CIMDA

I have not been on this site for a long time but I credit it  with helping Jasper recover from IMHA four years ago.

He is 14 now. He collapsed yesterday when I called him for his morning walk and a relapse of IMHA has been diagnosed.   Although I know it is  life threatening (more so at his age than before)  I now know how to take care of him if/when severe side effects to high dosage  pred occur.
I have set up my house to cope with  possible urinary incontinence and excessive drinking and I will not be so worried about the muscle wastage now I know it is a side effect of pred and will pass once the dose is reduced. Last time he did not eat and became weaker and weaker. He looked like a living skeleton until a friend arrived and hand fed him with tiny slivers of cooked chicken breast.
Jasper spent yesterday on a drip a the local vet clinic. It is a day clinic  and like last time I opted to bring him home rather than take him to a hospital further away. I bought a supply of chicken breasts for him before i collected him last night. He is eating it and so far all is going well.

My vet phoned me yesterday with the results of blood tests he had ordered as a routine check-up for my whippet Jasper who has been on pred for 18months as treatment for Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anemia. I have been weaning Jasper off it and  he now takes 10mg every third day.

The good news is that his red blood cell levels are stable at around 40% and that  lab results indicate  that  the pred has not had any negative effect on his liver  or kidneys.

However my vet was concerned that his thyroid hormone levels are too low.   

I searched this forum for info about hypothyroidism which can be an auto-immune disease but found only one article. Jasper does not show any of the clinical signs described in the article  apart  from the fact that he's sensitive to cold.  Which is not surprising - he's a whippet, he has always shivered a lot, and this year the Melbourne winter has been much colder than usual.

Then I did  an Internet search and found an excellent article  entitled "Care of your Hypothyroid Dog". It is  at www.2ndchance.info/doghypothyroid.htm .   Among other information it states that one must be cautious in diagnosing hypothyroidism in sight hounds as they tend to have lower normal levels of thyroid hormones ( there was a link to a scientific article concerning this finding  in JAVMA Vol 236 No 3 Feb 1 2010).

Of  more general interest to readers of this forum was  the statement  that steroid medication can give a false positive for hypothyroidism, however no link as provided to any research about this.

So  I'm wondering if anyone else whose dog is on pred  has had a similar experience of low thyroid levels without clinical signs.

My vet wants to see Jasper again on Monday to check him closely for any clinical signs he missed at the other check-up and possibly put him on thyroid  medication. But after  reading the article I cited above  I will not be  putting him on medication. I will also ask him to tell me the actual test results.

I am wondering if any research  exists about the likelihood of dental work under anaesthetic resulting in a relapse in dogs with IMHA.

My whippet Jasper is due for a 6 week vet check up next Thursday and I know that the issue will be raised.

Jasper has always had a lot of dental plaque. One tooth was extracted several years ago.

While he was extremely ill and emaciated earlier this year I fed him soft food to build up his weight but at the last check up my vet pointed out the risks  of bacterial infection resulting from a build up of plaque so I have got him back onto Hills Dental Diet.

As well as being treated on pred for IMHA Jasper (aged 10) has a heart murmur.

My  ten year old Whippet Jasper was diagnosed with IMHA  last week. I have been very anxious because despite being on medication his red cell count had deteriorated  from 20 to 9.5 in just a week.  However the news is better today. It has increased to 15. Still a long way to go but he is eating again (boiled chicken) and is brighter in himself.