One of our schnauzers was just diagnosed with IMT...

[Sancho]

IMMUNE-MEDIATED THROMBOCYTOPENIA - say that three times real fast.

In 60 years of dog ownership, I thought I'd seen it all, but this is the first time we've IMT. She is 5 years old.

At any rate, the conversations with the vets are pretty frustrating - lots of "we don't know". After a few hours reading about IMT, I can see why - no clear cause, treatments can be expensive and results depend on the individual dog. Two days of tests and a night in the animal hospital have definitely resulted in a hit on the bank account.

She is a very sweet and intelligent rescue mini-schnauzer who loves to sit at the window and announce visitors. She stands inside the doggy door, and jumps out to chase squirrels that dare come down in the yard.

I'm hoping we can get a treatment plan today after an specialist reviews the tests later today. I guess that it's good that we live in times where veterinary medicine is better than ever.

At this point, I'm for universal care for pets!! If I retire and run for office that will be my top priority. APC!!! Affordable Pet Care.

[Freddie]

1. Agree

It cost me $2000 to have my cat Freddie DIAGNOSED with FIP, which is invariably fatal. I loved him to pieces and I had to do it, but it really hurt the bank account.

[Sancho]

8. We had one bad experience like that years ago.

Lots of money and couldn't save the dog. I just called a few minutes ago and told the vet to go ahead and treat her, but we didn't need to continue the expensive testing.

She actually agreed with me! They follow the "protocol" that says to do a bunch of unnecessary stuff.

[Freddie]

10. The "protocol" to do a wallet-ectomy

Pisses me off about vets but they all do it. When we got our current cats I switched to a cats-only vet, hope she's better when the time comes.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Hoping for the best for your pup!

My Jack (a rescue Maltipoo) was dx'd with Type 1 Diabetes last May. The vet visits have been expensive (nearly $2K since May) so I can definitely agree that there should be more health insurance options for pets!

[Stonepounder]

5. We have 2 diabetic Cavaliers and your vet bills sound a little high high.

We take them in once a month for a blood test at $25 ea
We take them in once a quarter for a Fructosamine test at $100 ea
We buy our insulin at Wal-Mart* for around $25
We were buying our needles at Wal-Mart for about $12 per box of 100 but then Wal-mart discontinued the needles we had been buying but we found that Kroger had them for the same price.

Of course we would pay more if we had to.

*Yes - we hate Wal-Mart too and don't shop there unless we absolutely have to. But for insulin the price difference is staggering. Everywhere else a vial of insulin is around $75-$100. Wat Wal-Mart it is around $25. We're retired and the difference in price makes it a tooth-gritting no-brainer.

One if our diabetics is coming up on his 15th birthday and has been diabetic for 7 years.

P.S. Ask your vet if they have a 'senior discount'. Our vet (where we have been going for 20 years now) gives is a 10% discount on everything.

[irisblue]

3. Best hopes for her and you.

A likely obvious question, how is this treated in humans? I have a vague memory of scheduling regular blood withdrawals for a patient 20 years ago, surely there are other treatments now.

[Sancho]

6. IMT is treated with immune suppressants..

cortisone and other exotic cancer type drugs. Some require a hospital stay, and blood test monitoring after that....

It it works, the estimate is $2000+ and then hope it works.

If the treatments don't take hold, she will not survive because her blood won't clot.

I just just done a crash course on this looking it up and talking to 3 vets. So far, they all think she is a good candidate for treatment.

[irisblue]

4. If there are common human treatments, would not those be adaptable to dogs?

[Sancho]

7. Actually I read there were some treatments in the UK for dogs that are new...human drugs.

but either not approved or not available in the US. I'm going to ask the vet about it.

[irisblue]

9. Would your vets contact a vet teaching hospital for advice? I have OhioState

Vet school near by. Lucky for me &2 of the dogs who had epilepsy, 2 of the best vet neurologists were there. Extended Alex&Dukes' lives by years.
To be true, I was working then & could pay the bills. Now, I don't know if I would be able to make some of the same choices.