"AIHA" Doctor's Encapsulation

Sometimes a red blood cell is coasting along in the bloodstream minding it's own business and some law-enforcement cells or organs stop it and say "Heyyyyy you look like a CRIMINAL" and they beat it down. And then they get the taste of blood and they go on killing red cells on sight.

Sometimes it's cells in the blood stream sending them to prison, or sometimes it actually the county jail taking them in and killing them.

But LOTS of red cells die because the body has 'decided' the red cells are criminals.

On occasion, the cells actually DO have crack-cocaine in their pockets. Like when a tick-disease like Erhlichia puts it's gang-sign / bandana on the red cells, making the Police think they're mules.

Other times the Spleen has 'gone cancerous' and every time a red cell shows up in there, it's killed. The spleen gets really big, the urine can get really dark.

The point is that the red cells are under attack somewhere in the body and the dog is starting to show signs of:

1. Weakness
2. Shallow or Difficult Breathing
3. Depression and Not eating
4. Dark Pee
5. Yellow ears and gums
6. and Did I Mention: WEAKNESS? 

Yeah, when someone calls me up and says "My not-puppy-not-real-old dog is swaying from side to side and just flops down wherever she is"
I think "check the gums for whiteness."

So what can we do?

1. These things in order:
2. Prednisone
3. Doxycycline or other Ehrlichia/Babesia Fighter
4. Stomach Protectants

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5. Chemotherapy -Imuran used to be used. Other scorched-earth anti-immune drugs are used now.
6. Spleen removal - No precinct = No bad cops
7. Transfusion - replace red cells with cells the body absolutely knows are foreign and trigger an even more ferocious response. Suppress with #2 above.

The "divider" above is where I stop and $peciali$t intervention begins. Sadly, MANY specialists are employees of Veterinary franchises on commission and even under ''job-security'' pressure to upsell, and over-test and over-treat.

How do I know this? Well for one, I worked for Banfield. For seconds: You can get on Monster (job and resume listing) and look at their compensation packages. Also Vet360 (trade journal) has revealed the 'commission conundrum' where a vet is paid 85% of their pay and the last 15% is dangled in front of them "pending commission performance" and missing their numbers forfeits the last 15% of their pay.

#aiha #hemolyticanemia #hemolytic #anemia