My Cavalier has anemia & low red cells, no symptoms. Should I worry?

Based on the results posted, it looks as though Zack is slightly anemic, meaning that he has a low red blood cell count. This can be caused by blood loss during trauma or toxin exposure, blood loss into the gastrointestinal tract, or a lack of production of red blood cells by the bone marrow. Feel free to request a consultation if you have further concerns about Zack.

We use blood tests in combination with clinical exams and thresults of the latter, and clinical signs in order to assess a condition. the result of this assessment then determines whether we need to treat. That said, if your dog has no relevant clinical signs of illness, these numbers are not concerning. The MCV and MCH are parameters which reflect the amount of hemoglobin in the red blood cells. His hematocrit is relatively normal. Normal values vary per laboratory, and his hemoglobin corresponds with the hematocrit as well as the MCV and MCH. Really, for an old dog like Spike , these results by themselves are not worrisome. And since your vet is not concerned, apparently there are no clinical signs of disease that would make these values significant.

Hi there. If Clyde's other CBC values were all in the normal range, then no - he would not be considered anemic, and I would not expect this to have any impact whatsoever on his anesthesia risk. :) Anemia has to do with the actual red blood cell count, or hematocrit (which are normally abbreviated RBC and HCT on lab reports, respectively). Reticulocytes are immature red blood cells released by the bone marrow, and it's completely normal to have a certain number of them in circulation at any given time. RETIC-HGB refers to the hemoglobin content of the reticulocytes, not the red blood cells as a whole. If we see an elevated reticulocyte count in a dog who IS anemic (low RBC or HCT), then this can give us some additional information about the types of things that might be causing the anemia. But in a dog who *isn't* anemic, it doesn't really mean much of anything or have any particular clinical significance. If you're concerned about it, you could always opt to have lab work repeated in a few weeks to see if the elevation is repeatable, or if there is any kind of trend in his overall hemoglobin level or hematocrit that might warrant further investigation.

Puppies usually have lower red cell values than adults since they don't have as many red blood cells yet. But 16% is a little low for a puppy. Has your vet tested for intestinal parasites? Hookworms (and fleas and ticks) can remove a surprising amount of blood from a small puppy. Another cause of anemia with normal white blood cell values are blood diseases such as tick-borne disease. If a puppy is able to eat a good-quality puppy food and the cause of the anemia is treated, they will be able to replace the lost blood cells over time.

This bloodwork was performed on a human blood analyzer so it is not as accurate as if it was performed on an analyzer made for dogs. We do not use RDW-CV in dogs. In humans, if it is high, it could be an indication of a nutrient deficiency, such as a deficiency of iron, folate, or vitamin B-12. High results could also indicate macrocytic anemia, when your body doesn't produce enough normal red blood cells, and the cells it does produce are larger than normal. So, I don't know what to say about that as it is not really something we use in dogs. I don't see anything else on this blood report that is concerning. I suggest you make sure he is on a high quality food (like Royal Canin) and if he is not sick I would not be concerned.

Anemia should be ideally retested. At this stage, with the clinical informations you provided, is mild to moderate and could have been caused only by inflammation. I would recommend to retest the anemia when both the abscess is completely resolved and the course of treatment over. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hello. Those blood results indicate that there is a low red cell count, low white cell count and low platelets. This COULD indicate leukemia as all three cell lines are low, however it could also be due to a systemic infection and the platelets being low could be due to clumping. The first next step would be to send the blood away to an external lab to look for regeneration, as well as platelet clumps. If your dog is acting sick your vet may want to start on antibiotics in case of a systemtic infection. I suggest you go back to your vet and discuss these results, and discuss what the pathologist comments were if the blood was sent away externally. If bone marrow disease is suspected they can do a bone marrow biopsy.