Anemia caused by cancer or bacterial infection

[doc22]

Background:     My dog is a 11yr old German shepherd with bad hips.  As a result he daily takes 75mg Deramaxx, 2 Glucosamine tablets, 50mg Tramadol, and 100mg Atopica (cyclosporine) with 200mg ketoconazole for an anal fistula problem.  He had a yearly checkup 3 weeks ago.  Bloodtest, wellness testing, vaccines, nails trimmed.  They trimmed one nail too short, it bled alot, but they put a clotting agent on it.  All blood levels were fine.  Only negative sign of anything was the decrease in weight from 86lbs to 78 since his last visit (not sure how long that drop actually took).  They had me up his cyclosporine dose to 300mg a day and add in the ketoconazole as a stabalizer.  After a week and a half of this he wasnt taking his pills willingly anymore and not eating or drinking much.  I decided to reduce his pill intake, especially the cyclosporine to 100mg a day but kept using the ketoconazole.  He started eating more and started taking his pills again.  But still looked underweight.  Now its three weeks after that visit.  Just yesterday he was noticeably lethargic and had alot of trouble with mucous coming out his nose and licking his paw.  I took a good look at his paw, it was swollen all the way to the elbow.  His toe where the nail was cut short was the one he was licking and it was discolored but the nail looked fine now.  I took him to the vet.  I was not looking for blame, but the doctor kept leaning towards cancer and said it was "highly unlikely" the infection was from the nail trimming three weeks before and the anemia rarely is caused by an infection.  His laser cyte showed low  rbc, low hct (23.4% now 46% 3 wks ago) high wbc (22), high neu, mono, and baso.  He prescribed baytril and another cbc in 4 days to see if the HCT is still low.  No other instructions.  Seemed heavily apposed that the infection was the cause of the anemia.  Said it was just a coincidence.  Atopica states in the data sheet included with the pills, "Atopica is a potent systemic immunosuppressant that may increase the susceptibility to infection and the development of neoplasia."  I am stopping his Atopica all together because as far as I can tell, it seems like it is suppressing his immune system and not allowing him to fight this infection for the past three weeks.  Can a bacterial infection in the blood cause anemia?  Does this sound like cancer to you or just a bacterial infection that caused anemia?  In your opinion will the stopping of the Atopica and  the addition of the Baytril help him and will the cbc show that in just 4 days?  Thank you soo much for your time and any help.  This dog is my best friend.  You can forward this to anyone who can help.  

[doc22]

Thanks guys.  Just trying to look at all the info and help him as much as I can.  thanks

[Weeziebear]

Cyclosporin is also an immuno-suppressant, the risk of infection is greater on these drugs.  We really should't guess what is wrong until you have a consultation with a specilaist or a vet who specializes in the geriatric dog.   Depending on where you live you may need to consult a specialist in Hematology-Oncology, I would call a Veterinary Hospital and ask to see a specialist who could best address your dogs symptoms get copies of his records from your vet's office they will give them to you if you ask them.  I will be praying for you and your dog friend.

[ginger899]

The best thing for you to do is re-post your question on the vet expert forum, where you will get some very good help from a qualified Vet.
If you scroll down this page, lower down on the right you will see "Related Expert Forums" click on "Animal Health General" to get through.

My instinct is that the damage caused by trimming his claw too much (why does ANYONE ever have to do that!?) could have set up infection in his leg. This can happen with an injury to the claw. Especially as he is on immuno-suppressants.

But I do not really know, as I'm not a qualified vet. I hope things go well and he's ok.