My Bella is Anemic

[woowoo]

Hi everyone... I am the HAPPY mom of 2 plain brindle boxer pups. They are 14 week old littermates, Bella and Zeus. Bella was admitted to the hospital about 2 weeks ago for pale gums and foot pads. Turns out she was extremely anemic, to the point where she had a blood transfusion. They say the normal RBC count should be around 35 and she was at 14 when she was admitted. After x-rays and tests the vet felt it was due to a large amoutn of sand that she had injested which caused irritation that made her bleed in her intestine, causing blood loss. She stayed in the hospital for 3 nights and then came home. After the transfusion she was acting like herself again, and has been eating and acting great. This past Saturday they went to our regular vet for their 3rd set of puppy shots and they checked her blood again, it came back pretty low (it was at 19) and the vet wanted me to have it re-tested a few days later. I took her last night and the animal hospital called back and they said that she is still pretty anemic and wants me to discuss it with them further. After some research on the internet, I am now beginning to wonder if she has Auto Immune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA), a disease/condition which requires long-term treatment and medication. I know that it does take a while for her to completely recover from being sick, but her red blood cell count is still pretty low and I am becoming nervous that it wasn't just damage from eating the sand. I was wondering if anyone has any experience or knowledge about this and if you could pass on any advice or guidance!! Thank you!!!

 

[layla'smommy]

I'm sorry to say that I don't have any advice for you...but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what you are going through. I know the worry that comes with our kids being sick :( It's so hard when you don't know what the problem is...I hope you find out that the anemia is due to internal bleeding and only temporary...Have you tried doing a search on here for "anemia?" Hopefully someone else has more to offer you. Sending healing boxer vibes your way. Please keep us posted

Jenni & Layla

 

[Poetic_thing]

The only experience I have with anemia is when my baby girl was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure. She then became anemic and we needed to give her EPO (erythropotein) injections. Our vet taught me and my DH how to giver her the injections, sub-cutaneously. For awhile we gave the injections (2000 iu) every 5 weeks and then as her CRF got worse we needed to give her injections more frequently (every 10 days or so). We also needed to take her to the vet every few weeks to get her red blood cell count done. It is really costly for the injections and the blood testing. I hope this is something you will not have to deal with and that this is short term from the sand. God bless and take care. Hugs to Bella and Zeus!! Roxanne