immune mediated thrombocytopenia?

Question

Has anyone else ever have a dog with this? What was your success rate? My 4 month old chihuahua has it and we are treating it. I just want to know what everyone elses story was and if their dog pulled through.

they confirmed thats what it was but they cant confirm the cause exactly. Although they do suspect it to be vaccine related. Her count was under 10,000 to the normal 166,000. Her red blood cells are excellent though but her white cells are almost non existent. We dont have ticks in my area but she is also being treated as if it were tick related just in case. She is on prednisone and doxycycline. Not sure how to spell that one. They also have her vitamin K. She is a 2 and a ahlf pound 4 month old chihuahua. Thats why it is soo serious. Do you think her chances are good or bad for survival?

I really appreciate your help. I hope she pulls through. the good news is she has no symptoms of being ill. The only thing she had was bruising which is why I took her to the vet in the first place. She still runs around and plays and is so happy. You could never tell by looking at her that she is sick. I am glad to hear you had it and are still alive. Once again thank you for your help and kind words. It is soothing to hear.

Well, not to say I am paranoid but I definetly dont wait around for problems to get worse. I take my dogs to the vet ( I have three chihuahuas) at the first sign of any illness. I always say its better to spend a little money now then alot of money later.
Anyway I will definelty let you know how she does. my email is [e-mail]. Maybe you can email me in about a week or so after her second bloodwork to see if the meds are working for her. I dont know how long this posting is good for or how long I will be able to add details for. If not thats ok too. You've helped me enough :) Anyway, but with the pills, so far so good. She hasnt gotten sick from them so hopefully it will work. I have just enough means to treat her, as it isnt too expensive plus I have a wonderful boyfriend who loves my dogs as much as me. We are splitting the cost of all her treatment making it possible to treat this ALL the way through.

I am keeping a close watch to make sure she isnt playing around but it is so hard because she is a puppy and she really wants to play. I have her mom and dad. Long story short, my female came into heat at 5 months of age (I got her at 3 months) I didnt have time to spay her before she became pregnant. She only had one pup which is the pup I have now. So I have mom and dad. I was suppost to get them spayed sometime this month because the pup is all weaned and the milk is dry and I had money saved but now because of this I am not able to do so. Anyway back to the pup, it is so hard to get her to stop playing with her mom. Mom dog isnt even 1 yet so she is still really playful, plus they are inseperable. Its going to be so hard to have to break that bond between them. I just hope after the puppy goes back to normal they become inseperable again like always. As far as them not hospitalizing her they didnt even ask me if I wanted to do so. honestIy coulndt afford it anyway, with treatment.

We have already started to plan what will happen when mom comes into heat again. We actually expected her to have already come into heat so we are anticipating it to happen anyday now. The puppy is under constant supervision right now and will be crated during the time I am at work. Its really hard right now. I know I have to be more firm for her own safety, but its just soo difficult.

Answer 1

Did they confirm that it was indeed immune-mediated...(in other words, did they do an autoimmune panel?)....and not due to one of the other common causes of thrombocytopenia, like the tick-borne diseases, etc.?

We see a lot of erlichiosis and Lyme disease where I practice. RMSF is not uncommon, either.

Exactly how low is her platelet count?

EDIT to reply to asker's add'l info: Wish I could tell you for sure she's going to be okay (10,000 is pretty danged low, and the low WBC is also of concern)....but they're treating her exactly as they should be. (Although some of us would argue that the Vit. K is not needed since that's involved in a different clotting mechanism altogether.)

The prednisone and doxycycline (yes, you spelled it right!) are key to treatment. The pred is to tell her immune system to stop destroying her WBC's and platelets...and the doxy is 'just in case' she has one of the tick-borne diseases (in most confirmed cases, the owner doesn't even remember seeing a tick...as they are very small.) Those don't usually cause a low WBC, however...so from what you've said, autoimmune does indeed sound more likely. And with her being a chihuahua, I'd also be suspicious of the vaccination as being the triggering factor.

Two breeds are 'known' for a propensity to vaccine hypersensitivity....wanna guess which one (other than dachshunds)? It's not the vaccine's fault...it's just a common trait of those breeds. (I'm the same way with penicillins...but that doesn't make penicillin a bad thing.)

I sure hope your baby pulls through. I understand how worried you must be, and I'll say a prayer for her. If it makes you feel any better, I myself had a severe autoimmune anemic crisis as an infant (due to an allergic reaction to an antibiotic)....and I'm still around. :-)

Hang in there, hun.


****Excellent observation skills on noticing the bruising, and on not dilly-dallying around before getting it checked out!!!! Had you not, she almost surely would have bled to death internally. Glad you caught it before she started showing lethargy and other symptoms....that raises her prognosis. I'll check back. Please let me know how she does.

Btw, don't let her run around and play until her platelet count comes up to normal....or she might start bleeding internally. They're not keeping her in the hospital???

With a platelet count THAT low, she should not be given the OPTION to play with her mom and/or dad, hun. You have to be the 'mom' here. She should be crated for her own safety until her platelet count rises out of the danger zone, which you won't know for another week. She doesn't understand how DANGEROUSLY LOW her blood counts are...but you do. If she can't be in the real hospital (I understand), then she needs to be 'hospitalized' at home. You're worried about her odds of surviving this...and that's crucial if she's going to. If it would stress her and her mom out to be separated like that, you can at least crate them both together (SMALL crate), so they can snuggle but not play. Btw....if she's 4 months old, it's time for her mom to come into heat again any day now. You need to watch diligently and crate the mom as soon as she starts swelling/bleeding....or you're going to end up with yet another unplanned pregnancy. If you can't do that, see if a trusted friend or relative will let your male 'vacation' at their house for the 3 weeks of the heat cycle. (He'd be happier if he wasn't around it anyway....it's VERY frustrating for male dogs to be in the same household as females in heat when they can't breed them....either due to being separated, or during the parts of the cycle when the female won't "stand" for him.) I understand that this was/is an unplanned medical expense that delayed your plans for spaying/neutering her parents (kudos for planning to do that, btw), but you want to do everything you can to minimize how much MORE you're likely to have to spend due to preventable complications. Be glad she's a chihuahua...her medications would be a good bit more expensive if she were a Great Dane. ;-)