Cooper's Mystery Disease

[Paulette & Cooper]

Cooper's lab test came back Friday and it didn't look so good. His internist called to inform us that his white blood cells (WBC) are high at 55,000 and his red blood cells (RBC) are low at 26. In October, his RBC was as low as 21 and had to have blood transfusion right away! He has no appetite but drinks water regularly. He's lethargic most of the time. The Oncologist ruled out cancer (which is great!) The Cardiologist also ruled out any cardiac disease. They have done a lot of different bloods tests for different diseases including infectious diseases. They repeated the ultrasound and chest xrays to double check but didn't find anything. They also tested him for Bartnella but came back negative after 4 weeks. Back in late September, during one of Cooper's check ups with the internist, they found 2 of his lymph nodes just below his jaw were swollen. They had to surgically remove these 2 lymph nodes and sent it to the lab in North Carolina who specializes in infectious diseases to culture it to see what bacteria or fungus is in his body that's causing this problem. It came back negative. So to this day we have no diagnosis. What a mystery! It's heart wrenching to see our baby Cooper like this. Cooper is only 7 years old and has never been sick in his whole life until this September.

After discussing our options with the internist, we decided to take Cooper for a second opinion. They are all very supportive of our decision because they have done everything they can. They too want to know what's Cooper's illness, be treated and to get better. Cooper has an appointment with the internist at the Virginia Tech School of Veterinary Medicine Hospital for a comprehensive exam on Monday, Dec 12th. It's about 5 hour drive from where we live. We hope they could give us some answers. Wish us good luck!

[Karen C]

Prayers for Cooper. Prayers for the doctors to find the culprit and certainly prayers for Cooper's people.

[Paulette & Cooper]

Thank you all so much for your prayers and positive thoughts.  We need it so bad.  Last night was another of those sleepless nights. My husband, Stan and I took turns letting Cooper out in the backyard. He finally went to bed at 9:30 am. I plan on driving this afternoon to VA Tech and stay in a hotel so that we won't fight traffic tomorrow morning. But with how Cooper is feeling this morning, I am very concern because he has 104 temp right now.  I gave him his meds and hopefully it will help with his fever.  

I was hoping to send a message to all of you who replied to my post but I don't know exactly how to "reply to all." My apologies. I will try to reply to each one of you when I can. Thanks again for all your positive thoughts and prayers. 

[Carolyn Shusterman]

Don't worry about getting back to all of us. We will continue keeping all of you in our prayers for a solution to Cooper's illness.  God Bless. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm sorry that you and Cooper are going through this. I do think a second opinion is a very good idea, and vet schools are often cutting edge on diagnostics as well as treatment options, so hopefully they will be able to give you some answers. Good luck! 

[Paulette & Cooper]

Hi Karen, This is one of the main reasons why we decided to go to VA Tech. Our internist recommended other internists in the DC and Maryland area but we know at VA Tech, they usually present cases to a group of vets, specialists and interns. So we will have more than a pair of eyes looking at Cooper's case. Thanks.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

So sorry to hear about Coopers problems.  Having a sick puppy is bad enough, without the frustration of not being able to find out what is wrong.  Best of luck at VA Tech.

[charlotte bednarsh]

Thinking of you and Cooper.  Hoping you will get some answers.  I'm so sorry you are struggling with this challenge.

[F, Calla & Luca]

So sorry to hear this. Good luck at the vet school.

[Debbie and Toby]

So sorry to hear about Cooper! I pray you get answers on Monday, or soon after, and can get the help Cooper needs to feel better! So puzzling and heartbreaking  that there is not a diagnosis. I agree with getting the "second opinion". ((HUGS))

[Cathy Murphy]

So sorry your Cooper is sick.  My Finn is fighting IMHA- Immune mediated hemolytic anemia an autoimmune disease.  His hematocrit (RBC) dropped to 11.5 and he had to have a blood transfusion.  He was and still is very lethargic.  He is being treated with prednisone and Azathiprine.  His recovery has been very slow (my vet has never seen such a slow response) and at his last appointment his platelets had dropped but RBC at 29.  Saying a prayer for your sweet boy and hope you get some answers and treatment on Monday! Good Luck!

[Paulette & Cooper]

Hi Cathy, Thanks for your prayers. Cooper was on 40mg Prednisone in September when he was hospitalized for 6 days. Prednisone is a very powerful steroid but also has a very harsh side effects. It made Cooper feel very thirsty, so he was drinking a lot of water then of course he would need to pee every three hours or so. This also meant getting up in the middle of the night to let him out. Pred also caused his muscles to atropy (shrink.) So when Cooper's muscles shrank, he did not have any muscle strength. He was very very weak. We had to carry him up and down the stairs. Pred also caused acidity in his stomach that made him vomit. After observing all these side effects, we asked his internist to give him another steroid that does not have these side effects. Cooper was given Dexamethasone instead of Prednisone. We inject Dexamethasone once a day and the dose was lowered every 2 - 3 weeks because we wanted to wean him off of the steroids. We also started giving him massages and exercises (even when he is lying down) to get his muscle strength back. He's muscle strength is now back not 100% but he can go up and down the stairs on his own.

I wonder how did they diagnose Finn with IMHA? Is there a specific test to diagnose this condition? Who diagnosed him? Earlier on, his internist thought that Cooper has some kind of auto immune disease. But I don't know if he was tested for it.  If this is too much to explain online, pls feel free to call me at 301-213-1075. I know, sometimes I feel overwhelmed typing all these things in the computer. I sincerely hope and pray that your Finn will feel better soon.  

[Cathy Murphy]

Finn started out of the blue (October 10)with diarrhea so put him on chicken and rice.  When he REFUSED to eat the next day and vomited we headed to the vet ( with sample).  The thought was he had eaten something although I was 98% sure that could not be it since he is always with me.  Started meds for giardia but although he would eat a little he was got worse with temp of 103, oozing eyes and never left his bed ( I should mention he is  a 20 month old pup).  The drew labs and ? pancreatitis due to results.  Started prednisone and meds for fever.   Fever improved but he remained so lethargic we went back on Monday and labs showed red blood count/hematocrit of 19 (should be 40) so she knew his immune system was attacking. We increase the pred to 40 mg per day and added Azithioprine.  He was eating and we were up with him every 2 hours at night (he never had one accident). We went back for labs 2 days later and he was at 15 so vet had no choice but to increase the pred to 60.  Returned 2 days later and he had dropped again to 12 so the following morning count at 11.5 he was admitted for a blood transfusion.  That increased him to 20 and bought him time for meds to work.  By Monday he was at 18 as expected.  We continued to have labs 2 x week and recently his count was 29 and have gradually been reducing the  prednisone- now at 30.  He is still very lethargic for a pup- short walks and he needs a nap.  He is not having any muscle weakness- can jump up on the bed but he is losing his fur in patches.  His groomer came to the house to trim his face and feet as there is no way he could last for a full grooming. His vet has never seen a dog take so long to have his counts go up but we continue to see little gains!  Please keep me posted on your boy.  Sorry this is so long!  It has been an emotional roller coaster!