2013年9月19日星期四

IMHA Is Not To Be Taken Lightly: Know The Symptoms

This story is shared with us by Susan Rakay. She has lost her dog to IMHA and she wanted to raise awareness of this condition because with IMHA time is of the essence.


Please do learn when your dog’s symptoms are truly serious and require immediate medical attention!


I have already written about IMHA in Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde: Razzle’s Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA) article, and Dr. Mahaney shared the story of his dog Cardiff and Battling IMHA With Integrative Veterinary Medicine.


Razzle and Cardiff won their battle. Nikki wasn’t so lucky.


Nikki’s Story





It will be a year this coming Saturday that I lost Nikkilodiean to something I knew nothing about. She was my first dog ever but other dog owners I spoke to knew nothing about this disease either.


I took very good care of my little girl, vet visits when needed, grooming every month and brushing her teeth every day.



But one day hen I brushed her teeth her gums looked white and she was breathing as if she had a cold.


I thought it was a cold so I took her to the vet.



She was diagnosed with a severe case of IMHA. 


I immediately took her to the vet hospital in Phoenix and they did a blood transfusion, put her on IV, did a test to check for internal bleeding and other blood test. They could find no bleeding anywhere but she keep getting weaker and weaker.


Immune mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA) is a disease in which the body attacks its own red blood cells. To read more about IMHA check out the Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde: Razzle’s Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA) article.


Nikki stopped eating and got to the point where she didn’t recognize me and she just wanted to sleep.


The vet kept telling me to give it time but after three days I was seeing no improvement and didn’t want her to be in pain.  Nothing they did made any difference and I saw her slipping away before my eyes.  They said they didn’t think she was in pain but I knew she was dying. I wanted to take her home (200 miles away) to the place she loved.


I brought her home to my vet during the day and she spent the nights with me.


I would sleep all day and stay up with her at night.  On the third day of doing this while I was sleeping my vet called and said to get there as soon as possible.  I dressed very quickly and rushed to the vet that was only two miles away but by the time I arrived my beloved little girl had already passed.


My vet and the animal hospital said I did everything I could for her. (I’m still paying the vet hospital bill of over $ 4,000).


But I know that if someone, anyone had told me about this disease/illness I would have kept an eye out of it and gotten her to the vet/hospital sooner and she may had lived.


I want to put the word out there about this.


Please be aware and if you see these symptoms in you dog, get them to the vet IMMEDIATELY no matter what the time is (even if it is the middle of the night pay the extra money and get you dog there quickly) as it may save their life!


What symptoms should you watch for?


Your dog will be obviously weak. He or she will have no energy and have lost interest in food. Urine will be dark orange or maybe even brown. The gums, as well as the whites of the eyes, will be pale or even yellow-tinged. There may be a fever. You (hopefully) brought your pet to the veterinarian’s office as soon as it was clear that there was something wrong.




It’s your dog’s health!
Jana


Related articles:
Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde: Razzle’s Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA)
Battling IMHA With Integrative Veterinary Medicine (part 1)
Battling IMHA With Integrative Veterinary Medicine (part 2)


Further reading:
Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA)


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