Low Blood Platelets
So the next day I took him in to run a platelets count test. Result came back this morning that his count is indeed very low, which explained those spots and bruises. Clayden is now at the vet again taking another test. Vet thinks it is likely to be Auto Immune Disease. He said this is something sheepdog breed is prone to. (Clayden is not an OES, he is some sort of sheepdog, herding dog mix) I tried to look up more info regarding Auto Immune Disease on the forum but what I read so far didn't quite collaborate with what is going on with Clayden. I didn't find anyone mentioned low blood platelets, blood clotting problem etc. Wonder if anyone could give me some pointers as to where to find related information to read?  Thanks, in advance. |
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 Your vet is correct. OES as a breed are predisposed to a number of autoimmune diseases, including several that involve blood related disorders such as Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA) and Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia (ITP) I suppose that means mixes can be predisposed as well, though in fact any breed of dog can be affected, it's just that it is unfortunately more common than average in our breed. The OESCA Health & Research site links to some general descriptions of immune mediated disease. Go to http://www.oeshealth.org and click on the Autoimmune button on the left. Perhaps that can serve as a starting point at least. I would pay special attention to ITP Best wishes for your boy.  Kristine |
| Low platelets are one of the symptoms of Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA). Maybe this is what your vet was refering to. It is very serious, and often fatal. Here's a link - and you also can check out other possibilities on this site too. http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... 01&aid=399 I hope Clayden is going to be OK, he is such a little cutie  |
| Thanks Kristine & Dawn. Especially for the links. That is exactly what I was looking for. Perhaps there is miracle and the test comes back it is not Autoimmune Diseases? ... |
Gigi wrote: Thanks Kristine & Dawn. Especially for the links. That is exactly what I was looking for. Perhaps there is miracle and the test comes back it is not Autoimmune Diseases? ...Low platelet counts can be due to other things and even if it is autoimmune it can be secondary to many other things and sometimes you treat the underlying condition (a tick borne disease, for instance) and one thing takes care of the other. A friend's OES CRASHED with ITP about six months ago I think it was. Completely out of the blue, bang, down, very bad. It was a long and bumpy road back but she's doing OK. IMHA puts the fear of god in me to put it nicely, but again, dogs have pulled through. How great that your vet noticed these signs and knew to start looking immediately. This way you can get a jump start on whatever is going on, rule out other obvious suspects (or find and treat), or get a jump start on steroids if that's what it turns out he needs. We're all  Kristine |
| Thanks Kristine. Yes we were very lucky. Yesterday, an Internal Medicine Specialist happened to visit their hospital, he checked out Clayden and suggested autoimmune diseases. |
| Thinking of you and hoping for some good news for Clayden. |
| Thinking good thoughts for Clayden. Laurie and Oscar |
| Oh Martini... I am so sorry  My first OES was diagnosed with Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia and Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia We found Mandy's out when she had bleeding from her vulva.... Her intitial bloodwork was the lowest platelet count you could imagine "1" Which was 1,000 but, still very bad considering the norms are I think 140,000 to 400,000 The Pred brought her levels up pretty fast but, you have to be very careful about bruising... Sorry to say The easiest way we found was to check for pitikia on her gums.. You can see broken blood vessels on the gums easily. Nobody was allowed to do a blood draw on Mandy except the vet, you have to worry about clotting! Mandy was also on Imuran(generic azathioprine)...I feel the Imuran really helped her! http://www.cloudnet.com/~jdickson/treatment.htm I have a friend with a Beardie that recently went through an issue with her dog and IMHA. It was "acute" if that can be used as a term for IMHA...she is doing wonderful! I can certainly put you in touch with her as well! I wish the best for you and your baby and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! |
| Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts. Clayden's platelets counts is 30 (30000). We are still waiting for the Coomb Test result to officially confirm it is ITP (Autoimmune Mediated Thrombocytopenia) All the symptons fit to a T. He has pitikia on his gums like what Kathy said. So even without the result, vet has already started Clayden on steriod treatment. He is taking Prednisone & Doxycycline Hyclate. If he doesn't respond well to these, then we will move up to azathioprine. And if that doesn't help, then we can consider removing his spleen... I think...he is responding well to the medication...I think...I said so because all those tiny red dots, red spots, bruises on his chest and tummy have faded, especially around his genital area. And I don't see any new dots or spots. I don't know if that means he is responding to the meds though... In any case, he will get another blood test in a week to check his counts. Kathy, was Mandy on the meds for the rest of her life? How long did she live? Were there any significant side-effects you knew of from taking the chemo meds? I'd love to get in touch with your friend whose beardie went through this...I will pm you. Thanks again everyone |
| Our sheepie, Hannah, has been diagnozed with low blood platelets at least twice during the course of regular blood panels. She has a very long list of problems: thyroid, hip dysplasia, diabetes since 2008, pancreatitus 2x, blind now due to diabetes, to name only a few. So she goes to the vet quite frequently for blood work. She didn't have the symptoms that your dog had though. But she has had many auto-immune type disease symptoms through the years. She gets quite extensive ongoing care. We have successfully brought her blood platelets back to normal levels on at least 2 different occassions with the product Pet Tinic. I just googled it and it's by Pfizer. We got ours at the vet. Can't remember the exact dosage but it's a liquid and I think we put a tablespoon or two on her food 2x a day and each time we used 2 large bottles until they were empty. She liked the taste and would lick the spoon but we learned not to give medicine on an empty stomach. Years ago Marianne posted about a home cooked diet where she cured her Shaggy of auto immune problems. We've included some home cooked food using sweet potatoes and chicken a similar version of what Marianne did to supplement our sheepie's dog food diet through the years. Feel free to PM me if you need any info. Our sheepie has been through a lot. Great thing about sheepies though is they are the BEST and have a strong fighting spirit! Good luck with your little guy I've always thought he was exceptionally cute! I hope he makes a speedy recovery! |
Wow  Poor Hannah! It's a blessing she has you and your family to take care of her. How long has she long her eye sight? It must have been very scary for her...poor baby.I will check out Pet Tinic and discuss it with my vet. So far Clayden seems to be responding quite well to the meds. I called the vet today to update them on Clayden's progress. They were amazed when I told them almost 80% of all those broken vessels spots, dots, bruises are gone. But I will try to get in touch with Marianne to see if she still have the info of that home cooked diet. Clayden wants to give you a gentle kiss on your chin (his kisses are very light and gentle, that is his signature move  ) to thank you for thinking he is exceptionally cute  |
| I hope Clayden continues to improve. Just a thought - could any of this be a side effect of all the chemical stuff being used to kill the mites that Kahlua brought to your house?? Maybe he was always a bit prone, and this caused the flare-up? Anyway, just a thought, and hope he continues on the mend!!  |
| Dawn: I have thought about that too. Since I have been giving them a total of 8 doses of heartworms meds every two weeks since December to treat the mites. My vet said he has done some research but didn't find any ingredients in the Interceptor or the Revolution that may induce ITP. Basically he was telling me there was no known fact to support this theory...doesn't necessary mean it is not true.  I think he really is improving. Yesterday his heartbeat was very fast and breathing was heavy. I thought he was going to get a heart attack soon... Today his heartbeat is back to normal and the breathing is back to normal too.  Thanks again for the good wishes |
Gigi wrote: Wow Poor Hannah! It's a blessing she has you and your family to take care of her. How long has she long her eye sight? It must have been very scary for her...poor baby.It's happened gradually so she's adapted well. She has a small amount of peripheral vision and actually navigates better in the evening. She's never unattended outside which helps. Clayden wants to give you a gentle kiss on your chin (his kisses are very light and gentle, that is his signature move ) to thank you for thinking he is exceptionally cute Love his "signature move" HOW PRECIOUS! We'll take all the gentle kisses he has to offer. What a sweetie! |
| Martini... I know you have been talking to Sharon(she adores you  )Mandy lived for a year on her meds BUT...she was a lot older! Mandy was 13 when she was diagnosed.... She had bladder cancer so, please do not compare! I bet Clay will pull through! |
| Thank you again Kathy Update on Clayden: I finally got a call from my vet for the Coomb Test result last night. My vet called me at 8:00pm on my cell and unfortunately I missed his call. So it was a voicemail message I got instead. In the message he said the Coomb Test result came back negative on any autoimmune disease!!!! He told me to still bring Clayden back for another blood platelets count test tomorrow. So I didn't get to ask him what would be other possible cause for the low BPC if it wasn't autoimmune. I don't know if it is a good news or not...doesn't it mean it is something worse?? But then his blood panel is very good. Hmmmm..... Cladyen did very well on the steroid med but the downsides is that it made him very, very thirsty. And since he drinks A LOT of water, he is not able to hold his pee. When I am at home, I have to let him out to pee every hour and each time it is a river of pee he made! He had never peed in the house before but now he pees in the room in the middle of the night (we all sleep in my bedroom), even peed in his crate during daytime I came home finding him standing in the crate, two layers of pillows soaked wet but he himself was quite dry. That means he had been standing in the crate the whole day trying not to get himself wet My poor baby! So now I use the 8 panel doggy pen to confine him in the tiled area during daytime instead and I put down some puppy training pad for his peeing need. |
| Well that is good news! pee is just pee, and always cleanable... Poor boy standing all day to stay dry though...hope he's on the mend. |
It sounds good to me too though I don't have any medical background!!  I hope Clayden is now on the way to good health again. He is such a precious dude. |
| Thanks Jaci Dawn, I completely agree.  The pee doesn't even smell because it is so diluted with the massive amount of water intake.The result of the second Platelet Count test came back. Clayden's count is now above normal (with full dosage of steroid meds). So now we can cut down the dosage to half. Vet said Clayden will still need to be on the meds for a month. And we are to go back for another PC test in two weeks. I still don't know what caused it in the first place. Vet said there are only 3 possibilities: The bone marrow stops making it, it is being destructed (autoimmune) or blood loss. Since the last two are ruled out, the only one left is the bone marrow stopped making it for some unknown reasons. We hope it is temporarily and with the aids of the meds, it will return to normal production. Thanks all for your advices and support this whole time  |
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