Friday Maggy had a count done on her blood and it was at 17.5 RBC. Prior to Friday, the vet started her on predisone the previous Tuesday. This Saturday Maggy 'passed out' and we rushed her to the ER, her PVC count was down to 11. They did a blood tranfusion and it got back up to 39 today (monday). Now between two internal medicine doctors and our normal vet, they have not diagonsed her anemia cause yet. Therefore we have not been able to treat it properly. Now we sit at another crossroad to decide if we want to put her through another diaognositc test, a bone marrow biopsy, to decide why ONLY her RBC is so low and what is causing it. But because she just had a blood transfusion and also has already started predisone, both of those factors could mask the results of the bone marrow. The decision is hard to make. Did anyone have a bone marrow biopsy to determine the cause of anemia for their beagle? If so, care to share your results?
When we faced the question of doing a Marrow test I asked the doctor these questions: Is it painful ? If the results of the marrow test show that the disease is in the marrow are the treatments any different than what we are doing right now? Is it a dangerous test. The answers were that it is very uncomfortable for the dog as it is very intrusive. The treatment would be exactly the same and that any test that is that intrusive can have it's complications. All of that information plus the fact that I had reached my financial threshold (which was a secondary reason, but still a factor) helped me to decide to leave that test out.
After Mickey had the transfusion his PCV count went into the high 30's, but expect that number to drop a little. The steroid treatment can take a long time to work, but eventually they do respond. Mickey was as ill as your Maggie in January. It is September and he is still with us. Not 100%, but very comfortable and with a very high quality of life. At the end of the day our vet/treatment bills came to $9000.00. It was worth every penny, but now he is 9.5 years old and should he relapse I will be prepared to say goodbye. For now it looks like he will be with us for a very long time !!!!!Best of luck. It is so emotional when we love these little guys so much.
Gosh we sure do think alike, we asked the same questions regarding a bone marrow biopsy and just felt it wasn't worth putting her through that for a slim chance we might find out a disease that would still result in predisone for a treatment. I am so happy to hear how your Mickey is doing! That gives us hope. Financially I have not added it all up yet but so far are lucky enough to not have to worry...yet, but she is worth every penny. The hardest part is to not over feed her, for the predisone is making her super hungry, I just don't want her to gain a ton of weight. Plus she is drinking bowls of water being on it too. We are in Wisconsin....you? Still can't figure out what brought this one, guess we have to let that go and move on. Maggy will be 9 in January, we too know if this happens again, we are preparing ourselves to let her go. I appreciate your posts so much, we have felt so alone like no one else was going through this. We will do re-checks 1 to 2 weeks apart for RBC's and stay on predisone 10mg/twice a day for now. Hi to Mickey
We struggled with Mickey's weight too as he has been ravenous since being on the prendisone. I'm sure your vet told you not to exercise Maggie. We were told just to let Mickey out to use the bathroom and then come back in to rest for about 3 months. He now has the energy to sniff around the yard and be outside for longer periods of time. Also, the heat really tires him out. We live in Scottsdale, AZ so we are just now able to go outside for any length of time. We also spent the month of July in MN and as you know in Wisconsin, this summer was beastly hot and humid. Mickey really stayed in the A/C for most of the days. Instead of feeding him 2 times a day, I've started feeding him mini-meals several times a day. That helps keep him full (I think)!! Also, instead of dog treats, I give him ice cube chips. That helps with the thirst as well as the hunger !! We never were able to figure out what caused this either. I suspected a drug called Rymidal (sp) because when this first happened he had been taking that drug for a shoulder pain that he had. I did alot of research on the internet and found that other people suspected that drug caused anemia as well. The vet said no, he didnt think that had anything to do with it. Who really knows!! All I know is that my husband and I and the two kids are so grateful that we didn't lose our little guy!! Best of luck with Maggie and keep me posted!!!
My female Beagle, Mattie, injured her back. The vet tried Rimadyl with no response whatsoever. He had just gotten a new laser treatment machine. I signed her up for a 4 week therapy every other day. It only took a week and a half until I saw results. The vet let me 'bank' the last 2 weeks in case she relapsed. That was over a year ago and she has had no occurrences of back pain since.
Hi - I wanted to send an update since it has been months. Maggy is now getting weened off of prendisone, she is in her 5th week of that. Her total RBC's have climed to 35 this week!!! So excited to hear, but her new red blood cells (reticucyltes) have decreased again. She is getting better with a little more sleep, the prendisone was keeping her so hyper and up at early hours of the morning, starving for food. All I can say is how grateful we are this holiday season to have her with us and what we believe is the road to recovery from this long haul of anemia. All the doctors never found out why or what it really is that causes it. I just believe between yearly shots, frontline, heartguard and giving her some rymidal, set her body into a failure of creating red blood cells. I also stopped giving her treats that are not made in USA or that I don't make myself. I daily make her cream of wheat for high iron, i make her liver and then she also get just plain old cooked carrots and green beans to help with calorie intake. I hope you and Mickey and your family have a great holiday season! We believe and pray that Maggy is on her road to full recovery. Merry Christmas!
I just can't believe this!! Just yesterday, about 1:00 p.m. I took Mickey to have his nails trimmed. On my way into the groomer I thought to myself, "I wonder how Maggy is doing"? AMAZING!!!! Well, it is so good to hear from you and I'm thrilled that Maggy is doing so well. I've been weening Mickey from the Prendisone as well. I made this decision on my own as I just do not have the funds to keep paying for vet vistis. The last time he saw a vet was in July up in Mpls. He is down to 10 mg. every other day. He seems to be doing very well. He as alot of energy and has his personality back! Also, alot of pink color in his gums and ears! I am taking him in for an assessment on Dec. 30 as I am almost out of prendisone and I should really get some professional advice. Enjoy your Christmas!!! I am so glad that you're having success with Maggy!! Take care!
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