I need to positive thoughts from all you knowledgable people out here. Without going into detail due to time I will just explain this. I just had a basic blood panel done on both my female GSD's and my Vet just called to inform me that my youngest female's red blood cell count is 22% which is pretty serious according to her. It should be between 36 and 5o something I think she she. She told me that she needs to run a hemobart test, tooms test and a tick pick or something. She wants to know why she is either NOT PRODUCING enough red blood cells, LOSING them, or DESTROYING them I think she said. Her white cell count is fine and she said her blood panel was ok. Does this all make sense? My oldest female "HER HALF SISTER" blood panel came back completely NORMAL. Both of my female dogs are on a RAW diet and BOTH dogs eat exactly the same thing. So I'm guessing it's not the diet. Any other idea's I should or tests I should ask my Vet about? Again she says this is pretty serious stuff. One last thing. Niki acts completely normal and runs twice as fast and twice as far as my older female????? Energy to burn although she it does take her awhile to get her wind back. No recent Vaccinations. LAst one was about a year ago. She has also never gone into heat unles it's been a silent heat that I didn't know about. I'm taking her to the Vets tomorrow at 3:30 for more tests.

Glenn

There are a lot of possible causes of anemia in dogs, from parasites, to dietary imbalances, to cancer. You'll need to have the tests done to determine the cause. I hope it's nothing serious! Keep us posted.

I have no knowledge of this problem firsthand but from what you have menitoned, it sounds like some sort of autoimmune conditon, where the body for unknown reasons attacks it's own cells, or a bone marrow disease(bone marrow is responsible for replenishing the red blood cells).
Here is a website that explains the particular condition where the body destroys red blood cells in particular. http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_imha.html

Also see: http://www.vetinfo.com/derlick.html#ehrlichia This explains Ehrlichiosis, a blood borne parasite that dogs get from brown dog ticks, which she probably doesn't have since she shows no definite syptoms but it is possible to have it without any symptoms until they show up in blood work. It would definitely cause her to lose red blood cells.
Other things that would cause it to be low are: B-12 deficiency, folic acid deficiency or copper deficiency, or cancer.
Also, dogs can become anemic from a reaction to a drug/toxin like acetaminophen (tylenol), onions(very dangerous cooked, raw, or dehydrated), or anti-inflammatory medications like aspirin, zinc, and propylene glycol, which can be found in canned food.
Good thing you found it early before she starts acting sick! Good luck with the other tests.

Thanks guys for the help. I'm hoping to know something soon although tomorrow is Friday so I don't imagine I'll get any lab reports back. Lots to think about. I didn't know it could be cancer. Are you talking Lukemia? Can dogs get Lukemia?

Glenn

I hardly found any info over the internet using the key words "canine/dog leukemia" but I did find that there are several types: myeloid, myelogenous (acute), acute nonlymphoid, acute lymphoblastic, chronic lymphocytic, chronic granulocytic), eosinophillic, basophillic, monocytic, myelomonocytic, erythroleukemic, polcythemia vera, megakaryocytic, and primary thrombocythemia. The survival rate, and treatment would vary with all types, but most often involves chemotherapy, careful monitoring of blood values, and plus or minus (depending upon type) blood transfusions. I'm sure you could get some info with any of those key words.

Glenn, if it's any consolation, I just went through this myself. However, when my vet did the CBC on my boy and the platelet count was low, as well as the white cell count, everything else came back normal, tick titers, erlichia, x-rays were clean, bone aspiration was negative. The vet finally put him on prednisone, thinking that is was an autoimmune disorder, and dammed if he wasn't right. The dog is doing fine now, and the long term looks good.
But my internist made a great point to me during all of this, and that was that we were so caught up in looking for the "big" illness that we overlooked the possibility of it being something simpler, like garden variety anemia. Look for the "horses" first, then the "zebras".

And the Merck Veterinary Manual is very informative too, you should be able to find any info you're looking for there.

You also may want to just wait a few days and repeat the original bloodwork.

I once had a scare from the vet, turned out the lab screwed up the paperwork, and in fact the dog was fine. It was also a bloodcount issue, although I no longer remember which cells.....

My point is, if the dog seems perfectly healthy, it just may be!

Doing the second set of bloods will tell you for sure, it will either confirm the original, or show that the dog is actually ok, as was my case.

I hope all works out to be ok, good luck.

Bad experience-My brother in-law was misdiagnosed and put on meds that were as good as jelly beans just for the doctor to make money. We trusted him and got taken advantage of. Try a 2nd opinion from another vet. Just to be safe...

Thanks to all who provided me with the necessary information to question the labs findings. All is well and I can sleep soundly tonight. Long story short, after rushing my female to the Vets again this afternoon she drew more blood with the intent of having 4 additional tests run plus a stool check. The information you guys provided me was forwarded to my Vet via e-mail. I kept questioning her on specifics, etc. and requested copies of both dogs lab results for my personal files at home. I also questioned the accuracy of the independant lab she uses and at first it didn't go over too well but I could tell she was taking in every thought that crossed my mind and low and behold after waiting about 10 to 15 minutes for her to return to the room she opened the door and with a fairly embarrassed look admitted that someone at the lab had screwed something up because the test she ran this afternoon showed a perfectly normal red blood cell count. So now she wants to recheck my other female herself to see if the lab had maybe switched information between both dogs. Of course this additional CBC on my older dog will be done at no cost and the only thing I had to pay for today was for a stool check which was negative. Of course I know my oldest dog is perfectly ok but I'm gonna let her do another CBC just for good measure. I don't think there was a mix up between the two dogs results at all. I didn't know whether to be angry or jubilent so I chose to be the latter. I do know this much. If I had not been persistent about a possible mistake by the lab and just kept silent my dog and myself would have continued to go through a ton of unnecessary grief and worry and tests and of course MONEY! Luckily she is equipped to do her own lab work but as a rule she farms this stuff out to a local lab. Anyway she had threw some scary stuff at me today before she personally reran the lab work and all I can say is thanks again for all of your support and help. The morale of this story will be for future members to seek out the help here and anywhere there are knowledgable people and don't be afraid to question your Vet about everything. You never know, you might just end up saving yourself and your dog a lot of unnecessary grief and expense. You never know you might just end up with a perfectly NORMAL and happy dog <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I think I kid of went overboard with the so call "Long story short" and I appologise for probably committing a sin against the English language for record long sentences.....

Regards,

Glenn