the body.  The body may be regenerating but not quality blood

Yes we are supplementing the thryoid I wanna say for like 4 to 5 months now. And yes we are giving her iron in her food again she had been off the Pet Tinic for quite some time because her iron was so so so high when we tested it. But we started giving her iron again (pet tinic) about a week ago but that hasnt helped either I was really hoping that would do the trick. She still acts okay for the most part. I am glad its dropping slow that is not common for her. The only thing that changed was the lowering of the Cyclo then a week later she went from 46 to 42 and now we are at 39. I cant think of anything else. I did want to ask you about pet vitamins I know the pet tinic is good and we also give her folic acid as well but what about just a regular dog vitamin like Pet Tabs do you think I should start her on something like that?? Whatca thinking

Pet Tinic is made BY the Pet Tabs people -- (Billy took Pet Tabs double cos they didn't *have* Pet Tinic then).  Ask your vet what the difference is in them.

I would be supplementing things like beef heart and maybe some liver, hummus, etc. -- so the body can gather what it needs.  I would also be keeping a HUGE eye on how "thick" the blood gets.  I don't think you're doing the ultra low dose aspirin?  (it's an unbelievably low dose)

And you may need to *increase* her thyroid supplementation a bit -- we had to with Billy a couple of times (and rella is still on pred isn't she??) because the pred is SO bad on the thyroid.

I will ask about the Pet Tabs. I havent started with the heart or liver just beacause her iron was so so high before I didnt wanna over do it again. And no they said she doesnt need the asprin that her high platlets are not a problem. I need to have them re checked I should have had it done last week (we do it once a month) however I have been taking her 2x a week for the PCV just because I get those results back within 20-30 mins and the CBC plus Chem take a day and with her losing points I didnt wanna wait a day for results. As far as her tyriod goes she is on .4 2x a day and not even in the 40 pound range anymore she has lost almost 7 pounds since lowering the pred. Which was much needed she was getting to be a little fatty :) and yes she still is on pred 20mg every other day which seems like nothing compared to the fact that she was on 60mg a day for probably 6 months straight. we had her tyroid tested a month ago too and it was in normal range being on the .4 2x a day so they kept her on that. I think we are to re test  1 month from now.

rellasmom

we had her tyroid tested a month ago too and it was in normal range being on the .4 2x a day so they kept her on that. I think we are to re test  1 month from now.

T/he amount would depend on which of the zillions of thyroid supplements she's on! *smile*  Even I have never had two dogs on the *same* one LOL.

But beware --  if she's still on pred that *does* skew the test (which is why I always send it to Dr. Dodds or to MIchigan State)

 If the platelets were that I'd I'd be asking for the aspirin because there is such a huge risk with embolism (and platelets ARE the clotting factor in the blood).  There's no down side to having her take it and it can help relieve the stress on the heart.

 When you have the next bloodwork done just ask them to check the iron again I guess.  Your vets seem to make this difficult (and they probably resent being questioned). 

Sorry I can't be more help!

 

Weekend River update...

Took him in to the ICU Sunday night because he refused to eat all day and I didn't want to give him a second course of meds with no food.  Wanted to make sure he wasn't crashing as well (PCV was steady at 29).  They gave him an anti-nausea injection and said not to give him the meds that night to give his stomach a rest.  His vet (an internal medicine specialist, not his regular vet) took him off of the cyclosporine because that was the latest drug added and he had been tolerating the others well.  I gave her Dr. Dodds' report about the thyroid supplementation and we're going to try that.  She wasn't really thrilled about me getting Dr. Dodds input, I could tell.  Might have to find a new vet in Dallas, but she is at the specialty referral clinic where all of these difficult cases go so that might not be so easy.

Woke up Monday morning and he was hungry but still picky.  Ate a little. Gave him his meds, Cerenia and Prilosec first, then 30 minutes later his Pred, baby aspririn and Myco.  He ate pretty well again around 4:30pm, and then some more before his nightly meds.

This morning, spent over an hour trying to find something he would eat.  He ate *maybe* one ounce of canned green tripe.  Opened up a fresh beef heart and lightly cooked it for him, no luck.  Poured some of the "gravy" into a bowl, no luck.  Ran the cooked beef heart through a mini food processor, no luck.  Fed it to the cats.  He did like some refrigerated beef/chicken treats I found at the grocery store yesterday (only like four ingredients, nothing terrible).  So he ate maybe two ounces of those as well.

I'll be home at lunch again with something else (rotisserie chicked from Whole Foods possibly ;) and try some of the dark meat.

He goes to the vet in the morning for another PCV check.

You should use sucralfate OR slippery elm cocktail.  I bet the tummy is taking a pounding from the meds!  It may just need time to heal!

I made the slippery elm cocktail for him on Sunday...he hates taking it but I will persist. *sigh*

Lunch update...slippery elm cocktail first, then rotisserie chicken worked like a charm, but I only gave him about six ounces.  While I was at the store, I picked up some chicken thighs (and some organic chicken breasts for $2.50 on clearance b/c their sell-by date was today).  Put them in the crock pot with some carrots and sweet potatoes at lunch, so hopefully he'll be really wanting what's in there by dinner!  I think I'm going to need a smaller crock pot because he does so much better with food that is immediately fresh.  After it's been in the fridge and reheated once, he's done with it.

Rella was the same way when her levels were super low you couldnt re heat anything she wouldnt eat it. I would have to cook every meal for her right before she ate otherwise she wouldnt touch it, and at that point she was eating 6 small small meals a day. But we got through it and you will too :)

I think the bottle just says thyriod tabs but I wanna say its throynxie or something LOL!! (that helps right LOL).

calliecritturs

If the platelets were that I'd I'd be asking for the aspirin because there is such a huge risk with embolism (and platelets ARE the clotting factor in the blood).  There's no down side to having her take it and it can help relieve the stress on the heart.

See now this just pisses my off cause I asked awhile ago about this my thinking was if platelets are low and they can bleed then if platelets are high they clot and they full on told me NOPE that wasnt how it worked GRRRR!!

I am gonna have to do the CBC this week to see what the heck is going on

And believe me you are help if anything I always feel better when you agree with me then I know I am not crazy hehe

Well, crock pot dinner was a bust.  Smelled SO good when we walked in the door.  Took River on a quick errand to the local pet store to pick up water for my saltwater tank - he loves going places/car rides and figured having him in a good mood before trying to feed him would help.  He seemed to enjoy the ride and the visit.

And then dinner time.  Nope.  Nada...nothing...zilch.  Fresh shredded chicken thighs with natural juices with and without mashed sweet potatoes that cooked in the same pot refused.  Just chicken, refused.  Green tripe, refused.  Fresh ground buffalo burger (made him a small one to go with ours), refused.  Random salmon treats from the pet store, score, kind of.  Just didn't have enough to feed him, plus didn't want to give him too many.  Had to mix the chicken/sweet potato stew with water to put four small syringes down his throat before giving him his meds.  He also decided that a few pieces of toasted burger bun were pretty good, but only liked the parts with no juice on them that were crunchy.

I can't even manage to get eight ounces over the course of an entire day into a dog that normally eats 14 ounces 2x/day.

Going to the vet first thing in the morning for a PCV recheck since we dropped the cyclosporine two days ago...want to definitely keep a close eye on the levels. Planning to have a weekly CBC as well (which will be due on Friday or Saturday).