Today has been a rough day so far. My trip to the vet in Mayaguez this morning was made more exciting by the fact that I was too preoccupied with Monkey and her hemoraging nose to look at the fuel gage. I left here at 7:00am and was stuck in traffic on the 115 due to road construction for about 45 minutes. By the time I took the left off of Highway 2 at the airport I was in the car for about an hour. Half way up the hill to the veterinarians office the truck started to sputter and stall out. That’s when I noticed there was no fuel in it. By the grace of Something, it kept on puttering to the top of the hill where I put it in neutral and coasted down to the vets office. They were closed until 9:00am.
Dr. Mararro was super busy. There was a family waiting there with their cat (it was hit by a car) and two other cars (miniature pinture and 3 dogs getting dropped off to get spayed/neutered). After looking at the cat, they brought monkey and I into the back room and took some blood samples from her. While waiting for the blood samples, Dr. Mararro shaved the cats leg, applied a cast and a few stitches to the kitty and said it was going to be just fine in a couple of weeks.
Back to Monkey. He sedated her and I helped him clean out her nose and held her head while he looked around in there with his doctor tools. After not finding much, we gave her x-rays to see if there was an obstruction or a tumor. He ruled out it being poison because the blood would have been pouring out both of her nostrils, not just one.
Once the Doctors wife arrived and did the blood tests, we had been working on Monkey for almost an hour and a half. The test results showed that Monkeys blood had an extremely low platelet count. Platelets are blood cells that promote blood clotting after injury to the lining of blood vessels. The normal platelet count is around 700,000. Anything below 40,000 can cause excessive bleeding. Her platelet count was around 2,000. She was diagnosed with Thrombocytopenia which refers to the abnormal function of platelets which leads to things like uncontrollable bleeding and bloody noses.
The doctor said that in human beings, blood banks provide platelets for humans that are low but that there is no such blood-bank for dogs. He prescribed her with steroids to help fight off infection, a strong antibiotic, Doxycyline, to kill the tick disease she has (which could be causing the low platelet count) and doses of vitamin K to help promote the clotting of her blood. Right now, Monkey has a 50/50 chance of making it. Basically, the antibiotic has to kill the tick disease. Hopefully, without that disease in her system her body with naturally start producing platelets again, her blood will clot on its own and Monkey will be back to 100%. Keep your fingers crossed for her.
After finding out the tough news, I had to figure out how to get home…with no gas. Luckily, our friends from Villa Orleans were in the area and they dropped off a couple of gallons of gas for me.
So sorry to hear about the pup. We took our kitty with the huge cut in her side to a vet in Cabo Rojo who seemed pretty good - seemed to at least understand the dilema about what to do about feral animals etc etc. Anyway, we had her spayed also and dewormed for loads of different parasites (no surprise since the other cat we neutered had hookworms as well). There are loads of different worms in dogs and cats here that can cause anemia and sometimes death. I don’t know if they have looked into doing a fecal float or not but maybe that is worth looking into (it is inexpensive)? katrina
Sounds like Thrombocytopenia is a symptom, not a diagnosis of cause but you are saying maybe the Tick Disease caused the Thrombocytopenia? Steriods will not fight off infection, they actually slow healing but make dog feel much better immediately and then doctor gets credit. I am still suspicious about Von Willebrands inherited clotting disorder. Can you ask vet if that is ruled out?
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_von_willebrand_s_disease.html
Ok, I guess VW would be if platelets were normal then looking at this for clotting function is not. I hope she gets better soon. We used to keep dog at vet offices just to do transfusions. Could Kuta be a candidate if she needs one?
Katrina - I’ve been fairly religious about de-worming the dogs and cat, so I doubt it is worm related. But, unfortunately it’s sort of hit and miss when you (or your animals) get sick. I don’t know, the vet doesn’t know, Stefan and Robin don’t know, but we all have theories. I’m worried because neither I, nor my mom (who used to be a dog breeder, so we have been around/involved with thousands of animals), have ever seen a dog bleed out randomly. And, it’s not stopping, even after the vet visit. The blood is not pouring out of her nose, but it’s very evident that it is dripping and trying to clot and there is blood everywhere.
It makes sense that it’s related to the “tick disease” that the vet already told us she had (6 - 8 months ago), but he also told us that she wasn’t showing symptoms and that it was not curable, so there was no reason to treat it.
Robin - I hope it’s the tick disease, because if it is, it is being treated now and her platelet count should start replenishing. I hate not knowing what would help! If you could tell me 100% that a transfusion would help, I know Kuta would want to help, but since he is old and has his own issues, I would feel guilty risking both of their lives for just a chance.
At one point our dog, Schnoodle, was very, very sick: jaundiced, just moping around, drooling. It was awful. When we took her to the vet he basically told us the same thing; take steroids, but she might not make it. He also told us that since it was a liver problem, we should give her milk thistle which is an herb. We had no idea where to find it or anything, so we just gave her the steroids for about a week. She began to eat more, but still looked sick, so we decided to find this milk thistle at a health food store.
Well, apparently it is a miracle herb for any kind of liver/immune problems because after about two days of half a pill in a cube of cheese she was up and jumping and running around, and that was about 3 years ago now. I am not sure about this thrombocytopenia thing, but check out some herbs, and try milk thistle. Just a quick google and I found this: http://www.herbchina2000.com/therapies/HTP.shtml. The stuff they sell on this website looks really expensive, but you could probably find the individual herbs for pretty cheap at a health food store. Anyway, after our experience with Noodle, we use herbs almost exclusively for our medicine/wellness as well.
your poor baby, I hope she is ok. My prayers & wishes are with you & Monkey
Here’s another good site, I just copied some of the info:
http://oneearthherbs.squarespace.com/diseases/itp-ideopathic-thrombocytopenic-purpur.html
Combining Western and Eastern Methods to Treat ITP
Western practitioners have not yet considered either nutritional or TCM herbal protocols as viable treatment options. If we add TCM herbal treatment to the three known Western options, we end up with four main treatment methods:
• Corticosteroids (i.e. prednisone)
• IVIG/Anti-D (Intravenous infusion of IgG)
• Splenectomy
• TCM herbs
The basic herbal prescription contained cooked rehmannia root, dang gui root (Angelica sinensis), red peony root (Paeonia rubra), qian cao gen root (Rubia cordifolia), psoralea seed (P. corylifolia), astragalus root (A. membranicus), cuscuta seed (C. chinensis), and da zao fruit (Ziziphus jujuba).
Summer - What dewormers are you using for the cat? We have been giving three of them the Heartguard (for heart worms and hookworms) but what do you do about roundworms and tapeworms? Are you doing flea control drops and then a monthly preventative over the counter roundworm medication? This is all really expensive and I feel like the kitties are walking pesticide soaked beings… We want to spay/neuter 2 or 3 more, but doing that and rabies and the respiratory shot etc etc - we can’t afford the yearly bill. With parasites it seems like they will just get reinfected. Do you know of a wormer that kills them all? thanks, katrina
ps- we have heard of a vet in Mayaguez that spays and neuters for 25 and 35 dollars. Not sure who is he but we are investigating. Maybe vaccines are less too. There is nothing worse than feeling helpless with a pet. We had our house here for 10 months and didn’t move until our mastiff Wally died of old age. Just watching them age and be ill is horrid.
Katrina - I know what you mean. I hate dousing my animals with chemicals, but the parasites are so abundant in Puerto Rico it necessary. On Joan’s recommendation, I switched from Heartguard to Revolution which protects against heartworm & fleas, plus controls hookworms, roundworms and ear mites. Then I have a separate wormer on hand for tapeworms. On the dogs, I use Safe-Guard canine dewormer (Robins suggestion) which takes care of tapeworms, roundworms, hookworms and whipworms. The dogs literally have a much larger medicine cabinet then Stefan and I…It’s fairly ridiculous. And expensive.
You are so right, it’s horribly heartbreaking to watch a loved pet (or in my case ANY animal) suffer. I was very concerned about flying Kuta to Puerto Rico since he is 10 and has had some unexplained medical issues in his past. Luckly, he ended up being braver then Monkey on the flight (I was very surprised) and everyone made it a-ok.
Maybe low platelets from Tick Disease coupled with the VW which lacks what it takes to get clotting going. Ask vet if he can rule out VW as complicating things more. The transfusion dogs were never feeling bad and had a great life at the hospital and it was rare that they needed to give blood but every couple of months. It was like giving blood yourself. It was never a big deal. They tended to be large, good weight and well kept so they were very healthy. I think you could find a donor dog. You would just want to make sure they were clean in the blood of disease and parasites and in great health, maybe a 3 year old.
We are really sorry to hear about monkers, and hope for a speedy recovery.
Top People I don’t Trust: (and who I feel try to screw me in one way or another)
#1 veterinarians
#2 dentists
#3 tow truck companies
#4 insurance companies
#5 used car salesman
#6 moving companies
#7 Any repair services (car, plumbing, heat/air, carpet cleaning, etc)
barbie mike…..that’s beautiful
I hope she makes it. Even not knowing you guys personally, it’s clear Monkey’s a part of your family, since you’ve chronicled her life from the time you put her in a crate for PR. Most of all, I hope she doesn’t suffer. I’m learning from you and the Kruses that when we move to PR, our pets will be indoor pets. Don’t forget to take care of yourselves, too. Fran
Summer,
Although Dr.Marrero is an excellent vet we use Dr. Garcia up by the Mayaguez Hotel/Casino because he does keep donor dogs for transfusions. We have had the new dog Spankers in and out of the Vet since she’s been here at least 2 to 3 visits per month due to her itchy bumps that have been treated with a steriod and antibiotics. We finally discovered that each time Spankers went down on the farm to lay under a tree while we were working she would get these itchy bumps, it appears that she is allergic to something in the environment. We do not use pesticides on the fruit and vegetables on the farm but treat with organic sprays. Since we have been keeping the dog basically in the front of the property ( cement) her bumps have cleared up. I hope all goes well with Monkey and she bounces back soon.
Van - You forgot politicians and cops ;)…ha
Fran & Steve - Yes, Monkey is definatly one of the family. Even though she can be a handful! Our dogs and cat love being outside, so it wouldn’t be fair to try and cage them up somewhere (although it certainly would be easier!!). It would be easier if they were inside animals, but aside from snoozing under our desks while we work they spend most of the time outside. They sleep in the front yard to make sure no one sneaks up on us at night ;).
Joan - That’s really good to know! I pretty much ruled out finding a vet that would do a transfusion via a donor dog. Spankers! Haha…That is such a cute name for a dog! Those itchy bumps are a pain in the butt. Monkey has had them off and on as well, but it seems like it was tick related because after we got the ticks under control (thanks to your recommendation on Preventic and Revolution) they finally went away.