Autoimmune Haemolytic Anaemia

[ShellyBeggs]

The vet now thinks my little Aniken may have

Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia

and we are waiting on blood tests to confirm......

doing some reading on this site

ASHGI

It doesn't sound good.........anyone have any experience or ideas???

[Cavandra]

I hope it is not this, as it is very serious. A friend just lost their 10 month old puppy with thsi a few days ago.

If you want to chat to her pm me & I will provide her email addy.

[Poodle wrangler]

I hope it's not this, also.

No experience with it, but I guess you can have all the treatment in the world if your pockets are deep enough.

I guess you'd have to be realistic and look at the affordability of treatment vs. benefit to Aniken.

I would want my dog to have a fair quality of life, even if that meant it was shorter.

Sounds like a lot of blood tests will be required.

I don't think it's cruel to PTS if treatment is unaffordable with many blood tests and medication causing unpleasant side effects for the dog. It sounds controllable, not curable

[Dogsfevr]

Sadly it seems the outcome isnt great but some dogs do survive the intitial part & then its a battle to maintain there health afterwards.I now someone whose dog has passed the 6 month after mark but it has been very expensive with alot of unknowns on the journey.

[Poodle Mum]

I lost a Std poodle to this disease when he was 15mths old. He was diagnosed, then died 4 days later But I know some that have survived, but it a long road.

[poodlefan]

The only two dogs I know that contracted IMHA survived it.. both had very committed owners and very big vet's bills.

[ShellyBeggs]

doesn't sound good does it.....

[poodlefan]

doesn't sound good does it.....

It doesn't have to be bad. Both of the dogs I know returned to dog sports and are going fine, with no ongoing treatment. I'd recommend you seek specialist advice if the diagnosis is IMHA.

[Diva]

I had a Belgian Shepherd diagnosed with this when he was 8 years old. I took him to the vet because he was very lethargic when I got home from work one day. The vet told me he was fine and basically that I was being overprotective.

I knew he wasn't fine and insisted on a blood test.

When I rang in for the results the next morning I was informed that his red cell count was so low he was unlikely to survive the weekend. This was on a Saturday morning.

Nonetheless we nursed him through the crisis and he then went on heavy doses of cortisone for some weeks (months? I can't quite remember) afterwards.

He came off the medication and had a good quality of life for another two years until he suddenly started to haemorrhage internally. He could not be saved this time and the autopsy diagnosis was haemangiosarcoma. Veterinary advice was that the two diagnoses were unrelated, but I remain unconvinced.

It was definitely worth treating him for the IMHA, we had another 2 good years together.

It was reading up on supposed causes of IMHA that started me thinking about how often we vaccinate our dogs, and my current 2 are now on the three yearly vaccination protocol that some local vets are adopting. Not that I know that was the cause, but I'm taking a precautionary approach.

Baron