The Zim Family Cocker Spaniel Forum

Hi Dawn-
Thank you so very much for your kind words. I still am having crying sessions when I think of her- which I do all day. I really want to say a big THANK YOU for all you are doing to spread the word about this awful disease. You are helping all of us Cocker lovers! I keep kicking myself and wondering 'What if...' second guessing my decisions. I think I will do that for many, many years to come. I appreciate all of the help that all of you have given me!




Kirsten

Lily- 8/8/08-10/24/11 I will love you and miss you always

We are battling IMT right now with my daughters dog , she is heartbroken. He as perfectly fine and the next day got in a wrestling match with his brother and his ear started bleeding and would not stop so she took him to ER. The vet re-did his blood counts, she said his white blood cells and platelets were so low that she thought test was wrong. He has been in hospital for a week and still not doing well. He has had transfusions, various medication etc but nothing seems to be working.

Every time this thread comes up I still get tears and a knot in my stomach and it is still diffficult to click on it.

Doreen, my prayers are with you and your daughters family. My only advice is for them to not give up, they are in the buying time phase until the meds kick in. Have them read all the info they can, especially the happy stories of the ones that did make it to give them hope, because dogs can and do survive, we have seen it here.

Kirsten-I am sorry I did not reply to you sooner, but it has been 4 years and it is still painful for me. I lost my heartdog, Brady to AIHA, he had just turned 2, I know exactly how you feel and what you are going thru. But you cannot beat yourself up with "what ifs". Sometimes it just happens. My dogs and cats have always passed at an old age; I always felt resolution that they lived a long and wonderful life, but Brady did not. He only had 2 wonderful years, and that will always be with me. Riley is my "Brady relative" that I waiting a year and half for-he is related on both sides to Brady and was a planned litter from my breeder. I also know the paranoia that another dog will come down with it, I live with that daily also, but take every precaution I can to hopefully avoid it, most importantly not overvaccinating. Some day you will be ready to open your heart again, and you will know when the time is right. I have 3 now, and they give me so much, but I will always have an empty hole in my heart for Brady. Even watching football is sometimes hard, I have to refer to our QB as Tommy, or TB, but never Brady.

Thank you Sandy, it is hard to know where to turn. Our vet said where she has him is one of the best places, yet nothing is working. Honestly, I am paying for the care because my daughter does not have this kind of money. I will pay anything, but having already spent 8500 for one week, and no improvement is heartbreaking. They said they have treated lots and lots of cases of this and he has a 50/50 shot at this point, so I feel how can we not continue? I cannot keep up 8500 a week for a long time, I do know that. Funny thing is, he is a male , 5 year old pug. This is a disease I worry about all the time with Bailey, but never thought of her dogs.

Thank you and I will look that site up. I just came back from visiting him, poor little guy is trying so hard. After last nights transfusion, his white blood count is up to 16, nowhere near 40 but at this point we will take it. He is bruised everywhere from internal bleeding, they are doing another ultrasound this afternoon because they are afraid he is bleeding into his chest cavity now. On the blood smear today, they did find 2 platlets, again not much but anything is better than 0. I brought some turkey and he seemed very interested in that, he has not eaten really at all. They are going to try to feed him some after the ultrasound.

He is continuing to fight, such a good boy he is. His platelets were up a little this morning but white count down again so he will be getting another transfusion today. Hopefully with his platelet count up a little, he will respond better to the transfusion. He did eat a little of the turkey and liver snacks I brought him!! Looking for any good signs at this point although I think the roller coaster ride has just begun.

Doreen I'm just now reading this sad news. I do hope the little guy turns the corner soon

Thank you Debbie, this is a horrible disease, I cannot help but cry when I see him. Here is a photo of him today, sleeping in my daughters arms. Hopefully the transfusion today will help, this is his 3rd one in a week.

adding my prayers for this sick baby to turn the corner to recovery soon.

Continued prayers for your baby. Platelet counts can jump up and down very very rapidly. I would also call/email Dr Jean Dodds for advice-she is wonderful about getting back to you with advice. And check out the Meishas website and forum-they are very knowledgable and supportive.

Oz is continuing to fight, his white blood cell count has gone from 16 to 25 but he is still having a hard time with his platelets. He is still at the emergency vet but we are hoping this little man has enough fight in him to come home soon someday soon! We will not give up on him, the doctor said alot of people run out of money when treating this disease, that is just too sad.

Dawn, I can never express my gratitude for all your help and comfort. He is coming home tomorrow! He is still bleeding internally but his counts have risen enough where they feel he needs to be at home. He has pretty much refused to eat there, no matter what my daughter brings to him, so hopefully he will feel more at ease at home.

Thank you for posting this. I am new to cocker ownership and I have never heard of this but will now watch Simon like a hawk! Considering where he came from anything wouldn't surprise me. Although I know they did treat their dogs for heartworms. I found a tick on Simon about a week ago and did mention it to the vet. He goes back in a couple of weeks for testing for that.

Add another disease I just recently heard about.

Thank you for the posts and all the incredible, helpful information about this disease. I will def. monitor our new puppy once we find one. And will ask our vet about their familiarity with the disease - great suggestion.

To all that had cockers that had this disease, my heart goes out to you. Remember your special cocker love knew/knows you loved her or him. Their sweet life was much sweeter with you in it and they will always be just "pure love" even if they are across the Rainbow Bridge.

Marge

This thread is brilliant. When Penny got diagnosed there seemed to be hardly any information out there, without this forum I honestly don't think Penny would have pulled through. She's one of the lucky 25%, she'd just turned two when she was diagnosed and she's now 5, we had one relapse about 3 weeks after she got her first all clear but since then we've been okay. The steroids were hard on her, whilst on them her lungs were weak and she also developed a heart murmur (which has since disappeared now she's off of them). I don't know if it's something to do with the steroids but she loves cold weather, I'm convinced it was something to do with the increased heat of her body with the steroids.

I'm think the reason Penny contracted the disease was to do with her yearly boosters. The needle bent due to her wiggling and the vet was very new. I guess I'll never be 100% sure but something seemed off about the whole event, her booster was in late December and soon after she stopped eating as much, it took a while and then her gums went pale on February 13th and she was admitted on Valentine's Day and stayed in intensive care for two weeks and she had to return a week after she was allowed out after contracting a rather nasty virus.

I am wondering if any of you who have dealt with this disease have any ideas on problems we are still having with my daughters dog. He started out a few weeks back having what looked like a scrape on his leg. My daughter took him right back to emergency vet, she is still seeing same person there because she has lots of experience in immune disease. They thought it was an infection because of all the meds, mostly the preds and they have been trying to cut back on those a little faster than normal. He then developed all lumps in his mouth, mostly under his tongue. They did surgery and said they are calcium deposits, which they have never seen in a dogs mouth and no clue why he had them. While they are still cutting back on preds, his leg looks worse and now has another leg with issues. They did surgery today again to take scrapings from his back and legs, they said although he is not dehydrated at all, his skin has no elasticity at all. All the scrapings they took today are now being sent out again. Does anyone have any clue what might be going on? We have now spent alot of money and will continue to try and help him but we are just baffled on what is happening.

Doreen
I have no idea what is going on, but I would suggest:

Getting in touch with Dr Dodds and asking her

Post on the AIHA forum-Meishas Hope-they are very very knowledgable and may be able to help.

Continued prayers for Oz. This disease is awful, I am glad he is winning the battle, prayers he wins the war.

I dont know how to post here, so if I am doing something wrong, be nice because I can barely see from crying all day.

My ECS Bosco was diagnosed today with IMHA and I cant get a grip on myself. My vet is the best one around, but she tends to be a little less giving in the information dept than I care for. I want ALL the information so I know what I'm dealing with. I care gave for my mom for 4 yrs with cancer, I have had my share of dogs die thru-out the years from cancers.... I have always been close to my dogs so caught things before anyone else normally would. And I saw the weird behaviors last night, but the vet said to wait til morning...... so I did. I did.

But I cant seem to get a straight answer about the progression of this disease and the mortality rates and symptoms as things progress so I know where I am with it! Or he is with it so i can be prepared and able to deal with things. LIke at least I knew what to look for with a histamine release from tumors with my Aussie. and waht to look for with my Springer's cancer. I want NO lingering suffering for my loved ones.

I dont want platitudes and rose colored glasses from my vets or people, I want reality. Because I am on a farm, way far away from vets. 40 minutes to mine on a good day. Altho I have taken animals to be put down in the nearest town which is 1/2 hour away, as that is all they can be trusted to do with pets. They are horrible otherwise.

The vet started him on the prednisone and antibiotic (pre-emptively in case it was a tick borne infections) and he is now back home with me here worrying because I am bawling my eyes out (which I dont want to do!!!) He is a velcro dog and doesnt understand my EVER being upset or sad. My mom died here with me and crying seems to be the new reality around here this year. But I have animals to take care of. So I need to get a grip.

This is what I cant do: anything like blood transfusions or drastic rescue measures that are insanely expensive. I dont have the money. Period. And the vet doesnt do payment plans. So it is ALL On me to be prepared and aware and knowledgeable about signals and signs.

Seriously.... all I can find is the same info over and over.... that you cant know if you caught it in time to stabilize with prednisone or if you havent and your dog then dies within days or hours. I dont know what the average life expectancy is AFTER catching and stabilizing it is. Is it just because there IS no real understanding of its progression and its a "it happens if it happens" kind of prognosis?

This is my heart dog. My last connection with a life I once had some control over... my last connection with so many things. And my best friend in the world. Really.. I knw people here can understand that. Losing him is devastating. But I also dont want to cry around him and worry him so much. The more I know about a disease the better I am prepared to help the one with it.

Thanks Connie

Hi Connie,

I am glad that you found this thread. And, I understand that you don't want a lot of "rose colored" replies. I don't know if you have received my other messages, but that is of no matter now because we are talking.

First, I am glad that your Vet put Bosco on Prednisone. I might give you one piece of advise regarding Prednisone, I would start Bosco on Pepcid 10mg. before his first meal. This will help protect his tummy.

Can you tell me how much Prednisone Bosco has been prescribed, per mg?

Second, this is a very complicated disease and there are no quick, easy or inexpensive answers. This disease normally (under most circumstances where a Vet is very accessible) requires many blood tests. After the first CBC (complete blood count), the main test is a PCV (packed blood cell) percentage, which is about $20.00 per test here in California. Has your Vet told you what Bosco's PCV percentage is? This is very important to know what his condition is and severe his IMHA is.

As for prognosis: The initial loss due to IMHA is about 25% for the most severe cases. Then the long term survival will be in about 50% of the IMHA cases. The last 25% loss will be due to the complications that may arise.

Now, I think that I should let you read what I have stated here and then you can ask further questions.

If you have read much of this post, you will know that we had an IMHA dog named Moonbeam. This is where I first received my info on this disease. But, it is a forever learning process. Sadly!

Dawn

We have many other forum members here with this information as well. Most still have their IMHA dogs, but others that have lost their dogs as well.

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