I lost one of my best friends. My girlfriend’s beloved puppy, Momo (AKA Momo-kun) passed away. He was only five years old, and was in perfect health. On Saturday the 21st he was his normal, peppy, puppy self. On Sunday the 22nd, during his walk, we noticed a few drops of blood in his urine. That night we brought Momo to the emergency vet hospital, where they diagnosed him with Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia. He was discharged from the hospital with a few medications. By Monday night, he was lethargic, could barely walk, and was falling over.
IMHA is a syndrome where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys healthy red blood cells, which causes extreme anemia. It starves the body and organs of oxygen, resulting in extreme weakness. It’s a disease that, most often, has no cause. It’s idiopathic, and comes from nowhere.
We rushed Momo to his primary care vet on Tuesday morning. His blood count was down to 8, where it had been at 36 on Sunday night. From Tuesday to Friday, Momo was in a constant cycle of blood transfusions in an attempt to raise and stabilize his red blood cell
count.
The standard strategy for combating IMHA is to give the patient blood transfusions to stabilize their blood count, then to give them aggressive steroid treatment to render their system autoimmune and prevent further destruction of healthy cells. Even with treatment, dogs diagnosed with IMHA have a 50/50 shot at recovery under the best circumstances.
After four transfusions, the vet told us that the treatment wasn’t effective - Momo’s body was still attacking his blood cells. We made the hardest decision of all, to euthanize poor Momo rather than let his organs be starved of oxygen and fail.
During the crisis, we didn’t hesitate on any treatment that would give Momo a fighting chance to recover. Our vet bill is large, and even as we mourn our puppy, looms over us.
Donations are not expected, but are appreciated, no matter what the amount.
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