Drew - Auto-Immune Haemolytic Anaemia
Even with all the amazing advances in veterinary medicine over the years, it can still sometimes be impossible to definitely diagnose an illness in an animal.
Take Drew, for example, a year old Cocker Spaniel who came into the surgery feeling unwell. Drew belongs to Donna and Becci, two of the nurses at Oakhill. He suddenly became very depressed, weak, pale and jaundiced.
After taking some blood samples, we found out that Drew’s body was destroying its own blood cells. He only had one fifth of these blood cells left. The condition is known as Immune-Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia (IMHA) and is relatively rare in dogs. If untreated, dogs with this disease can die from their anaemia.
So, what was causing Drew’s body to react in this way? Poisons, infections and parasites have all been known to cause IMHA. We didn’t think that Drew had been poisoned, so we tested for blood parasites that are caused by ticks, but we still could not find a cause.
In the end we had to treat the disease symptomatically. We gave Drew a blood transfusion, kindly donated by Bugsy, and some drugs to suppress his immune system. Drew remained on these drugs throughout his recovery and for a year afterwards. He is now off the drugs and is a healthy dog again!
