Hey all.....so I'm new here both fortunately and unfortunately. Our 10 year old Springer, Earl as diagnosed with IMHA on 11/30/14. We had brought him in after noticing all of the aforementioned signs. The lethargy, jaundice, heavy breathing, no appetite, etc. What first however really was an indication that something might be off was his fervent dirt eating when we took him out. So anyways we've been through the roller coaster. We live on the South Shore of Boston (Hingham) and brought him to the VCA in Weymouth. He was in there for like 3-4 days. Did the blood transfusions, IV fluids, , ultrasound, chest x-ray, all the meds I've seen talked about here. He was released last week and has been home now and taking pills. He had another blood test last Friday and was holding steading at 25 or 26....I can't remember. My wife had brought him in. But, the vet was pleased with his improvement and basically said she wanted to see him in 2 weeks for another blood test.
From lurking on here, I've come to understand that this is a painstaking process and that the first 2 weeks are pretty critical. Some days good some days bad. When he came back from the hospital, he was definitely psyched to be home and was pretty active. Yesterday, he was really tired, and he seems to be pretty darn tired until we take him out. It's so hard watching my best friend lose soon much weight and muscle mass and be so tired. Springers as most know are pretty active and just love to go and will go all day.
I'm here and writing, because I need your support. I'm on an emotional roller coaster and well it also seems like there are some pretty knowledgable people on here that can help me with pragmatic advice. Just a couple of thoughts/questions I wanted to throw out there:
1. Is it the pred that he is on that is causing his muscle loss, imbalance (like the post above, he is a bit unsteady when initially rising on the wood floors)
2. Food reccos? He has always been a grazer, and he has lots of allergies. Especially to grains. So his staple food has been a grainless kibble. We just switched to a wet food in hopes of increasing his appetite and throwing some weight on. Any other suggestions here?
3. Monitoring....what do I watch for according to you guys so that I know to act quickly and get him back not the Vet?
I suppose that's it for now. Thanks for all the dedicated people on this board and the help.
Trevor