Originally posted by MalteseJane@Nov 23 2004, 08:13 PM
Alex has idiopatic thrombocytopenia. That means his platelet count is too low and they don't know the cause (idiopatic). He is still taking 1/4 pill prednisone a week. If this test comes back ok we can stop completely the prednisone and he will be in remission. If the platelet count is too low the surgery cannot be performed because he would bleed to death. If you ever see RED PATCHES on your dog's skin, this is a warning. Don't wait, go right away to the vet. If you wait too long, your dog will need a transfusion or even die.
Alex is 7-½ years old. There is a chronic form of cruciate damage that can occur due to weakening of the ligaments and comes with age. Otherwise they can get that from injury.
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Hi, I am so sorry to hear about Alex's health problems. I don't want to throw you a "red herring" but have you had Alex's thyroid checked? The reason I ask is that my first Maltese, Rosebud, had a similar problem in 1993 and it turned out to be her thyroid. Here is what happened:
She was scheduled for surgery to check her bladder and they did a blood test first and the vet called me and was totally stunned to find out that her blood count was just awful.... lots of things were "out of wack"... platelets being one of them. He asked if she seemed OK... and she did... you'd never know.
The next day he did a blood transfusion and then a bone marrow biopsy but it showed nothing but inflammation, I think. The next day he did a full body biopsy... biopsied everything!! (And on top of that she got burned on the operating table.... her back had been shaved for the biopsy the day before and the vet had her on a heat pad or something for the surgery and she had burns so badly that she had to go in every single day for months to have the burn cleaned and wrapped ... p.s. I no longer go to that vet!!)
Anyway, still nothing was found for the odd blood situation. My vet gave up and sent us to the NC State Vet School Hospital. They ran a zillion tests and still her blood work was weird. After a couple weeks there, they sent her home... still not knowing what was causing the weird blood work.
After coming home from NC State, my vet was doing blood tests several times a week and then the blood started being lipemic... which means too much fat in the blood to get results. One of the symptoms of thyroid disease is lipemia.... So they did a thyroid test ... found the low thyroid... put her on medicine and her blood work was normal for 9 more years! This whole nightmare was from October until late Februrary and the problem was her thyroid!!
Sorry for the long post but just wanted to tell this story in case it could help Alex or anyone else.....
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