low platelet count

My 7 year old male boxer has an extemely low platelet count.  We adopted him from a rescue group in Dec 2006.  He had a mass cell tumor on his side and I had it removed in July 2007.  The tests revealed it was a grade II.  At the time of his surgery, his platelet count was 27.  He has been fine since his surgery. (Active-loves to play.)  I took him for his annual checkup in Jan 2008 and blood work was done to check his platelet count.  It was a 12.  So he was prescribed prednisone 20 mg  2 tablets every 12 hours to get it in his system. I am aware of the side effects of drinking alot of water & gaining weight, but he could not handle the dose. He had to go to the bathroom every 2 hours, starting using the bathroom in the house (Never done before).  I backed off the dosage to 1 every 12 hours and called the vet.  He now has no energy,  won't eat, won't play, has lost weight and acts as if his body is in pain.  He will stand up as long as possible and when he is worn out he will finally lay down.  When he was rechecked at the vet, he had blood in his urine and his platelet count was a 4!  A tick serology was done, but results won't be received for about 5 days. (He was tested in July 2007 and this was negative.)  He is now on doxycycline 100mg 2 in am, 2 at pm.  Still not active and acts stiff and it is hard for him to get up and walk.  He was fine until we started the prednisone. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[peekawho]

This is very hard!  I can only tell you what we had to do with one of our dogs on Prednisone when we had the same problems with drinking and constant, uncontrolled urination.

We got those dog incontinence wraps and packed them with large super absorbent sanitary napkins and diapers.  We were fortunate in that we didn't have to do this for more than a couple of weeks.  

I don't know what to tell you about your dog.  If you look on the right side of the screen, you will see a link that says RELATED EXPERT FORUMS.  Under it is the free PET HEALTH forum.  Dr. Cheng moderates that forum, and can give you some very good advice.

[Mankie]

Thanks for your comment.  I was trying to add this the Related Expert Forum and it was not taking any other questions for today.  Sorry that I posted this again twice in this forum.  

The vet has reduced the pred dosage to 1/2 1 time a day and added Doxycycline and he will see a specialist on Monday for possible bone morrow test.  After reading Tigera08 forum  about a similar situation with a boxer  & reading Dr Cheng's response, I wonder if this has anything to do with his annual vaccine.  He has always had a low platelet count.  The first test that was done in July 07 was 27,000 and it was 12,000 when he had his vaccines, that could have made it drop to the 4,000.

I hope to hear from Tigera08.
Thanks again.