Anemia in Dogs

Anemia is the loss of red blood cells in the blood.  Since the red blood cells carry oxygen to the tissues in the body, an anemic dog has a potentially serious problem.  Veterinarians do a test called a hematocrit to find out if your dog is anemic.  A healthy dog’s hematocrit reading will be between 36 and 55, depending on age and breed.  If the hematocrit shows red blood cells are less than thirty six, then the dog is considered anemic.

Anemia is categorized in two main ways:  regenerative and non-regenerative.  Regenerative anemia is when the bone marrow, who manufactures red blood cells, kicks in and tries to produce enough red blood cells to bring the range back into the normal range.  An example of this would be if the dog sustained a large wound and was bleeding profusely, the bone marrow would make more red blood cells to compensate for the loss.

Non-regenerative anemia is where a dog has cancer or another type of disease that affects red blood cells, and cannot produce red blood cells in a large enough quantity to keep up with their destruction.  Leukemia and kidney failure are frequent causes on non-regenerative anemia.

Anemia can be caused by a number of things.  However, there are three broad categories of the things that cause anemia:

  1. Internal or external blood loss.  This is usually through the GI tract, such as vomiting blood or having bloody diarrhea.  Other causes are abdominal tumors or masses in other places in the body.  External blood loss can affect the hematocrit, but it would have to be very bad and chronic to do so.
  2. Production problems.  When red blood cells die, they are normally sent to the bone marrow to be regenerated into new, healthy red blood cells.  If the bone marrow is not working right, then the dog may not be able to manufacture enough red blood cells quickly enough.
  3. Destruction.  Some auto immune disorders break down or kill healthy red blood cells.  When this happens, the body just can’t produce enough new red blood cells to keep up.

What are the symptoms of anemia?  They vary but a dog that is lethargic, weak, or intolerant of exercise may have anemia.  This keeps his body from getting enough oxygen so he does not have the stamina to do normal things.

You can also look at the eyes and gums of your dog.  The membranes in the upper and lower part of your dog’s eyes, should be pink in color.  White or clear membranes could signal anemia.  Pale gums are another symptom of anemia.  If you suspect your dog has anemia, take him to the veterinarian and get him to run some blood work to see for sure what is going on.

Anemia does not happen all by itself.  It is a symptom that shows something is wrong in the body.  The veterinarian must diagnose the underlying problem and then treat it.  After the treatment of the underlying problem, the anemia will probably resolve by itself.

Comments