Honey is a 7.5 yo, 70lb, Belgian Shepherd mix, diagnoses with anemia 10-12 days after standard vaccinations. Bordatella, parvo and rabies. She was perfectly fine during that visit but in the weeks to follow she became chronically ill without cause. Her first symptom was a swollen bone and joint the size of a baseball in her right wrist. She had a fever, couldn’t move or hardly walk. We took her to the vet and the first thing they noticed, was that she was severely anemic. They couldn’t completely identify what was causing the infection in her bone/joint or where it actually lied in her leg but they put her on antibiotics and it cleared up within 5 days of taking the medication. Initially they wanted to tap the infection but due to her anemia, they were unable to do so. Luckily it cleared and it seemed like they were able to tackle it with the little information they had. She was back to walking but she was still severely anemic. Typical symptoms, pale gums, lethargic and low blood count. Still not able to find the underlying cause, their next guess was Immune mediated hemolytic anemia, IMHA. They ran blood panels, got x Rays and ultrasounds... nothing seemed to be out of place so the IMHA seemed the most realistic. So our next step was to medicate her with prednisone and to follow up with blood work, seeing if the medication would start up RBC regeneration. After 3 days on the medication, she was showing zero signs of improvement. The medication takes up to 3 weeks to see any overall improvement but her RBCs should have shown small signs of regeneration. They decided to take the next step and add cyclosporine into the mix to see if it would help. This medication is an immune suppressant and is very harsh on the body. 5 days later, we went back for more blood tests and hoped for good news. That wasn’t what we received. She wasn’t responding to treatments and her RBC was now into the mid/low teens. We ended up heading to the emergency clinic where they ran the all of the same tests to make sure nothing was missed and give her an emergency blood transfusion. They found nothing the other vets didn’t find but had their own theory that cancer was the real culprit. I asked about the vaccinations and if that could have caused it and they said yes, but treatment plans would have been the same. They Also said if this was IMHA that she would be responding to treatment. We are just about 24 hours post transfusion, she seemed okay but she just started throwing up and her ears feel like she’s developed a fever. Is there something that was missed here? Does anyone know of another cause for her to go downhill so quickly? I don’t know if there is any time to figure it out, but not having answers is the most heartbreaking thing that has ever happened to me.
We also asked about iron deficiency and the vet said they don’t truly believe in it, so I’m not sure if she was ever tested.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/db3g70/dog_anemia_my_poor_dog_is_dying_could_there_be/
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