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Photo: BonnieOur Rottweiler Bonnie - Dealing with Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia
submitted by Diane Richardson on August 12, 2010
 

Bonnie was a lively and vibrant 79 pound 2-1/2 year old girl the beginning of July 2010, getting ready to make her show career. I had no idea that just 1 month later she would be under 60lbs and dead in my arms.

July 3rd we started a nasty heat wave and Bonnie seemed to be bothered by it a bit more then the other dogs.  On July 8th she started having slightly sloppy yellowish stool but otherwise seemed okay; on July 13 I took her to the vet as she was not very willing to eat and had mucous type stool. We went back to the vet the 15th and 16th. On July 16 she was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA) most likely triggered by the tick borne parasite they also diagnosed her with (Haemobartonella Canis/mycoplasma haemocanis), heat stress and hornet sting combined. We may really never know the exact why.

Most studies and articles make no mention of Rottweilers but Dr. Jean Dodds says it is not rare in the breed, but not especially common either. I have though run across quite a few owners who have lost Rotts to this horror. In Cocker Spaniels and Springers it seems to be hereditary. In most other breeds though (including Rottweilers) it is not thought to be hereditary.  Typically there is what is called a trigger or a "perfect storm" of otherwise harmless events. Common triggers are tick borne illnesses, bee/hornet stings, vaccinations.  In Bonnie's case it was "probably" more a perfect storm from what we can gather. She had her OFA's done; she went through a heat cycle; she had this tick borne blood parasite Haemobartonella canis (name recently changed to Mycoplasma Haemocanis - this is a Hemotropic mycoplasma illness UNRELATED to the reproductive mycoplasma), she got her July heartworm pill, she was heat stressed by our New England heat wave and then she grabbed a hornet and was stung in her mouth. ANY of these alone can be a trigger or be harmless but for some reason at least some of these, including the blood parasite, cascaded her into AIHA.

This is a fast and horrible illness with a mortality rate in excess of 50%. Mortality is higher if the dog suffers a sudden drop in PCV/HCT values and has autoagglutination (where the dead/dying red cells clump up). Bonnie had both of those factors.  Bonnie spent 5 days (July 16-20) at the vet and came home with a fairly good prognosis for recovery.

On Wednesday, July 28 her bloodwork was improving and her appetite was great. Saturday evening, July 31 she started acting a bit dumpy. Sunday, August 1 she was not too interested in food, but still playing and crittering. Monday she quit eating but since she was still in good spirits and carrying HER ball around; we force fed her to keep her strength up. Tuesday evening she was a bit dumpier but still okay -- we figured the heat and humidity return was bothering her and we had a vet appointment Wednesday morning.

At bedtime she was panting and hot, but settled. She then got up several times to drink and when I took her out to potty she was VERY interested in chasing toads When I got up Wednesday at 5:15 for the day she stumbled out of her crate and wobbled to the door looking wide eyed and panicked. I held her tight and her heart was racing out of control. After a few seconds she seemed calmer, went out to pee and came in and collapsed. About every 15 min she had heart racing episodes where she would be scared and stiff and after each one she was duller.

As soon as the vet opened we raced up; though not to try to save her life but to put her down and save her from anything more. Throughout the entire ride Bonnie was limp like sleeping, but not. Just as we pulled into the vet drive she had a big cardiac event due to lack of oxygen and died in my arms.

The vets believed that this was a result of her AIHA (a large portion of these dogs die from cardiac complications).   However, because I have a sister or two (of Bonnie's) that someday I might want to breed and because she has many siblings, we had a necropsy done to make sure, positively sure there was nothing unforeseen going on. The results of the necropsy: Bonnie had no hereditary or congenital issues. She died of the AIHA complications. She also had a stomach ulcer in spite of the pepcid and sucralfate

Frontier Life Eternal CGC 2/1/2008 - 8/4/2010 AIHA/IMHA

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