Deva has autoimmune hemolytic anemia. This is a disease where the body attacks its own red blood cells. When she first got sick she was lethargic, rapid heart rate, and weight loss. This was all so gradual we hardly noticed anything wrong. With three other whippets around we hardly noticed one sitting out on the fun. When I got concerned about the rapid heart rate and took Deva into the vet - The vet took one look at her gums (which were white) and admitted her to the hospital. They gave her cancer drugs intravenously and we prayed. Deva dropped from 28 pounds to 22 pounds! She looked like an Ethiopian poster child. The normal red blood count for a dog is from 37-55%, hers was down to 12. Not good news!! The long and the short of all this is that Deva did recover over the next 8 months to a normal blood count.

Now for the roller coaster ride none of us wants. Last week she was starting to drop weight again and took Deva back to the vet – blood count back down to 22%. Back on the drugs prednisone and cytoxan. If you have a dog on cytoxan there is an unfortunate side effect of being incontinent – don’t punish for accidents! She goes back to the vet tomorrow for a blood count – hopefully improved.

If anyone has this disease in their dog please write – I would love to compare notes. My e- mail address is: milttate@earthlink.net

Sincerely,

Blue , Jack , Maile, and Deva - (the ones who keep Gaye in line)