Sudden atraumatic bruising and petechiae - worried sick.

[moosemama]

Just waiting for it to be time to go to our emergency vet appointment, but thought I’d ask on here if anyone has any ideas, as I am driving myself round the twist worrying.

Woke this morning, everything seemed normal, dogs not behaving out of the ordinary at all, then at 10.00, when he rolled over whilst playing, I noticed my 5 year old male lurcher had what looked like a big (about 2 1/12 inch diameter) very dark purple, almost black bruise between his back legs. Checked him over, he had another 50p size one on his side and smaller petechia on the inside of his back leg. I didn’t panic until I saw the petechia, as he is accident prone and well known at the vets for ripping his paper thin skin as a result of brakes failure and general pointy dog mayhem, so I initally though he must have failed to brake and maybe slid into the old tree stump in the garden. Although that would have been odd for him as there are no cuts or tears anywhere. Then I saw the petechiae and realised it’s something systemic.

Called vets immediately, the earliest they could get me in was 2.15. Had to rush ds1 to a vital medical appointment, left other teen son dog-sitting, came home to find more petechiae appearing all over and pin-prick blood spots on his gums, plus his gums bled when I brushed them, which they don’t usually.

He isn’t behaving out of character, seems happy in himself, still flung fluffy toys all over the place and charged about like a looney when I arrived home. He’s usually a real wimp, so you know about it if he’s under the weather.

I daren’t google, as I have a pretty good idea of the scary stuff that might come up.

He hasn’t had access to anything poisonous that I am aware of. We don’t have any slug pellets or rodent poison on the property. Shed door is locked and we pretty much only have lawn outside. He didn’t get his walk yesterday because I was too ill to take him, so there wasn’t an opportunity for him to have ingested something elsewhere.

Has anyone had any experience of anything like this before? I am dreading them wanting to keep him in, as last time he was an inpatient he tried to escape and shredded his back legs, requiring multiple stitches.

Very pleased he is coming home today. I've been checking in every day with fingers crossed for you.

Thank you. I am in serious danger of arriving ridiculous early. Been checking the clock every ten minutes for the past hour and am itching to just get there and see my boy.

He may well be on his way home now!!!!!

He’s home. He was sooooo pleased to see us. He’s on lots of meds and the side effects are lethargy, greed, thirst and excessive weeing, but he’s only allowed in the garden on the lead and has to stay calm and quiet. He has a follow up appointment next Wednesday.

His bruising is very scary looking, huge great big dark purple patches. I’m so glad he was already in the right place when it got that bad.

We’ve made his bed extra comfy with the new blanket, but he rejected cuddling the new toy in favour of his old stinky goose toy. Which he is now flaked out cuddling, he’s so clearly happy to be home, but absolutely exhausted - he can’t keep his eyes open.

Ds1 is going to be so happy when he gets home.

So happy for you OP. It's lovely when they are at home rather than you worrying about them in the vets.

he rejected cuddling the new toy in favour of his old stinky goose toy
He's obviously in need of familiarity, bless him.
Greed is a side effect? I thought that was a normal dog trait
So pleased for you all. I bet you haven't stopped smiling. The weekend starts early!

He’s not generally a greedy dog and so far I’ve found the opposite. I’ve fed him his evening meal in two smaller meals and he didn’t want to finish either. He took his pill ok though, ate them first given that they were in hidden in a scoop of goat’s cheese.

He’s drinking all the time and out for a wee every half an hour to three quarters of an hour, which is fun with me hobbling around. I have text dh to tell him he is on night duty and will need to set alarms to take him out or we’re going to come down to a puddle - and given the size of him and the amount of water he’s drinking, it’s not going to be a little one.

He’s also passing large quantities of the most horrendous smelling wind and has taken up position with his rear end right in front of me.

He’s not really settled properly. He’s keeps waking with a start, looking panicked, then looking for me, then going back off once he’s ascertained I’m still here. You can see him really struggling to keep his eyes open. I packed the teenagers off upstairs early and am lying on the sofa with my leg raised with just one small lamp on and that seems to have helped him settle a bit, but I don’t think he’s going to be happy until Dh gets home and he’s not due back till about 11.30.

Great update!

Bless his paws. DDog drinks a lot (and so wees more) when she's on steroids every summer for allergies, and she can be really stinky at times so I feel for you
Hopefully you've both had a good night's sleep and can enjoy today together.

Fantastic update, I have been thinking about your boy. I had ITCP 20 years ago, I had no idea dogs could get it. Hope your boy (and you)get better very quickly. In the meantime enjoy all the snuggles.

Thanks all.

Dh slept downstairs with him last night and he was outside 4 for wees between midnight and 6.00 am.

He’s very quiet and dozy today, but has eaten and taken his meds and is looking very relaxed snuggled up in his bed. He seems to have settled down since last night and is just happy to be home now.

Someone in the rescue group my other dog is from sent me a link to a support group for ITP and other immune mediated conditions in dogs, so I asked to join that last night and have been getting a few tips and some advice off them this morning. Some of their dogs have been or are, so poorly compared to my boy. I do think having pale thin skin and hardly any fur on his stomach and legs is what saved him, as it meant we caught it super early.

My daughter has woken up with a really heavy cold and headache, so I’ve tucked her up in bed and been thankful I haven’t had to hobble to the school today after all.

doodleygirl I had never heard of it in dogs either. Ds1 was tested for it last year as he kept developing petechiae for no apparent reason, but, thankfully, his turned out to be related to our genetic condition and nothing to worry about.

Well done DH! And I'm not surprised he's quiet today - all the stress of being away from home and then coming back will have worn him out and now he can finally chill out again and doze.
The support group's a great idea!
Sounds like your whole family needs a quiet weekend at home to chill together.

Just a quick update.

He’s doing ok, but the meds are making him lethargic and the longest he can go without a wee is an hour and a half, often less. We’ve not had any puddles, but there’s been a few drips when he’s woken up and not made it to the door in time. Dh is still sleeping on the sofa and getting up multiple times a night. The people on the support group have reassured me that it improves as the drugs get titrated down.

He’s lost quite a bit of weight, although I think it’s mostly muscle, so between that and the bruising he looks like a bit like a cruelty case. I’ve had to remove his collar because, after a week in the vets without one, it seemed to be really annoying him and because he’s so weak he kept falling over trying to scratch at it. I’ve now ordered a lightweight woven one, just so we have something to grab hold of if necessary.

We’re seeing flickers of his old-self. He’s being beligerent re coming in from the garden and yesterday I took his lead off before we got to the back door and he did-one back up the garden before I could stop him. Today his trick has been to have a big wee, then keep pretending to wee everytime I suggest going back in, while I am standing there in the pouring rain. He then proceeds to sniff practically every inch of the garden without actually weeing at all. The majority of his time is spent sleeping.

Ddog2, has got over missing him and is now mostly jealous of any attention ddog1 gets. He has also decided that whichever of the three beds ddog1 is on, that is the one he wants to be on and he has to show his indignance by lying on the floor next to it and grumbling, despite there being two other really comfortable beds available to him.

I am on night duty tonight. Not looking forward to it, but it has to be done and dh has work tomorrow, so needs to catch up on some sleep.

Just caught up on this, well done for catching it so quickly, what a relief!

So glad he's home and improving, we have 6 black greyhounds and spotting any bruising is difficult unless it's on their belly, this would be my worst nightmare.

I hope you can get back to sleeping in your beds very soon.

Thank you.

We were so lucky that he’s such a light colour with a white belly , feet/legs and hardly any fur on his undercarriage. Another way to spot it early is petechiae on the gums, that was another one of his earliest signs - and when I brushed his teeth that morning his gums bled, when they don’t normally. Ear flaps are another place you can check, although my boy didn’t get any there until later. If it had been ddog2 there is no way we would have caught it as early. He’s really shaggy all over, dark grey brindle with pigmentation all over his body, even his gums and tongue, so a dark patch, even on his lighter areas wouldn’t have aroused suspicion as quickly.

I still feel very cautious about being too optimistic, as relapses are common and it’s still very early days, but each day there are more little signs that are reassuring and I’m praying for his blood results to be improved at his follow-up on Wednesday.

I feel awful for the people on the support group whose dogs have Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia and some who have both IMHA and ITP. I was so scared he was going to get IMHA as well when his rbc started dropping last weekend, so it’s a huge relief that they stabilised quickly and the vet was pretty confident it was just down to the blood loss.

I'm glad it's going well. And that's he's getting back to normal

Just had our follow up with the vets.

Good news. His platelets are up to 263,000 which is the middle of normal range. He’s still a little anaemic, but his rbcs are slowly improving. All his bruising has gone, he just has some patches of blood in the irises of his eyes, which the vet says will take a bit of time to dissipate.

He’s had us up 2-3 times a night for wees and we are taking it in turns to sleep on the sofa, so I was relieved when the vet lowered his steroid dose and said to give it in the mornings only, which should reduce the night

If he’s stable or improved at the next follow up they will start titrating the steroids down very slowly. If not they will consider adding in a second immune suppressant, but at the moment it’s all looking good.

He’s still not 100% himself, the meds are making him very lethargic - although hard to tell with a lazy lurcher! He’s cuddling his toys, but doesn’t want to throw them about just yet and garden trips are very sedate padding about and sniffing, as opposed to his usual zoomies, so he has a way to go before he’s back to normal.

We’re going to stay with the vet hospital for his next follow-up, then transfer back to our normal vets.

Fantastic! Bit of a difference on the numbers
I love that you're keeping him company at night (even if it is to avoid the stumbling down the stairs in the early hours). I hope he appreciates this!

I doubt he appreciates it and ddog2 seems a bit put out by it, as he keeps wandering up to me on the sofa and grumbling at me. He has quite a vocabulary for a dog and is definitely telling me that he’s not happy with me being downstairs at night. Odd thing is, my son has a condition where he has had to sleep downstairs, close to the toilet, at night for months when it flares up and they are both perfectly happy to accept him doing it.

Sheer favouritism then! And you're obviously taking DDog2's favourite night-time bed. Could you sleep on the floor or in a dog bed instead?!!

It seems to me your son should be doing the sofa sleeps then! Simples!

I too have a vocal dog. He's forever sharing his opinions about where we should sit, etc. My last dog was the same. He'd inform us when it was bedtime.

I have vocal cats - they tag-team to get me out of bed. They used to wake DDog and use her to get me up but now she can't hear them they go direct instead. She's more easy-going & I half-sat on her head last night because she didn't move on the sofa when I wanted to sit down (in my defence I had been sitting there and only got up for cat-feeding duties, and I did tell her to shift along)

picklemepopcorn I wish, unfortunately he ds2 has only recently started to be able to sleep through the night in his own bed again and if he doesn’t it causes his main condition to flare. (He has a chronic condition which means he is medically unfit for school and has to be educated at home by the LA.)

The first night we lowered his steroid dose was awful, he didn’t sleep at all, just paced up and down all night. I can only assume it was a cortisol overshoot making him edgy.

The good news is that since then he has gone from 11.30/midnight-ish until 5.30 am. Dh has slept downstairs for the past two nights, just-in-case, but the plan tonight is for him to sleep in the bedroom and set his alarm for 5.00 am.

Yesterday he picked up a toy for the first time and actually had a little play, so he’s definitely improving.

Yesterday he picked up a toy for the first time and actually had a little play
Awwww And I bet you stood there and watched with a goopy grin on your face!