Dog Has Anemia

[thomas00]

So the old girl is about 13 now and a recent checkup at the vet showed she has anemia. She's been getting steadily more fatigued this last year so I guess that's the reason. She also suffered an attack from another dog about 6 months ago that has really set her back a lot. She was on amoxcillin for 3 weeks while she was recovering from her wounds from the attack and was quite vibrant towards the end of the course of antibiotics then as soon as she came off them she seemed to really crash. I don't know what was going on there.

She still has her regular appetite, wants to go for walks every day and is going to the toilet fine, pretty good for her age. But she obviously tires very easily, doesn't ask for pats like she used to and her mouth is really, really dry.

The vet can't tell from the blood tests what is behind the anemia and in liu of really expensive scans that won't happen (she's my housemates dog, I just look after her) I don't know if I can get anymore answers. The vet said there is no dietary cause behind it.

I've been giving her 1mg of cypro this last few weeks to see if that will help at all. I know Ray has said that he thinks most cases of anemia are caused by hypothyroidism so I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to try her on some thyroid, unless there is a better suggestion. This dog has been on the typical crap dry pet food diet her entire life and it isn't really possible to change her diet at all unfortunately.

 

[Regina]

So the old girl is about 13 now and a recent checkup at the vet showed she has anemia. She's been getting steadily more fatigued this last year so I guess that's the reason. She also suffered an attack from another dog about 6 months ago that has really set her back a lot. She was on amoxcillin for 3 weeks while she was recovering from her wounds from the attack and was quite vibrant towards the end of the course of antibiotics then as soon as she came off them she seemed to really crash. I don't know what was going on there.

She still has her regular appetite, wants to go for walks every day and is going to the toilet fine, pretty good for her age. But she obviously tires very easily, doesn't ask for pats like she used to and her mouth is really, really dry.

The vet can't tell from the blood tests what is behind the anemia and in liu of really expensive scans that won't happen (she's my housemates dog, I just look after her) I don't know if I can get anymore answers. The vet said there is no dietary cause behind it.

I've been giving her 1mg of cypro this last few weeks to see if that will help at all. I know Ray has said that he thinks most cases of anemia are caused by hypothyroidism so I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to try her on some thyroid, unless there is a better suggestion. This dog has been on the typical crap dry pet food diet her entire life and it isn't really possible to change her diet at all unfortunately.

Could you give her some scraps of raw liver? I don't believe that her diet can not be changed. Also pregnenolone might be a nice add.
Oo, how bout you dredge raw liver in charcoal powder?!

 

[thomas00]

I've given her some dried liver treats over the past few weeks....it doesn't seem to have made much of an impact but I may keep doing it. Is there much difference between raw and dried?

I can't change too much of her diet without causing some tension between my housemate and I. She isn't mine so ultimately it's battle I can't win. I don't think my housemate really appreciates me giving her anything beyond what she already gets (I usually give her a pig's ear or a few lambs ears in the afternoon to chew on). My housemate has only ever fed her dry food, once per day, and thinks it's sufficient.

Do you have a suggestion for a good amount of pregnenolone for a dog, Regina? She's probably about 25kgs and medium sized.

 

[Regina]

I've given her some dried liver treats over the past few weeks....it doesn't seem to have made much of an impact but I may keep doing it. Is there much difference between raw and dried?

I can't change too much of her diet without causing some tension between my housemate and I. She isn't mine so ultimately it's battle I can't win. I don't think my housemate really appreciates me giving her anything beyond what she already gets (I usually give her a pig's ear or a few lambs ears in the afternoon to chew on). My housemate has only ever fed her dry food, once per day, and thinks it's sufficient.

Do you have a suggestion for a good amount of pregnenolone for a dog, Regina? She's probably about 25kgs and medium sized.

I understand the "battle I can't win." Gotcha.
I have only eyeballed pregnenolone dose for my dog. By that I mean, I bought Pregnenolone powder from HealthNatura; I get a bit onto the end of a knife and wipe it on my dog's tongue. He's a total pain in the a** giving medications to. So the powder is easy. But he actually runs into the kitchen when he detects pregnenolone.

I have gotten recent gains with him by adding activated charcoal powder and opening up a 100mg doxycycline capsule into his wet raw food. On days I feed him dry (freeze dried), he does not get any supplements.

How about table scraps? (as a place to hide aspirin powder and charcoal and get a break from the kibble).

13 is a good run for any dog these days.

Raw is a big topic with many resources to search. But I've never seen a dog turn their nose up to raw animal matter. If I have trained a kibble-fed dog, the owner would be amazed to see their dog wolfing down raw tripe and bloody raw liver.

I often put a tsp of coconut oil on the plate on days I feed dry. And often feed a scoop of vanilla ice cream before bed.

The pregnenolone might help her to recover from the trauma.
Kibble is so overloaded with iron (ferrous sulfate or other weird iron complexes and crazy overloaded with PUFA and vitamin pack fortification).
So the anemia is probably the hypo caused by PUFA onslaught.

 

[noordinary]

@thomas00 she must be spaded, probably before even 1 yo... she had unopposed (by progesterone) estrogen almost all her life + dry food and pufa... if that was me, i would get progesterone from healthnatura and tyromax from idealabs for my struggling 13 yo dog. And yes liver raw. Big difference from freeze dried liver, in fat i gave out a big jar of freeze dried liver to my neighbor, not even close to the raw liver. Many dog owners really don’t know any better than dry food. And dogs are spaded and fixed at a very early age. I have two now: one male, i got him at a shady operation specislizing in reselling defected pure breeds, i got him just before they fixed him, i never let that happen, although the vet insisted every visit. He is 3 yo now, he looks very young, almost a big pup. Very heathy, amazing coat, high energy, he never humps on anything or anyone. The second was a rescue female 3,5 yo when i got her, now 4 yo, spaded of course, with grey muzzle, sick, hurting joints, bulging eyes, she looked old, she still looks older, but is doing much better, loves raw liver and lamb tongues. Couldn’t even run when i got her, getting on the second floor was an effort for her. She still gets fatigued, but can run for several minutes, recently started playing (she never! played before with anything, not even fetch) and even jumping a little bit after 7 months of good nutrition, lots of fresh air and space in the backyard, she even can hike now, although she tires out in an hour. I did not expect her to get so much better.
When my dogs get sick or tired i make them milk with raw egg yolks and honey (or plain white sugar, if i dont have honey), works very well. If i dont have time i give icecream (traditional gelato: milk, egg yolks and sugar).
@thomas00 thank you for trying your best even when it’s not your dog and you have limited options.

 

[thomas00]

Thanks for your suggestions Regina and Noordinary. I think I will start her on a small amount of pregnenolone and see how that goes. I'm thinking maybe some antibiotics too seeing as they seemed to really help her when she was on them.


Noordinary: have you much experience with dogs and thyroid? I have some tyromax (and t3) but I'm hesitant... I do really badly with anything that has t4 in it (terrible palpitations) and I don't want her to suffer that way.

 

[noordinary]

Thanks for your suggestions Regina and Noordinary. I think I will start her on a small amount of pregnenolone and see how that goes. I'm thinking maybe some antibiotics too seeing as they seemed to really help her when she was on them.


Noordinary: have you much experience with dogs and thyroid? I have some tyromax (and t3) but I'm hesitant... I do really badly with anything that has t4 in it (terrible palpitations) and I don't want her to suffer that way.

I dont think that thyroid without adequate nutrition (and with nutritional deficiencies) is a good idea: ramping up metabolism without providing adequate fuel may only make things worse. If you will be able to sneak in some good raw animal flesh for her, raw eggs (i only give egg yolks and dogs don't like egg whites anyway) and see if it makes a difference, but consistency needed for months i guess. I suspect my second dog had Graves decease when i got her, her eyes were bulging and her thyroid was huge hard ball, when i palpated her neck. I never got the diagnosis by the vet through, but i try to avoid the docs as much as possible, vets are no better than regular human doctors.