CIMDA

Hi Jo, thank you for replying. No, Matilda doesn't have a temperature. We have been back to the vet for xrays since my post, and the vet thinks that Matilda has a malignant cancer. They have ruled out Addison's after doing a Base Cortisol test, and are having her back tomorrow for a specialist abdominal scan to see if they can find a mass, and are also doing a special blood test for something called parathyroid...something or other - I can't remember what it's called, but it's like a hormone that will show whether or not there is malignancy in her body. She is still very bright in herself and is back to eating normally. So it doesn't sound like an auto-immune disease, but does sound like we will lose her to cancer 

Dear All, previously found this site so helpful when I had an elderly English Springer with IMHA, now I have a seven year old English Springer bitch, Matilda, with symptoms that sound to me frighteningly like Addison's and we are in need of your help again! She has been "off colour" (lost her "sparkle" for which she has always been well known!) for around 16 months all told, and after 8 months was diagnosed as Hypothyroidic. She also had the full range of tests for Cushings as she was drinking gallons and her urine was ridiculously diluted, but all the tests were resoundingly negative. After being on Thyforon for a good 8 months, she is not as lethargic, but still not quite "right". She has continued to look a bit pot-bellied, in poor coat and with no real "seasons" (she is not spayed). In the last couple of weeks, she has had an extended bout of diarrhoea and one or two episodes of vomiting, and went right off her food from being a voraciously hungry Springer, and also went back to drinking a lot, but this time little and often rather than the massive amounts she was drinking at a single session before. She also lost 2kg and looked very thin very suddenly. All of our dogs had a 24 hour "tummy bug" at the time, so both the vet and we thought she just had a bad tummy upset. But after ten days of antibiotics, although she is eating again (but not enthusiastically as before) and is generally more cheerful, she still not right. She is drinking little and often, and her urine is very diluted. She appears to have no pain in her tummy and pyometra has been ruled out by an ultrasound scan. She has put on about half the weight she lost. The key thing is her blood results - they are unchanged today from 10 days ago - high white blood cells, high neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes; high calcium; high globulin; low red blood cells, HCT and HGB (basically anaemia). All this after antibiotics, so not a standard treatable infection. The vet is proposing x rays to look for cancers, which are high on her suspect list. She hasn't mentioned Addison's, but have read the articles on here and am wondering if this is a real possibility and worth suggesting to her ahead of the x rays? Matilda had a ACTH stimulation test as the last of her Cushings tests, but that was earlier this year, so presumably the results could now be different? Her Sodium/Potassium ratio ten days ago was 34, and individual NA and K readings within the normal range. Not sure what they are today as was only given some results over the phone. Any advice would be very gratefully received - many thanks in advance

Just caught up with this thread, and so happy that Meg is much, much better. Have been on that same rollercoaster with my Springer Gyps, so know how you feel! As has already been said by many others, these auto immune diseases are truly awful, and not all have happy outcomes, so we should celebrate those that do while sharing the sadness of less fortunate owners. Whatever the outcome, though, we must remember that we are all doing our best for our dogs, and this forum is a great place to get support. Hope that Meg continues to thrive.
Teresa & Gyps

So sorry for your loss, understand how devastated you must be feeling 

Teresa & Gyps

Belated thanks, Jo. Apologies for the lack of news - have been busy caring for Gyps and our other dogs, plus a sick parakeet whom (unlike Gyps) we couldn't make better  ,  and I have started a new job! Thought that it was about time for an update, though: vet finally agreed to drop Gyps to one 25mg tablet of prednisolone per day at the end of April, and has only agreed to drop again to 1/2 tablet last week. Gyps is to be re-tested in a week's time. She is doing brilliantly - still a bit of an odd shape, and her coat has thinned and her feathering falling out, but she is otherwise really well! Fantastic "pink" colour, very bright and cheery, back to trotting on her walks with the occasional "canter", and she is wanting to play with her toys and be touched/hugged again. Almost but not quite like having my old Gyps back! The chiropractic treatment is also working well for her, helping her to be more flexible and mobile. Still a way to go, but we are at least progressing in the right direction, and she is obviously feeling so much better, which is the main thing.

Hope that other IMHA disease sufferers continue to benefit from the advice on this forum and show the same kind of improvement as my beloved girl has done so far. Thank you for all your support and encouragement, we are so grateful - Teresa & Gyps

Hello, just an update on Gyps' progress: we have been back and forth to the vet for blood tests, and, having peaked at a blood cell count of 38 on the original full 3 x 25mg prednisolone dosage, she has now been stable at 34 on 2 x 25mg for around four weeks and drinking less/weeing less/still as hungry as a hippo! She is decidedly "pink" and so much more cheerful. She is now strong enough to have chiropractic treatment on her arthritic back and after just two sessions is moving much more freely. Doubt she will ever return to the bouncy dog she once was, but at 10 years old we expected her to slow down a little anyway! She is at least back to little walks and showing an active interest in sniffs and smells on the ground. Here's hoping that we can reduce the dosage again soon and that her blood count will stabilise at an acceptable level.

Will keep you posted on her progress.

So sorry to read about Benson's problems, poor little man. My Springer Gyps was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about 6 years ago when she was four. She has been on a daily dose of thyroxin ever since and until very recently was a bright and breezy nine year old. Just last week we realised she had become very anaemic and her behaviour was becoming more and more subdued. She has now been diagnosed as having Immune Mediated Haemalytic Anaemia (IMHA). I am not sure, but think that IMHA and AIHA are similar, if not the same. We have been scared and confused ever since, but she is being treated with a high dose of steroids (along with a gastroprotectant, Antepsin), and we have been helped hugely by the advice and responses from others on this great forum. Hopefully you will get plenty of support also from your vet and your boy will get the right treatment very, very soon. Time then to deal with his spinal problems, I guess. Will be thinking of you and Benson, bless him.

Thinking of you and your boy. Hope he gets his appetite back soon. Just keep trying. Will keep my fingers crossed and my beautiful Gyps will cross her paws too.

Thank you, Jo and Catherine, for your advice. I will be phoning the vet tomorrow for the results of Friday's test, so will speak to him about an interim blood test, the dosage and the use of Azathioprine. At the moment, Gyps is certainly showing increased appetite and thirst (and weeing, naturally!), but is still bright-eyed and waggy-tailed, and fetches her fave toy to greet us. She even had a little "bounce" (just the one!) when I served her up this evening's dinner. Will keep an eye out for depression etc. The vet advised giving her the Antepsin 1 hour before food/steroids, so will check that out too to make sure that we are doing our best for her.

Thank you all of you who have replied. It is such a help to know that there are other dog-lovers (and their beloved dogs!) who have gone or are going through what we are at the moment. Do hope that all fellow IMHA sufferers get well soon. My own girl is called Gyps (short for Gypsophila, and she is as pretty as the flower that she shares her name with). She is on 1 & 1/2 25mg tablet of prednisolone twice a day - that's 75mg a day in total, and she weighs 21.3kg. Looking at the info on this forum, does that seem too high? My vet seems quite knowledgeable about IMHA and this is the dosage he has prescribed in the short term. Gyps has had two blood tests so far - the first one last Tuesday followed by the second after the vet made the diagnosis on Friday. He wants to see her again on 25th Feb (10 days since the diagnosis) for another blood test, but I am to take her back sooner if she seems worse, which I would do anyway. She is two days into the treatment now, and is still very pale in gums/flews, and she is very subdued (normally she is so bright and breezy), but from the info on the forum I know that we have to be patient for a few days more before we can expect to see any improvement. It is just so awful to see her this way now and not be certain yet that she will actually improve. As has been said, whatever it takes.........

Hello everyone, am so glad have found this forum. My 10 year old English Springer was diagnosed with IMHA yesterday (red blood cell count of 16) and my vet put her straight onto a high dose of prednisolone (with Antepsin to coat her stomach beforehand). I had never heard of IMHA until yesterday, but thanks to this forum, some other internet articles and my vet, I am now so much wiser if very worried! We are now going through those first few oh-so-tense days to see if she responds to the treatment, and others' experiences are really worth hearing right now, so please share them if you are able and cross your fingers for my beautiful girl, who already has to contend with Hypothyroidism. Thank you in advance!