Guest Carla Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Hi. Krier is 12.5 years old. He had a dental at my regular vets about 4 years ago. He had an allergic reaction to his own tarter and plaque and bled and bled. My vet called an associate who specializes in canine dentistry and they had to give him vitamin k to stop the bleeding. He had to stay over night to stablize him. During the dental my vet discovered a cracked molar and wanted me to take Krier to the specialist. At the time my other dog was having problems (a stroke), so we postponed taking Krier to the specialist. He finally went about 2 years ago and had 2 lower teeth removed and had the huge molar removed. We went to the specialist on December 31, 2007 for a consult and we scheduled the dental for today. On the 31st he got the first shot of the dental vaccine Porphyromonas, and the second one was going to be done today. On the 28th of January Krier had a bloody nose, and again on the 31st. I took him in last Friday for a CBC - it came back within normal limits. Krier had 2 more nosebleeds on Monday and Tuesday - (not as bad as the first 2). The 2 vets talked and wanted to do a coagulation test. We did that Tuesday and the results are: COAGULATION PANEL #1 PLATELET COUNT TEST : PLATELET COUNT VALUE (RESULT): 281 REFERENCE RANGE: 164 - 510 THOUS./ AL FLAGS: NONE COAGULATION PANEL #1 PROTHROMBIN TIME TEST : PROTHROMBIN TIME VALUE (RESULT): 5.8 REFERENCE RANGE: 5.9 - 9.1 SECONDS FLAGS: LOW COAGULATION PANEL #1 PARTIAL THROMBOPLASTIN TEST PTT VALUE (RESULT): > 100 RESULT VERIFIED BY REPEAT ANALYSIS REFERENCE RANGE: 12.2 - 19.0 SECONDS The vets and I decided the dental was too risky so we cancelled it. Krier also had a low positive titer for Babesia when I first got him in 2000 - we didn't treat it. My vet called today and said we could continue testing to try to figure out what is happening. More blood tests, xrays under anesthesia, tick testing etc. At this point, I said I would like to do nothing. Krier will be 13 on May 20. He hates going to the vet - he gets all nervous and shakes like a leaf. So my vet said that was fine with her. The only thing that is screwy are those 2 blood tests. Everything else is fine. Has anyone had any experience with this? Thanks in advance! Carla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mandm Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 The spontaneous bleeding sounds very scary. I hope that someone who knows about lab values responds. I don't know anything about lab reports. Except that low platelets, spontaneous bleeding, & a +babesia titer are cause for alarm. I think the report shows that the blood is not coagulating? Sounds dangerous. Are platelets 281 (dangerously low) or 281,000 (fine)? I think they are 281,000 & I don't know how to read the numbers. I had a young greyhound that bled out while we were waiting for positive PCR confirmation of TBD to begin treatment. It was awful. I no longer believe in conservative treatment of suspected TBD. I'd treat a low titer if there were symptoms present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burpdog Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 (edited) What was his low titre? I would probably retest for babesia. Sending prayers. edited to add: I'd do the whole TBD panel. Edited February 9, 2008 by Burpdog Quote Diane & The Senior Gang Burpdog Biscuits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feemandvm Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Asked to comment... 1. I would recheck the coagulation panel to see if the elevated partial thoromboplastin time is repeatable. 2. If the value comes back low, I would next send blood to Cornell University to test for hemophilia. At 13 I could certainly understand not wanting to sedate for x-rays, etc... but a bloodtest would be fairly non=invassive IMHO and would be what I would do next. Quote Bill Lady Bella and Sky at the bridge "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." -Anabele France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Carla Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Thank you all for your suggestions. Krier had another bad nosebleed this morning. It was the worst one yet. I called my vet's office and talked to Dr. A. Told her what was happening and she said I could bring him in and leave him for the day so they could observe him. Or I could keep him home and call if it got worse. I opted to stay home for a couple of hours with him (as he hates the vet's office) to make sure the bleeding stopped. Dr. A. is going to talk to Dr. Cookingham (my reg. vet) when she comes in at 1:00, and then Dr. Cookingham will call me. Right now we are thinking of redoing the tick test and redoing blood work. Thinking of steriods and antibiotics too. I'll tell Dr. Cookingham know about the suggestions . . . Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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