am posting this on all the forums i go on as a warning to other spaniel owners as to what to look for with this nasty desease which we are in real danger of losing Millie to sad.gif sad.gif sad.gif sad.gif

we had an instance over the weekend of Millie refusing food (she never does that) at the time i put it down to her being away from home and being fed up, and when she ate the next couple of meals i thought she was back on form.

We came home and then on Tuesday she refused her breakfast again so we booked an appointment at the vets, it was confirmed we had done the right thing when we took her for a walk and she wasn't interested, and was just walking instead of running (millie never walks when she can run)

I took her to the vets on Tuesday night where they admitted her straight away, she had a slightly raised temp, was lethargic, gums were pale, and a touch of Jaundice, by wednesady morning blood tests had confirmed heamolitic aneamia i was lucky and had got her there early which has probably saved her life for now, basically what is happening is her immune system is destroying her own red blood cells, she hasn't been ill, hasn't had her jabs since september, and we will probably never know what has triggered it.

When she was admitted she had a PCV count of 20 the vets don't normally see them till their count is down to 6 or 7, and spaniels are very prone to it, her count dropped wednesday night and then drastically thursday night which led to a blood transfusion yesterday, because she is destroying cells quicker than she can produce them she starts on a diiferent cocktail of drugs this morning, which because they are imunosuppresants bring there own problems.

We went to visit her last night and she was still my cheeky little girl just not as bouncy, she hasn't given up so neither have we, and will keep going till she is either home or the vets tell us there is nothing else they can do.

So all i ask is that if you have a dog with any of the above symptoms get them to the vets, as has been explained to me if she was any other breed of dog the vets would be more optimistic, because she is a spaniel they believe that her chances of surviving this are reduced. I am not looking for sympathy we did everything we could, i just want to try and help other spangle owners to spot this early.

Hi

I know how you are feeling, I have just lost my 2nd dog in two years to this dreadful disease.  I lost Billybob in March after battling for 10 months and previously I lost Lily within a few days.

Your vet is right about the prominence of this disease in certain breeds of spaniel, but it is not always the case that you will lose your battle. 

Has Millie been put on pred? another immunosuppressant used Aziathroprine.  You  will probably not see any immediate effect as the drugs etc need a few days to kick in and then will notice a few side effects to the Pred. 

If you would like to pm me, please feel free -  I am no expert but perhaps I help through my own experiences.

Auto Immune Haemolytic Anaemia is a disease that nobody tends to know about until it hits them.  Not enough is known about this disease, causes etc., very few vets understand it, I know my vet had only treated it once before and had been very successful.

I don't know if I'm allows to post links but this is a very good site from the US which outlines symptoms, treatments etc, and they also have a forum.

http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/index.html

Also I am member of an excellent group here in the UK for AI dogs.

My thoughts and hopes are with you at this time.

Steph

I too know how you feel, my friend has a American with this awful disease as I have been there with her through her illness i feel that i can comment on this. Why is not recognised by the Kennel Club to be included into the Breed Standard in the health section so people can start to be aware of this awful awful disease,my friends dog Prue has luckily rallied round but still on medication (I am sure she will enlighten you more when she reads this post)but it has been a very hard 6 months for her.Also i would like to add please if possible always see a vet that has dealt with this illness and to every body to check the colour of the mucus membranes (mouth) as this is a sign of many circuitary illnesses, we lost a dog on tuesday she too went white in the mouth which i told the vet so investigations started with chest x rays and heart she had three tumors . Best wishes to both of you debby

Hi,
Thank you for posting this warning..both Steph (Billlybob) and i have battled with trying to get people to recognise these symptoms and get to the vets asap..Debby posted about my American above and its been a very long battle..her transfusion was back in 2005 and relapsed in November.
I hope everything goes as well as can be for your spaniel..please look at the cimda forum too as such a great help to all owners with auto immune dogs.
Best wishes
Annee

Sorry to hear about Millie.

AIHA is seen in all breeds. I have seen a few different breeds of dog with it.

thanks very much for all your messages etc, the good news is Mills PCV count was up to 25 this morning from 11 yesterday morning, however this is after the transfusion, i am not getting my hopes up at the moment but things are looking a bit more positive. When i get her home and stable i will get in touch with the people who sent me Pm's

I hope she continues to improve.

I hope she will be feeling better soon.

thank you for sharing this information--scary to see how many different routes are implicated in terms of this disease. All our best wishes to Millie and you x

debby1 it's not for the KC to decide it is for the breed clubs, the KC cannot do anything unless the breed clubs rule that such health tests need doing.

Unfortunately with AIHA it is not possible to test at the moment as the research is showing that there is no specific gene or reason for it developing.  I am currently in contact with various vet schools and animal health organisations with regards to setting up a fund for further specific research.

I hope that Millies pcv continues to rise and she continues to improve.

My vet said that 30% of AIHA is seen in American cockers so yes the breed clubs should be looking into it.

hi thanks for your pm, here is the update

Well she's home and back where she belongs, but won't be cracking the champagne just yet!!!! she's still a very sick little dog, but thanks to the transfusion she is stable for now, however we have been told to expect her to get worse as the week goes on and she uses up the donated red blood cells, however the good news is she isn't destroying her own new blood cells quiet as aggressively as she was before.

She is on 6 diifferent types of tablets (one we have to wear gloves for to handle) with a total of around 10 a day to get down her in a 24 hr period, we also have to go back to the vets every 2 days for blood tests to see what her PCV count is.. She has lost a fair bit of weight, and can't be exercised except in the garden for wees and stuff, on the plus side she is bright in herself and seems glad to be home, all we can do is take one day at a time
 

Hi

Good to hear your news.  I spoke with Annee this morning and she was asking if I'd seen anything.

Can I give you a little advice that was given to me by my vet - Azi (I can't say the full name, let alone spell it!!) which is probably the one you have to handle with gloves is a very potent to humans, so wash your hands after you've taken the gloves off as extra safety.

You will get quite a lot of side effects from the Prednisolone - Milly will have laboured shallow breathing/panting, will drink enormous amounts and pee by the gallon (i had a lot of accidents with Billy), and her appetite will improve.  Also you may find her shape will change as the muscle breaks down and redistributes itself around her body.

Keep an eye on her wee and poo - any change in colour particularly if it goes orangey or if there is any blood present.  If you check her mucus membranes after she been to sleep or laid down and they are pale  - check again in ten minutes.  They have "resting anaemia" and when they are moving again the membranes go pinker.

My vet always liked to keep Billy above 20, norm being between 30 and 50ish.

I think I funded our vets Xmas do with Billy's blood tests and drug regime - I certainly was on their Xmas card list.

Keep a record of all results - weight, RBC, PCV, dosage of drugs and dates.  It is good to have.

This may seem a lot to take in, but it all comes clearer in time.

Try to stay calm around Milly - no added stress on her is essential and most important, take every day as a gift.

I hope she holds steady and she'll feel better now she's not away from you.

My thoughts are with you and Millie

Steph

thankyou, that's really usefull information, must admit all the drugs at the moment are a little bit scary, but we will get there, back to the vets tomorrow for some more blood tests

I'm so glad Millies pcv is stable at the moment..yes the whole drug side is scary but it will sort itself out...i think i could arrange Pru's in my sleep after a while !

Its a very long road with many ups and downs...just go with it.

One of the hardest things i found after a while was that outwardly Pru looked and acted fine albeit very tired but inside she was so very ill...the vet kept saying to me not to forget that she was very "Fragile".

The Prednisalone was the drug i found with hardest side effects...stress panting, not sleeping, staring into space and weeing everyewhere (Not that was a real problem...just lots of kitchen roll ! lol).

I was going back to the vets daily for the first week and although her pcv dropped a couple of times in that week as soon as the pred started to work her levels started to climb slowly but surely.

Hugs to you and Millie

Annee :)

well we are back .................................and Millie is with us       PCV count has gone up slightly to 26 and we will have the results of the full blood tests tomorrow evening or early Thursday morning. in herself she is almost back to normal she just acts like she has had a good run, but all the millie chararcter is there, still can't take her out, and she is still on the same amount of meds,except they have taken her off the suspension as she hasn't had any sickness, but its all heading in the right direction, and i really believe she is going to beat this, just like she has beaten everything else in her life up to press

Just a word of warning to all those people who are considering insurance, we are over £2000 already on this one, luckily we are insured and have up to £6000 to play with,and the vets claim direct, so money isn't a consideration (not that it would have been, we would have found it some how) but todays jaunt with the blood tests and more medication was £136, just means because she is insured we can just concentrate on her getting better.
 

Thats great news..i'm so pleased for you both.

I know only too well regarding insurance as Prunella is uninsurable re the aiha so my bill was £2500 in the first month and now into her 6th month !!

Anyhow she is still with me so thats all that matters.

Keep up the good work with her.

Annee :)

Brilliant - just keep going.  There are always ups and downs, that's what makes the up's so great.

Billy wasn't insured either and I stopped adding up the vet bills after the first month - just to have Billy still with me was enough.  We were quite unlucky over Xmas as he had a couple of visits to the emergency vets on Xmas Day and Boxing Day when his anal glands got infected and exploded outwards (sounds as disgusting as it looked!!).  I don't know really how much we spent in the 10 months of his illness. 

As Annee says as long as they're with you and comfortable, nothing else matters.

Steph