<p>My 11 year old dog has been ill on & off over the holidays, we treated an infection and he got better, then worse again this week. Turns out he has low platelets. They hoped it was the result of using them up fighting a systemic infection, but yesterday they were 40k, today they are 20k.</p>
<p>It is likely either an auto immune system issue which causes the body to destroy the platelets, this is treated by steroids and managed like you would diabetes, a serious thing, but livable.</p>
<p>If not that, then it is probably cancer.</p>
<p>This guy is our best buddy and the entire family is feeling rather bereft, yet still hopeful. Anyone deal with the auto immune low platelets? Anyone have any other “zebra” low platelet things? Anyone experience their dog dying of cancer at home? Keeping them comfortable vs putting them down?</p>
<p>In September my 10 year-old black lab was diagnosed with a malignant cancer of the spleen that had metastasized to the kidneys, livers and who knows where else. He had seemingly been fine, but had started to limp a few days before we took him to the vet, and then the day we took him he refused to eat breakfast (which for a lab is a HUGE warning sign). They found out he was severely anemic which they said could either be due to some autoimmune thing or internal bleeding. I don’t know if it was platelets or hemoglobin that was low (or quite possibly both). Anyway, after an X-ray and ultrasound showed a tumor in the spleen that had metasized they encouraged me to put him to sleep. They said that eventually he would bleed to death internally and evidently that would be quite painful. At the time, he seemed very good, was eating regularly and seemed happy and healthy, with a little help from some pain pills and steroids. He had quite a few good days and I even took him for one last trip to the beach. I expected him to just sit on the sand and enjoy it, but he was running and jumping in the water, swimming and playing with the other dogs. Every so often he didn’t look great, but most of the time he looked like he felt good. But a couple weeks later he had a very bad day. Once again he wouldn’t eat and wouldn’t move and looked like he was in pain. At that point we decided to take him in and have him put to sleep. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, but I know it was the right thing.</p>
<p>Did your vet test for tick-borne diseases? Several of them, including anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis, cause recurring low platelet counts in dogs. Anaplasmosis occurs in California, and ehrlichiosis is an emerging tick-borne threat in that region.</p>
<p>We live on the East Coast, and my dog has had both anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis. When he had anaplasmosis, he had a very low platelet count. My vet prescribed antibiotics for four weeks, but my dog’s platelet count was still low at the end of the treatment. The vet said there was nothing else we could do but wait. Fortunately, the platelet count was back in the normal range after six months.</p>
<p>I know a tick-borne disease is probably a long shot, but I thought I’d mention it as a possibility. Good luck!</p>