My dog's blood test shows abnormal platelets. Should I worry?

Hi there, if Thanos's platelets are only slightly low I wouldn't be too concerned. When blood is taken platelets often clump together so you get a falsely low reading. You could get your vet to have a look on a blood smear for clumps and do a manual count as the machine is often a little off. Unless there is a true deficiency in platelets due to a disease there is very little you can do to increase them, and you likely don't need to anyway.

In most labs its 200,00-500,000. Some lab ranges are a bit lowe around 180,00-460,000. You have to verify with the lab that was used to check your pets platelet count to be sure. I hope this helps! If you have further questions please let us know! Take care.

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.

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.

The white blood cell count is very high indicating an infection and is concerning. The platelet count is low but it can also vary based on how clean the blood collection method is as this can cause artifacts sometimes. If that is accurate and it correlates with the low HCT value, then it is very concerning as that can indicate an auto immune disease,a tick borne disease, or a blood disorder from a toxin such as rat poison. All of these causes are very serious and can have prolonged recoveries

First, you need to make sure the low platelet count is real by having a blood smear performed by your veterinarian. Blood clots leading to platelet clumping and can result in falsely low platelets. If the manual count done using a blood smear is normal, then I would not worry as this means the blood machine results were inaccurate. If the platelet count is low on the manual count, then you need to have him tested for causes of a low platelet count including infections such as equine piroplasmosis. If he is currently on any drugs such as phenylbutazone or banamine consider stopping them. If the aforementioned plan fails to identify the cause, you should have your horse evaluated by an equine veterinary specialist for further diagnostic testing.

The only real abnormality is a lower than normal platelet count. Often times this is a machine error but I recommend to have this value rechecked. You make all your veterinarian and ask if they can manually count the platelets. This is often the best way to know if the platelet count is normal or not. Have this done before his surgery. Best of luck.