Hello all, thanks for the add :) I have a 10yr old labrador who has just been theroetically diagnosed with IMHA. So, Im on that learning curve! Quick history - she started to slow down on walks a couple of weeks ago, initially I thought perhaps it was her joints as she has absolutely awful osteoarthritis but tweaking of her supplements improved it. In the few days up to Tuesday she got a lot worse - no collapses but *really* slow, plodding along 100 yards behind the rest of us looking exhausted. So I took her to the vet on Tuesday, and he did general bloods to get us started - gums at the time looked ok to him, gum press response was less than 1 second. Got the results the next morning - anaemic. I dont have the figures, Im going to get a copy today. Red blood cell count was low, but new cell count was good - so her body is at least trying to replace whats being lost/destroyed. She had a slight temperature and white cell count was high so our working theory is that shes got infection-triggered IMHA. She had a full ultrasound scan on wednesday to rule out anything sinister and her organs all look good. Shes currently on 25mg prednidale once a day and cephacare three times a day to try and sort the infection. Her gums today look pale, not sure if they are worse today than last night though with the light being different. I dont think they are worse, and shes cheerful in herself. They are still responded quickly to the press test, maybe nearer two seconds though. Eating no problem, and her appetite has improved - being a lab it never stopped of course :P but she is a gutsy lab, inhale-the-food type and she had slowed down while eating a bit. Back to normal on that front. She is also hypothyroid and in need of a dose increase but Im holding off on the test well have to do for that as this might skew the result. I just wondered if anyone had any suggestions for ways I could help her at home? Shes on devils claw, turmeric, coconut oil and DLPA for her arthritis, although atm Ive stopped everything but the turmeric while I work out whats safe to use. This is totally new territory for me - Im used to slipped discs and arthritis and thyroid problems and phobias and cancers but Ive never yet had to deal with anything autoimmune!
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 07:38:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015