My dog's blood work shows severe anemia before surgery. Is it safe?

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.

Hello, sorry to hear about Joba. With hemp-abdomens (blood in the abdomen) about 80% of them are associated with some sort of tumor, most commonly hemangiosarcomas. Of these, 50% have spread to other parts of the body at the time of diagnosis. You can consider having surgery to stop the bleeding, however, this may only buy you 1-3 months. If you are inclined to have further diagnostics and would consider surgery, I would recommend having him re-evaluted by your veterinarian to discuss these options with them. They may refer you to an emergency center as Joba may need a transfusion to be a good candidate for surgery. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Thanks for providing the blood work. Did you allow the belly X-rays. The Vet thinks they felt a mass in Big Mac's belly. That makes me think that he most likely has a tumor in his belly that ruptured and he is bleeding internally. He needs surgery to remove the mass and to biopsy it to see if it is cancer or benign. But he will absolutely need a blood transfusion before surgery. If you can not afford to do further testing, a transfusion and surgery I would highly recommend considering Big Mac's quality of life. He is suffering. That low level of anemia is making him feel weak, light headed and blood in the belly is painful. I am so sorry. I hope this helps you in some way

At this point with history of a pyometra, the anemia could be secondary to a chronic infection and until the infection is under control the anemia may continue to worsen. Post-surgery, it would be important to ensure that there is no blood loss. If the total protein is low and the red blood cells are dropping this could indicate that there is a hemorrhage occurring somewhere in the body. If an ultrasound has not already been performed, I would certainly recommend having one done to help see if there's anything going on in the abdomen that may indicate an active hemorrhage. If an active Hemorrhage has been ruled out, then the next challenge is to determine whether or not the anemia is regenerative or non regenerative. As I stated earlier, this anemia could be secondary to the infection and it could also be immune-mediated meaning that the immune system is destroying the red blood cells for some reason. Some drugs can cause this condition and other times we never find out what it is caused by, we simply treat. I would have a reticulocyte count sent out as part of a full workup. My concern is that the red blood cell count continues to drop. You may be faced with the decision to do a blood transfusion to maintain the red blood cells at a particular level so that Hannah remains stable. If this is due to a chronic infection, then it may take some time for the antibiotics to start working before the anemia resolved or begins to improve. I sure hope Hannah improves soon! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help answer any others that you may have.

This sounds like a good recommendation from your vet. The goal will be to keep your dog under anesthesia for the shortest possible time using anesthesia drugs that are gentle to the kidneys and liver. 24hrs of IV fluids after anesthesia can help his body to eliminate the anesthesia more quickly and support the circulation to his internal organs.

Poor Lincoln! It sounds as though your vet is most likely concerned about a cruciate ligament tear, patellar luxation, or the onset of arthritis from a possible prior injury. English Bulldogs are inherently more risky to put under anesthesia simply due to the conformation of their head and airways, but your vet is aware of these possibilities and should be prepared with proper monitoring equipment and oxygen supplementation. I always recommend pre-anesthetic blood testing whenever possible. Most anesthetics are broken by the liver and kidneys (which these tests will assess), which allows the animal to wake up after the procedure. I hope that all goes well for Lincoln!

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.