My dog has low platelets and is limping. Are they connected?

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.

Hello, the low number of platelets is very common in automatic blood test done by a machine, machines tend to undercount the number of platelets and it is considered to be not accurate, for this reason the vet will usually do a blood smear and count the platelets manually. i would definitely not be worried about that.

Hello. Platelets are needed for blood to clot, so if platelets are low you will see actual bruising ( black & blue spots ) or discrete blood spots in the skin or on the mucous membranes. A simple CBC ( complete blood count ) will report the number of platelets *& tell you if there is a problem or not. What you are describing with the redness & inflammation sounds more like an allergic reaction, something that can affect the skin in this area very commonly. If you are worried about platelets, consider having the blood work done. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

You are describing pancytopenia which is a low red blood cell, white blood cell and platelet count. We see this disease process secondary to infectious diseases carried by ticks, toxins such as hormones or even secondary to some medications such as anti-inflammatories, primary diseases of the bone marrow and cancer. Unfortunately, it is a problem because if left untreated his platelet count will continue to drop resulting in bleeding and his low white blood cell count predisposes him to infection. He needs to be tested for tick borne disease and possibly have a bone marrow aspirate. In the meantime, your veterinarian may recommend treating him with doxycycline and prednisone.

The problem here is to establish the underlying cause of thrombocytopenia (low platelets). Immune-mediated thrombocytopenia is one of the most common causes. This process usually occurs in the spleen although the liver also plays a role. Thrombocytopenia develops as platelet destruction exceeds compensatory production by the bone marrow. Immune-mediated thrombocytopenia can be classified as primary or secondary. Secondary processes can be caused by infective diseases or tumors very commonly. Usually to determine a diagnosis more tests needs to be performed like abdominal ultrasound and chest x rays. Infective diseases like Ehrlichia, Anaplasma spp for example should be ideally evaluated as well. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum (where you can post pics of the blood tests) or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

The main two things i would suspect is Tick fever caused by a bacterial called Erlichia (it is treated with an antibiotic called doxycycline). it could also be an autoimmune hemolytic crisis, this will need to be treated with steroids.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I’m sorry to hear your dogs are limping. There can be multiple causes for limping, including Lyme disease, a muscle strain, or an orthopedic injury. If they are both limping, it could be that they both were exposed to the same thing, or injured themselves or each other while playing. If they are both feeling so poorly, I would recommend they be evaluated by their regular veterinarian to try to determine the underlying cause of their discomfort, have any necessary testing done (X-rays, tick screen) and start any treatment that they may need. Good luck!