Mia is a beautiful and normally bouncy greyhound. But her appetite had been small for a few days and she didn't have as much energy as normal. She was also breathing more heavily than normal. Vet Katie examined her and found that her gums were extremely pale. Her heart was racing and her breathing was very laboured.
She was very sick and was taken to our Warwick hospital for overnight emergency care. There we ran a blood sample and found that her red blood cell count was dangerously low. She was given an emergency blood transfusion that night. This stabilised her whilst we investigated what had caused it. We found that she had a condition where her body started attacking her own cells and was destroying her red blood cells.
She was started on a high dose of steroids and another drug to stop her body fighting itself. Thanks to her blood transfusion her blood count had improved enough for her to go home the next day. Her blood count has continued to improve and we have now started to gradually reduce the doses of the drugs that she is on. She is now back to her old self and chasing rabbits again.
