My puppy seems fine, but bloodwork shows high RDW-CV. Is this normal?

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.

Hello, and thank you for your question. It is difficult to interpret the results accurately without a medical history, however, in general: - white cell count is within normal range, indicating no sign of infection or inflammation - hemoglobin and PCV are slightly high, which usually indicates mild dehydration. This can be due to not drinking much water for a few hours prior to the blood sample, or from fluid losses through vomiting or diarrhea - MCV is an indicator of red cell size, which is only relevant if the pet is anemic (which Coco is not). I hope this helps, and that Coco is doing okay!

Hello, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I can assure you, if there was any question that the blood tests were not good your vet would not have proceeded with the surgery. The RDW is the distribution of the red blood cells. Remember, not every individual will fall exactly within the reference range. Those are averages and there will always be outliers. A higher RDW is not uncommon in young animals. The reference range most vets use has the high end of normal as 31% so I wouldn't be worried at all about 30.7%. The things we really look at for pre-anesthesia are kidney and liver values as those two organs are used by the body to remove anesthetics. If those have any abnormalities we would not want to anesthetize him. It sounds like Littlefoot's was normal. I don't think you have anything to be concerned about. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

I can see the results, but I'm unable to see the reference ranges for each value which can vary based on the machine so it's a little difficult to say for certain what these changes could mean. It looks to me like the monocytes and lymphocytes (specific types of white blood cells) are a little low - this could be a stress response which is very normal for a dog having it's blood drawn in the hospital. Some dogs simply lie on the lower end of the reference range as well. I can't think of any disease where low lymphocytes and monocytes in the absence of other changes would be significant, and this would not raise a flag for possible cancer in my mind. Red cell distribution width (RDW) gives an idea of the average size of a red blood cell and mean cell hemoglobin concentration (MCH) tells how much hemoglobin is present in each cell - these parameters are really only significant when there is also anemia or low hematocrit. If you have other concerns you should definitely follow up with your vet - it's always easiest for the doctor who has examined the animal and is familiar with the case to interpret lab results!

Blood work reflects a single snap shot in time. It can't predict any disease. Performing blood work days or weeks apart can help monitor disease progression or healing. On this lab machine, normal creatinine in dogs is under 1.1. This value can go up a bit if a dog is dehydrated, so that is why it is important to put the numbers together with the pet. The CBC isn't overly concerning. The red cell values are high, and the most common cause for that is dehydration. The total white cell values states high, but the individual values are within normal range. White cells increase with infection or inflammatory conditions. That supplement shouldn't cause increases in lab values.

Although below 'normal', at red count of 5.1 is not severely reduced (and less concerning if all other values are within normal limits) and I would recommend retesing in 3-4weeks to assess any change in her levels whilst also monitoring for nay changes in her health or exercise tolerance. Some dogs are always mildly lower than others (remember a reference range is merely the average of what is normal) and some can have temporary reductions due to a period of ill-health/bleeding etc and very occasionally small blood clots can formwithin the sample making the results appear lower than the actually are. Be sure to keep fully up to date with deworming and flea/tick prevention as many parasites can lead to low grade blood loss/anaemia

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.