Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
Its Max's Mom.....wondering if you are familiar with Thrombocytopenia and treatment with Doxycycline. Max finished his cycle of Doxy Tue and has been doing fine up to today. This morning he threw up his breakfast and is very lethargic. Laid down in the snow and I had to pick him up (he is 72 lbs) to get him in the house. We live in IL so its COLD. He was shaking.
Anyway, Im wondering if the fact that the Doxy has completely worn off would cause his platelet count to dive and cause these symptoms. We had a CBC done on Fri and his count was 112000. The oncologist said that it was low and to keep him on the 60mg of prednisone but didnt say anything about the Doxy. He had his first chemo treatment Jan 8th and has been doing great so far. We have had a CBC done every 7 days.
He is still very lethargic and wants to lay in the cold.....but I did get him to eat 1/2 cup of his food and he kept it down plus some water which he drank on his own. He is groaning periodically also, which usually means pain. Im hoping that its the Thrombo and not the cancer, but know it could be both or either.
Thanks for any advice you can give me. Ill be calling his oncologist in the morning.
Paula
Paula and Spirit Max
If he has autoimmune thrombocytopenia then Pred alone is usually enough. I tend to taper it every 2 weeks if the platelets remain stable and most dogs need treatment for at least 6 months and some need a low dose for life. Of course the chemo can lower the platelet count making it more difficult to interpret results. 60 mg seems like a pretty high dose. Is he vomiting or having dark, tarry stools? Is he on a stomach protectant like misoprostol or sucralfate? Pred can certainly wreak havoc on the GI tract! Doxycyline is added to treat bacterial or parasitic disease which can commonly cause low platelets and sometimes anemia. I used to live in WI (I went to vet school in Madison) and we often saw Lyme disease or Erlichia which sometimes presented only with low platelets and no other symptoms. Both of these are spread by ticks, which is why I would keep my dog on Frontline in the summer even if he is still on chemo. Those little pests can spread some very serious disease, including blood parasites (more common down South).
So if he was fine untill the Doxycyline was stopped then I would start it up again, unless the oncologist thinks it is from chemo (Tazzie's count was usually at its lowest 14 to 20 days after carboplatin). Thrombocytopenia causes bruising or bleeding but not usually pain (unless bleeding into the joints) so it might be something else entirely. I suggest a recheck exam and maybe chemistry tests.
Please keep us updated! Max has had a tough time of it and we all wish you the best of luck...
Pam and Tazzie
Thanks so much for the info. The oncologist does call it autoimmune thrombo, but in the beginning we checked for tick titers and since we vaccinate for Lyme disease every year it came back inconclusive. Thats why they had him on the Doxy. The dosage of pred is 60mg once a day and we had discussed decreasing it until his last CBC results came back. No stomach protectant has been prescribed.
We do keep Max on K-9 Advantix March - Nov since we have a cabin in Wi that we frequent during those months and also live near woods and fields. Ive never found a tick on him, but they are tricky buggers. We have taken him to our local vet this morning for another CBC so that I can have that info when I call the oncologist, so hopefully it wont be as bad as I am expecting. This morning I fed him a cup of his dry food just small handfuls at a time and he kept it down (at least when I left for work it was still down) but he is still really lethargic and groaning. The last time we had him in for CT scan was for pain that has still never been explained, so maybe thats whats causing all of this. I just dont know....scares me tho.
Thanks again for the info and you have given me some good questions to ask the oncologist today when I talk to her. Funny that you went to vet school in Madison. We are very pleased with the care they have given Max. Great Vets come from there and you are proof of that!
Paula
Paula and Spirit Max
Hi Paula - Hi Max - hope you're feeling better pal...what did the doctor say?
We're sending lots of pawsitive thoughts your way...and many, many prayers - please keep us posted!
xo
Mom and Zeus
Heather and Spirit Zeus - Our life changing journey…from the earth to the heavens…one day at a time…always together
Max is doing better today! The oncologist said that it could be the prednisone bothering his stomach so he went to the vet and got a shot of whatever the med is that they give for after chemo (I cant remember the name) and that seemed to help the nausea. He is also taking 10mg of pepcid twice a day. I had another CBC done at our local vet yesterday and it came back better than his last, so that was good news too! The vet probably thinks Im a psycho, but hey, its my baby!! 
He still has some pain, but is moving around much better so I dont know if he pulled something or if its still the pain that we have never been able to determine. He is back on Tramadol 3 times a day instead of 2 and we will continue to keep an eye on it.
Thanks for checking up on him!! Every day is a gift and thats just how we are treating it!!
Hugs to you and Zeus!
Paula
Paula and Spirit Max
1 Guest(s)
