Riley is sick

[Rileyboy]

Our Boxer Riley got sick on Dec 21st His symptoms were pacing and acting funny then finally throwing up .. he acted like his back legs hurt him to even get up. took him to our Vet who took blood to run some tests. She gave him pepcid ac for his tummy problems and also some Rimadyl for his leg pain and also put him on Doxycycline because they were suspecting one of the tick bourne diseases. ( not lyme been tested for that but there are many. he does have arthritis in both back knees found out when he was 2 ( He's only 3) just had his birthday on Dec 29th but he's been in the Hosp since the 27th of Dec. He had an appt to go see the internal meds specilist on his birthday for the lump he's had on his neck in his lymph node that had biopsy in March with no cancer found. yet his lump never went away its about the size of a lemon. but I had him rechecked a few times and none of his other lymph nodes are affected. So we were going to go to the specialist to see why this lump is still there and what could be causing it. but He got sick before he even got to go there. We had several trips to the Vet and 2 ememrgency room visits due to it being the holidays and our Vets were closed until the 27th. On Dec 24th I had thought he had gotten better as he was acting like him self..I guess the meds they gave him were acting like a band aide with out really helping him because on the 25th he seemed to be acting sick again.. and stopped eating but I knew he needed to eat to take his meds .. I got him to eat some boiled Hamburg with rice and peanut butter.. He loves p- nut butter and thats how we can usually get him to take Meds. I just thought he did too much on the 24th and now he was feeling sick again.. On the 26th when I got up that morning I noticed some blood smeres on the carpet and on a leather chair but I could find no boo boos or cuts on him he wanted to go potty and he didn't even lift his leg he just did the squat.. as he was walking back he just fell over and collapsed.. I ran down to him crying I had thought he just died right on the spot.. he poped his head up to look at me like what ya crying for.. :O) We called the ER Vet that was open and they told us to look for some symptoms like if his gums were white.. and Yes they looked white to me.. not the bright redish color that are normal for him.. they said to bring him right in.. The looked at him and siad that to them his gums still looked pink.. and that he could of bit his tongue when he had the fall down type siezure. (Yet that didn't make sense to me) and they said that he seemed nausea to them cause he was panting uncontrolablly and so they would give him something for his up set tummy and since he wasn't eating.. he couldn't take his meds.. they would give him his meds in an injection so he still got his meds but he could have them with out food that way. they also gave him fluids for dehydration so his back looked like a big hunch back where they injected the fluids. and they sent us home. by night time he had two more kind of falling down but this time he kind of just fell down when he layed down and would just pee like he had no energy to get up to go out. We called them and they said we could bring him in and they would watch him over night. and asked if they could to a blood count level.. well his numbers seemed low. We had to pick him up by 8am and when we arrived they told us to go directly to our Vets office and he want to start him on the Steriod Prednisone. because he said his numbers were at a dangerously low level. But while he was at the ER Vet I put a call in to the Hospital where the specilaist was to see if they could take him any sooner because he was so sick and needed to be seen. They gave us a call and said to bring him right down to the hospital Dec 27th He went through more test and they say he has ITP Immune Mediated thromboyctapenia Disease. which is a disase where the bodys own immune system attacks it's red blood cells ITP or IMAH plateletts. he has has a rough go but is still fighting has any one had any experience with this. He is on Prednisone. and Imaran, and something to try to plug the bleeding in his intestnal tract he's on iron to build up his blood..plus some kind of anti rejection med..He's had 3 blood transfusions so far and he is eating food, but he's not out of the woods by any means as his levels are still in the low numbers but up from a few days ago.. I know they are giving him the best care that they can and its up to him to respond to treatments. but its hard to know what to do.. We love him so much that its so emotional and its easy to give up hope.. so any advice if you've gone through any of this would be helpful as well as supportive thanks so much..

 

[ses02e]

I'm sorry to hear about your Riley. I hope he gets better soon. I have never experienced anything like this but I hope and pray your baby gets better soon. Keep us updated and tell him Mischka and I say Happy belated Birthday. What an upsetting birthday it was for him. Poor baby. He is extremely handsome, by the way.

 

[Rileyboy]

Thanks "ses 02 e" & Mischka for the good wishes. I am trying to keep my faith and keeping my prayers going that he can pull through this. He's been such a wonderful fur babie.. and has been through so much in his young life. with 2 tumor removals and the biopsy on his neck. and now this awful Immune problem. He is in a hospital an hour away, they didn't want any visitors as they wanted to treat him and they said at first it makes them really depressed to see their owners and then not be able to go home with them especially if they are feeling a little bit better. but phone calls were ok at any time.. I did fax him a birthday message for his special day at the hospital and Dr Jen a Vet at the place he goes sent him a doggie Bouquet and a balloon cause she knew it was his B day. I called them and asked if I could go see him yesterday which I really needed to just be able to pet him let him know that we didn't abandon him. and maybe lift his spirts to keep fighting. I just feel that they need to be comforted by their loved ones, just as much as we need to be with them. after all they are in a strange place with (nice) people they dont know. it was the best 15 mins.. Our whole family went to visit him and they unhooked him from his IV and brought in a comforter for him although he never layed down he just went from person to person lettting them give him love. I didn't want to tire him out from all of us hugging him too much. plus his paws are very swollen from all the fluids and I didn't want him using up all his energy to make us happy when he needs to use it to get well.. and get that Iv going again.. So I kept our visit short, even though I wanted to just stay with him all day. Im awaiting a call from them to see if he is going to need another transfusion.. they were giving him sometime to see if he is making enough on his own yet.. but with the internal bleeding that is occuring it might not be giving him enough chance to do it on his own with out help. Have a Happy New year I'm praying that ours will get better..

 

[BeckyNC]

Rileyboy--I'm sorry to hear your boy has had a rough time the past few days. I'm somewhat curious, did the vet indicate whether this will be a chronic condition or whether it's just an acute, potentially one-time flare-up of ITP? The reason I ask is humans can have an acute episode of ITP and then be good to go. In fact, my coworkers 7 yo had it last month. Now he's fine.

I hope Riley stays strong!

Becky

 

[Rileyboy]

Yes Humans can get ITP not too sure on if humans react the same as Dogs and not sure if they use the same drugs on people.

thanks for your concern: prognosis for both Immune mediated Hemolytic anemia and Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia is highly variable and depends on the underlying causes If one is present, complications related to the disease or drug therapy, and the response to treatment .

Relapses can occur months to years after the intial episode Over all if there is no severe underlying illness or significant complications and you’re your pet responds to therapy prognoisis fro both diseases is generally good. IMHA and ITP are more commonly seen in dogs then cats it is believed that cocker spaniels , toy animals and mini poodles and old English sheep are the breeds predisposed to develop this most affected dogs are middle aged females However theses conditions can develop in any dog or any cat of any age either sex neutered or not.

There is no scientific evidence that these diseases are caused by any thing that you feed your pet or where your pet lives. Both IMHA and ITP can be classified as Primary or secondary in primary no under laying cause of the immune destruction can be found after clinical and laboratory evaluation In comparison: Secondary IMAH or ITP occurs when the immune attack directed against an underlying condition is present such as cancer, infection a drug or toxin exposure

If an underlying condition is present it is critical to attempt to correct that problem while simultaneously treating the immune disease. Treatment of IMah and ITP relies on suppressing the immune systems attack against the red blood cells and platelets with the steroid predisone

Treatment of IMHA and ITP relies on supressing thr immunes systems attack against the red blood cells and platelets respectively. Predisone is most commonly perscribed to shut of the immune system Side effects of this drug in dogs include increase in water intake and urination and an increase in appetite and panting Cats tend not to have significant side effects.

Thearpy must be continued until there is no labrboratory evidence that anemia has resolved and there is no on going destruction of red blood cells or platelets This requires frequent re checks and exams to monitor the sucess of the thearpy if the immune system has beeen adequately suppressed the doseage of the predisone can be slowly tapered off over a period of several months and ultimately discontinuedBut need to be re checked before any decrease in the dose. and the frequent re checks are very important..

If inadequate supressiong of the immune system occurs additional drugs Cycloposphmaide and azathioprine or cyslosproine may be tried ( I think Riley had one of these too) However these drugs have more severe side effects then Predisone So talk to your Vet about the risks of each medication,

In some dogs and Cats the destruction of red blood cells and Platelets is so severe that life threating anemia can occur . Blood transfusion may be necessary to stabilize theses pets un til the bone Marrow can keep up with the demand for red blood cells and platelets and until the drug supressing the immune system have had time to work. Prognosis for both is highly variable and depends upon the underlying causes if one is present or complications realted to the disease or drug thearpy and the responce to treatment.

Right now Riley has been getting lots of treatment mentioned above but he just cant seem to get his blood cell level and platelets levels back up to a good level and he needs to respond to treatment but hes been fighting so hard now for 9 days now most of them at home when we didn't know what was wrong and the Vets office closed from the 24th till the 27th and 2 trips to the local Emergency Vet with out them really knowing what was going on either and only the past 4 days of him getting all the treatment for this disease in the Veterinary hospital and Our poor baby boy he keeps having a few set backs along the way.. I'm very sad tonight because he did vomit today which took a lot out of him and they were waiting to do another count to see if his body is trying to make enough cells on his own with out doing a 4th transfusion.. I just don't know how long he can keep fighting. It not like I dont want to have faith, but I feel like his body has been fighting a war against him and he wont have the strength to go on much longer and I might loose my best friend soon.. Please excuse all the type os I'm a little sad and prob missed a lot of my mis spellings.. but I think you can get the overall idea and treatment of this disease.. Hugs to all ..

 

[Cindy Creel]

I am so sorry that Riley is so ill. I will keep him in my prayers. I hope that he can keep up the fight. Send positive boxer vibes to him.