Fever

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"Can they explain why the red blood cell count was so low?" Not sure, I'm going to the vet again on Friday to do hematology and what they call PTH test (to check parathyhroid hormone) as well as checking his calcium and phosporus levels again. I'll ask them again to explain the red blood cell count was low. He's acting normal now just not 100%.


Here's his ped. I can't add pics here because the size is still too big even after resizing.
http://www.thepitbullbible.com/forum...p?dog_id=57393

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Oh and they're gonna check is albumin as well because it's always either 0.1 level lower than normal or just barely normal.

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The joint supplement I've only recently used when he was 12 months old, so maybe only for about 2-3 weeks. I've always used multivitamin since he was a small pup. The Cafortan multivitamin (the 2nd link) I've only made the switch recently as well. Maybe when he's about 11 months old I think.

[S_B]

Ok Skip, just my 2 cents here. You can't tell me out of those 30 dogs in that ped you posted not one of them had Babesia!

It is VERY prevalent in these dogs, especially in active dogs. Often times dogs carry the parasite without symptoms.

I'm not real familiar with all of the new testing or the accuracy of them but I would imagine you can still test false negatives as not too long ago even DNA testing was producing false negatives.

I'd be willing to make a bet your dog became sick with the initial disease do to a weakened immune system from being Babesia positive.

Where did they pull the blood from when they sent in the babesia test?

S_B

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"You can't tell me out of those 30 dogs in that ped you posted not one of them had Babesia!" That's true. Probably they had but no symptoms.

"Where did they pull the blood from when they sent in the babesia test?" I wasn't there because he was hospitalized but most likely from his front leg where his IV was. And since we don't have a test kit for babesia, they used PCR to confirm if he has babesia or not (not sure how it works, but the result is negative).

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His hematology and electrolyte came back. All are normal, although RBC and hematocrit are on the cut off range but should improve. Just waiting on his parathyroid test result.

[S_B]

He's finished with the Metronidazole but is still on Doxycycline right? Did they prescribe anything else?

S_B

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Yep that is correct. He's still on Fufang, a chinese herbal med for humans that helps with anemia. Doc said to finish it because it's working. It's in indo but here's a link http://www.mandjur.co.id/fufang-ejiao-jiang. Oh and another med for his muscle and nervous system from 3 weeks ago when he got sick again for the 2nd time and diagnosed with a recurring symptoms of botulism (doc gave 1 month worth of med, 1x/day).

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Alright, so he's parathyroid test came back and it's normal. So after all this we still didn't know what causes him to be sick. Vet said probably some sort if unknown infection.

@S_B: I think you're probably right that he might've got some sort of chronic babesia that tested false negative which causes his immune system to weakened. I'm still not sure if the very first case was botulism or just electrolyte/calcium imbalance. The symptoms looks very much like botulism.

[S_B]

Skip I'm not in the least bit surprised. I think most vets misdiagnose Babesia for many other things unless they test specifically for it, which can also be difficult.

Babesia is a complex parasite/bacteria, it doesn't want to kill it's host because it wants to survive. This is why often times dogs will go through life and not show symptoms.

The symptoms you described initially can all be caused by Babesiosis, it's important we recognize these things so when we go to the vet we have a head start and possibly save time and money.

I have read recently it has been discovered the anti malaria drugs do not work as well on Babesia as thought. The parasite is elusive and likes to hide in tissues waiting for its opportunity (weakened immune system) to strike. Anthelmintics paired with combination antibiotics done intermittently seems to be the new option in treatment.

Glad to hear he's recovering Skip, if he were mine I'd make sure to Ivomec (Anthelmintic) him on a regular schedule.

S_B