Diva Dog Gravely Ill (Updated)

Hello all. I did leave the trail early as my partner's and my paces and goals weren't really matching up. I'm pretty pleased with what I did, and hiking felt so good. I'll write more about this later, but for the last couple of days we've been occupied with something rather more pressing -- trying to save Diva Dog's life.

Diva has a life-threatening case of autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Essentially, her immune system has kicked into overdrive and is gobbling up her red blood cells at an alarming rate. She hiked for parts of two days with me -- I think it added up to thirteen miles in two days. This is nothing she hasn't done before. But she became extremely lethargic and unwilling to eat or drink when we returned. If you've read my Diva posts, you know what a departure that is from the norm. Mr. T suspected off-trail depression, but ultimately I dragged her to the vet. It's a good thing I did. Blood tests revealed a red blood cell count of 12. Normal for dogs is in the mid-30's.

Our vet advised a blood transfusion to save her life, as well as treatment with immune-suppressing steroids, but warned that we could be looking at an inoperable cancer behind this anemia. We waited until 5 pm yesterday to get results from X-rays and more blood tests (and giving her IV fluids and a shot of steroids in the meantime). We had no intention of putting her through a transfusion if cancer was the culprit. But these tests indicated that cancer is unlikely. So we transferred her last night to Dove Lewis, a truly amazing nonprofit emergency animal hospital here in Portland.

The receiving vet at Dove Lewis talked with me about a number of risks of transfusion that I won't bore you with here -- let it just suffice to say that there is no magic treatment for this anemia. "I really just have to give you a very guarded prognosis right now," she told me over the phone last night. But about 3 a.m., she called and said it had gone well. In another twenty minutes, we'll call again.

So here's the kicker. The receiving vet, having agreed that the tests make cancer unlikely, suspects Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a tick-borne disease she probably picked up on our PCT adventure. Yeesh. (Needless to say, today will be spent consulting our various people-doctors to determine whether we ought to be evaluated or treated preventively for this deal, as it seems at least likely that if Diva got tick-bit, we did too.)

So our Diva Dog is hanging on, at least for now. Please keep a happy thought for her.*



*And please. I don't know anyone who regularly comments on this blog who would say this, but just a warning -- I really don't want to hear any bellyaching about the resources expended to save a "mere" animal when there are so many other ills in the world. Any comments of this nature must be accompanied by a justification of every sum you've ever spent on a hobby or other pleasure in your life, or be deleted. Because even if you can't allocate independent worth to the animal, you have no right to discount her as a pleasure in my life.

UPDATE: We visited Diva at the animal hospital this afternoon. Unfortunately, her red cell count is back down to where it was before the first transfusion. She has a fantastic vet tech assigned to her who advised us that this was not necessarily terrible for a number of reasons. Still, we anticipate that she'll require another transfusion tonight. The diagnosis of tickborne disease was questioned by today's assigned vet, so we just don't know what the heck we're dealing with, or whether she'll make it. Still, she showed some energy when we arrived, and tried to follow us out of the building. We should know more tomorrow.