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SALUKI (GAZELLE HOUND) BREED NOTES 31 OCTOBER 1998

A couple of week ago we printed a letter written by Mrs Anthea Akroyd-Hunt telling the heartache she had, when she bred a litter and the bitch had subsequently become ill. Dr Caroline Coile has read her letter and has been kind enough to share her opinions with us. Dr Coile has used for her source The Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine edited by Ettinger and Feldman, published in 1995.

Dr Coile states that: “Regarding the comments on vWD, the loss of this beloved dog is heartbreaking, but the facts do not support the contention that she had vWD”. Mrs Akroyd-Hunt states that ‘Before mating she was blood, heart, lung etc. tested and given 110% good bill of health.’ (no blood problems at this stage). Dr Coile states that “vWD is not something that suddenly appears.” Mrs Akroyd-Hunt went on to say that the sample went in an incorrect phial and only a platelet reading was recorded which was virtually nil. Dr Coile points out that “This is the most telling statement.vWD does NOT result in lowered platelet counts! It is a qualitative, not quantitative, problem. Dogs with vWD have normal platelet counts, but vWD is diagnosed only with special tests. Dogs with lowered platelet counts die just as readily, but not from vWD. Lowered platelet numbers can arise from a number of problems (and please note that it appears that Salukis, like Greyhounds, naturally have a lower platelet count (120,000 to 150,000) than other breeds. However, if the count was "practically nil" then no matter what the breed, the dog would have the symptoms that were described. Such extremely low counts are most often the result of immune mediated disease, and immune mediated thrombocytopenia (low platelets) occurs in Salukis (as well as other breeds) at least as commonly as the better known immune mediated haemolytic anaemia (the two also often occur in conjunction, a condition known as Evan's Syndrome). It is indeed very sad that the blood test was not repeated after the "blood mix-up" as immune mediated thrombocytopenia is quite treatable and once recovered many dogs never have another episode. I am not saying that that is what this dog had, only that vWD is almost definitely not what she had.

In her letter, Mrs Akroyd-Hunt also says” My own vet being aware of this condition will now only operate on non emergency cases in Dobermans if they have been tested. Dr Coile answers this with “No dog should be operated on without prior bloodwork, of any breed or any age. This is not an area where your vet should try to save you money”. Dr Coile continues with. “There is a very real possibility that we may well have a problem within our breed even if it is not actually vWD”.

It does seem that more information and subsequent research is needed to find solutions to these problems. Perhaps the fact that the majority of us are not trained in medicine causes us to form conclusions that are inaccurate. This is not surprising but should be a lesson to the layman not to draw conclusions or make diagnoses without the proper professional advice. More importantly it should not preclude us from providing whatever information is available, to those properly trained in health issues, by way of improving the chance of properly diagnosing and curing sick animals now and in the future. Incidentally, it is not the intent within this column to exaggerate or over emphasise the ill health of Salukis, as the breed, in general, is indeed healthy. We should, though, address any issues we are advised about by way of keeping the breed healthy and allowing dialogue without fear of castigation and/or alienation.

At Midland Counties Show, the judge was Mrs Adele Walton Haddon, who was also celebrating her birthday. Her DCC and BOB was Bryce-Smith's Ch. Kasaque Hyperion of Saruk BOB with RDCC being Hudson's Glenoak Gushyar. Bitch C.C. was Hadfield's Ch. Bamjoeh Beguine of Lokhandar with RBCC Shaw's Linda's Lady, Best Puppy was Davies' Lusaki Rah Rrashaba. Our only Championship Show left to look forward to in 1998 is LKA. Well done and good luck to those who exhibited and are exhibiting, respectively, at the above shows.

Michael Williams (101547.503@compuserve.com)

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