Immune Mediated Diseases in Dogs: Meet Sandy
by Christy Caplan
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August 12, 2016 
No dog owner wants to hear these two phrases: your dog has an immune mediated disease OR your dog has Acquired Thrombocytopenia. Meet Sandy, our sweet Basset/Lab rescue diagnosed with Acquired Thrombocytopenia in 2010. Not many people know about this disease so I wanted to share some insight.
First, I cried a lot. Sandy was doing SO well, we had her in hydrotherapy for her osteo-arthritis and generally she felt great. We used Adequan for her sore joints which also helped a bunch. I was considering going back to school to be a Certified Vet Tech. Then one Sunday, her eyes were super blood shot. (We learned this was an ocular hemorrhage). I rushed her to our vet as I thought perhaps she was having an allergic reaction to something. We did bloodwork and I went to see a specialist the next morning about her eyes… then the call.
Our vet: – “You need to take Sandy to Dove Lewis, the emergency vet, immediately. Her bloodwork results came back and she has an abnormally low level of blood platelets. I suspect thrombocytopenia.”
Well it all sounded REALLY bad to me. And it was, the tears flowed all the way to the emergency vet while I was trying to make sense of all of this, I called my husband and told him I was leaving the eye specialist and driving 90 miles per hour to the emergency vet and to call Dove Lewis and let them know we’re coming so they can triage.
For reasons UNKNOWN (yep…) platelets can be mistaken by the immune system as invaders. WHAT, HOW, WHY? All the questions I was asking myself.
Quantitative platelet disorders are the most common cause of defective primary hemostasis. This is what I’m told… Most often these disorders involve “subnormal” platelet numbers or thrombocytopenia.
They are classified into three disorders: inherited, acquired, and immune or nonimmune disorders. She was diagnosed the summer of 2010 and passed away in April, 2011. She was eleven years old.
There are a wide variety of causes including Ehrlichia and ticks are typically the vector for this. Neoplasia or cancer is another possible cause and vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia has been reported in dogs vaccinated repeatedly with modified live adenovirus and paramyxovirus. Drugs are another possibility.
She was diagnosed with late stage Lymphoma eight months after being diagnosed with this terrible disease so it’s likely that the thrombocytopenia was secondary to the cancer rather than primary. After being diagnosed with Lymphoma on a Wednesday she passed away five short days later. She lived much longer with this disease then we thought she would and with regular bloodwork and an extensive drug protocol that I will not get into here – she did OK but was in a bubble for many months. (high doses of Prednisone and many other drugs).
It can affect any breed but this disease is reported in miniature toy and standard poodles; cocker spaniels; Old English sheepdogs and German Shepherds.
What to look for: Bleeding in the skin, from the nose or mouth, as associated with minor trauma. Petechiae on the mucous membranes and skin, especially the ventral abdomen are typical. Blood in the stool.
I write this for other pet parents as it’s critical to check with your vet when you see these signs – this is not a common disease. Sandy was fine, her eyes were red and it looked like she stuck her head in a strange bush. I even hesitated to take her in thinking she was having an allergic reaction. So a somber story but others should learn from my experience.
RIP Sweet Sandola.
Resources: *I also referred to medical records
- Acquired Thrombocytopenia. Merck Vet Manual.
Thank you for sharing information about this disease!
Great article!
I was not familiar with the disease or the symptoms but now I know what to look for. Thank you for sharing your story.
What a scary disease. So sorry for your loss.
Thank you for sharing Sandy’s story to help other pet parents. What a sweet photo of you with your pups. I had never heard of this disease before now.
I’m sorry for your loss, thank you for sharing Sandy’s story. I wasn’t aware of this condition, it’s sweet of you to spread awareness in the pet community.
Thank you so much. I hope it helps another pet parent for sure.
What a beautiful girl! These pictures are adorable.
Thanks for sharing Sandy’s story. I admit, I have never heard of this disease. Ruby is part poodle and has some other autoimmune issues so glad to know what symptoms to watch out for …
Thank you! She was an awesome dog – it has taken about five years for me to be able to tell her story without getting depressed. These autoimmune diseases are not common but everyone should know what to look for.
Wow! My son had this same blood disorder when he was 14 months old. He had to wear a helmet for a year and I can’t tell you how many emergency visits to the ER we made. During that time, speech occurs and he had muffled sounds due to the helmet and consequently speech-language therapy after that. Later diagnosed with Dyslexia which was a by-product of this disorder as well. They thought his was due to a side effect of the antibiotic he was on for an ear infection.
I feel your pain!
Oh my god Maureen: I’m so happy your son is doing ok now but so sorry that Dyslexia is a side effect. I cannot imagine what you went through – I was in the clinic every week doing bloodwork – but with a 14 month old and they whole bubble thing is no joke. I now I was worried she’d fall down on a hike and we’d be rushing her to the Emergency Vet. I feel for YOU. The idea this resulted from an antibiotic — how old is your son now?
Thank you for sharing your story. I hope it helps pet parents who may face this same disease. My in-laws have a standard poodle, which you mentioned as one of the breeds. RIP Sandy!
Thanks – I also hope it helps pet parents that aren’t aware of the signs.
Sandy was a beautiful dog. Thanks so much for sharing her story and this important information.
How scary! Thank you so much for sharing Sandy’s story! I too have never heard about this disease before! Education is so important!!!!
I really appreciate your comment and note!
Great article, I am paranoid when it comes to diseases especially since Baby RIP died at the age of 6 from IMHA. One minute healthy 48 hours later gone 🙁
Great article, I am paranoid when it comes to diseases especially since Baby RIP died at the age of 6 from IMHA. One minute healthy 48 hours later gone 🙁
Oh this is exactly how it was with Sandola too – and IMHA is another one, it comes out of nowhere. I’m so sorry that happened to Baby and 48 hours later… that’s so horrible. Oh my gosh – I’ve seen IMHA cases in the hospital and they’re SO AWFUL. RIP Baby. I’m really sorry you went through this.
Thank you for this valuable information!! I had no idea about this! I’m sorry for your loss 🙁
Sandy is so photogenic! Such lovely photos of this sweet girl!
There is nothing worse than when the immune system turns on you. My heart goes out to anybody dealing with this.
Thanks so much Jana: It was a crazy nine months from when she was diagnosed for sure. We felt so lucky she was with us for even that longer given how dire it was…
One of my closest friends has severe Lupus and Thrombocytopenia is a symptom. She had her spleen removed to slow it and has to take large amounts of prednisone.
Oh Susan – This is unreal, I didn’t know you could have your spleen removed to slow it down, and I cannot imagine how she feels with all those corticosteroids – they’re clearly saving her life. Lots of hugs for her. Thanks for sharing that.
I’m sorry to hear that you had to lose a furbaby to this disease. I lost a kitty to lymphoma back in April. It is always hard. The immune system is such an unpredictable thing -even in humans. Thank you for sharing this. I know it had to be hard to think about it. There are many pet parents that will relate to your story.
Thank you so much for sharing this -cancer was definitely the reason she passed but this other secondary disease was masking the traditional signs and we were technically treating her for cancer with Pred. So many of us go through these terrible experiences and I hope these warning signs help pet parents.
You are courageous to approach a subject thst would scare many but your post will be a huge help to a scared dog Mumo one day.
Thank you, and I am sorry you lost such a fine dog. Your portrait picture is a lovely one and, we know, lymphoma is a killer, we lost our Sooty cat to it and it is brutal.
Thank you so much – I haven’t written about Sandy at all since her last year was so intense. I appreciate your note! I’m so sorry you lost Sooty to cancer – RIP sweet munchkin.
Oh wow thanks for sharing. I have never heard of it. So sorry for your loss. I’m sure this will help a lot of pet parents.
I’m so sorry Sandy is no longer with you. Thank you for sharing this information – I will add to pinterest so others can be aware.
Thank you so much for sharing – hope it helps pet parents.
Oh Christy, what a heartbreaking story. I’m so sorry about Sandy, what a beautiful little angel. Thank you for having the compassion and the courage to share this story and help others. I’ve never heard of this awful disease. I’m sharing to help share with other pet parents who may be faced with this.
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Thank you so much Cathy! It was a super sad time for our pack. Five years later I can talk about it and I’m less sad. Sandy was awesome – it happened out of nowhere. It’s so rare and all the immune mediated diseases are really terrible so we felt lucky she lived as long as she did.
This is a new one for me! I’ve never heard of it. It sounds like you sure did a great job of treating it and caring for your sweet senior! Hopefully, this post will help another pet parent seek treatment sooner, so thanks for caring and helping to educate us!
Thank you so much: It was a rocky ride but we did we all could and she lived many more months than we thought she would…
I’d never heard of this disease. Thank you for sharing.
As a Cocker mom, I know all too well about this disease and have blogged it. A lot of this is believed to be from over vaccination, too. I am glad you are getting the word out. I wish for a cure in our lifetime.
I’m absolutely going to look for your blog this week and add a comment, I talked to my vet about this possibility. What we do know is this is likely secondary to cancer and we used “Pred” as chemo without even knowing she had Lymphoma since we were treating the platelet disorder. I also wish for a cure!
I’m so sorry for your loss. This is a disease that I have not heard of before. I appreciate you sharing her story. It might help someone else to get her dog to the vet instead of waiting.
My pleasure! I hope it helps lots of pet parents!
I am so sorry for your loss, Sandy looked like such a sweetie. I’m glad you at least had some more time with her after that diagnosis. Thank you for sharing your story so that others might learn from it and know what to watch for.
Thank you Jan: Sandy was an awesome four legged companion! We honestly had so many more months than the medical team thought we would – and every moment was precious! Absolutely – hoping others benefit from knowing what to look for.
I’ve never heard of this disease. What a traumatic experience for you all. It’s always so difficult to learn your pet has something wrong with them, no matter what it is. I’m so sorry for your loss. She looked like a very sweet girl.
Thank you so much: She was SUPER sweet and while definitely awful – I hope others will benefit from knowing that immune mediated diseases are really serious – and the signs could look like a simple allergy attack!
Good information Christy. Unfortunately our dogs are under a attack to their immune systems from vaccines, pesticides and other substances that their nose to the ground behavior picks up. All we can do is to minimize these and feed the best food we can and hope for the best. Thanks for the story and knowledge.
Thank you so much: Totally agree – it’s all about trying to minimize all these factors. I hope this helps someone else when they aren’t sure about the signs but go immediately to their vet. It saved Sandy’s life!
Oh my gosh, that’s just heartbreaking. I’m so sorry. I can only imagine how hard that was for you all to go through.
Thank you for sharing such a personal story, it’s important to make others aware as that might be something overlooked or fluffed off to an allergy.
Thanks for joining the linky party.
Thank you so much – We loved Sandola – she was such a cool dog. It was a really terrible three months following the diagnosis and then the last part of her life was great and even though she lived in a bubble, she felt so much better on all the medication we were giving her. I easily could of thought – red eyes, no biggie…. I really love your linky parties 🙂