hemolytic anemia

[vabrittfan]

I'm wondering if anyone has dealth with hemolytic anemia in one of their dogs?

My 4 year old Brittany was diagnosed almost a year ago. So far he's hanging in there, but the vet is pretty certain he will never be able to come off the Prednisone.

One of the unfortunate side effects is weight gain (and believe me we are not feeding him any extra!). Any suggestions on a food that might help? I was feeding Pro Plan and put him on the lite version but that doesn't seem to have made any difference. The vet says he has only gained about 4 lbs in the last year, but poor guy looks so bloated. He's a medium sized boy and is carrying too much weight and I'm sure that is part of why he doesn't feel well although I'm sure the Prednisone/anemia issues don't help either.

[mcbosco]

i would email Mary Strauss and see if she has any suggestions. She is a nutritional expert thats writes from time to time.

dogaware@comcast.net


Sorry to hear about your dog. I would imagine a low or no grain food might help with the weight but chat with an expert.

[dog dr]

have you tried weanng him off the pred yet? what dose is he on now??

[vabrittfan]

That is strange. Second time I've replied to something and my post has completely disappeared.

To answer your question yes after his initial round with Prednisone the vet tried to wean him completely and we saw his PCV drop significantly. He consulted with the vet school (Virginia Tech) and based on their recommendation we tried a slightly different dosing approach for a longer period before weaning him and still had a drop. We tried just lowering the dosage per day and also to every other day and that didn't sustain him. The vet said he may have to stay on Prednisone indefinately. His PCV is still on the very low of the normal range but to increase it we would have to up his Prednisone which my vet doesn't want to do because of the long-term side effects.

He's on 1/2 tablet once a day.

[dawgmama]

Have the vets concluded what is causing the anemia? Has he been checked for tick borne diseases? Anaplasmosis can cause low platelets and anemia. I too, think grain free may help with the weight gain, less 'sugar' from the carbs. I hope they figure out how to help your boy.

Nan

[vabrittfan]

We did a bunch of testing in the beginning and this is the diagnosis I was given. From all the reading I've done it seems this can be inherited or there are other possible causes such as vaccinations, eating onions (?), and a few other things. The vet has said we may never know what caused it.

Tanner does have a history of reaction to one of his puppy vacs and they said most likely it was due to the lepto in the combo shot. He had chronic ear infections as a puppy and scratched A LOT. The vet ruled out fleas, etc and had no explanation for it. A friend mentioned her Britt had problems with corn in dog food so I changed him from Pro Plan puppy to Natural Choice Lamb & Rice puppy and the scratching immediately stopped.

The vet has stated most likely the underlying immune problem has always been there. This is not like an anemia where you can just give them supplements to help produce red blood cells. His body is producing the red blood cells just fine but his body is destroying them.

I've been researching the grain free idea but I have to admit the high protein levels make me uncomfortable. Right now I've just started him on Wellness Reduced fat so I'm hoping that may help some. The other thing about the grain free is that you feed so little and he is so hungry all the time because of the Prednisone that he would just look at me like I was crazy if I gave him 1 cup of dog food to eat each day!