General Question Anemia

[izstigspunks]

A friend of mine very recently had to put her eb/pug cross down because of the condition. Apparently she didn't show any symptoms and was diagnosed too late. Does anyone have experience with it or at least have some knowledge? My friend's having trouble finding anything with detail.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Wow..I know of it in people, but had no idea it's fatal for dogs. How very sad..

 

[bullmama]

Wow me neither, sorry to hear of your friend's loss.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

 

[Lucy-licious]

Oh no, I never heard of it in dogs

 

[Vicaroo1000]

[MENTION=4225]Twice[/MENTION]

Let's get an expert's opinion!

 

[Twice]

A friend of mine very recently had to put her eb/pug cross down because of the condition. Apparently she didn't show any symptoms and was diagnosed too late. Does anyone have experience with it or at least have some knowledge? My friend's having trouble finding anything with detail.

Do they know WHY she was anemic? Anemia is a symptom of a disease, not a disease in itself. It can be caused by a lot of things like kidney failure, immune system disorders, cancer.. Let me tell you what little I know.

There are 2 types of anemia. Regenerative and non-regenerative. The first kind is caused by some kind of poison or trauma and once that trauma is resolved, the red blood cells return to normal. Non-regenerative is caused by a disease and the body cannot restore the red blood cells again.

There are other symptoms like weakness, increased heart rate, blood in the stool, vomiting and less obvious symptoms like depression. The easiest way to tell if your dog is anemic is by looking at her gums. They should be a nice pale pink color. If they are white (or not quite pink) a blood test might be in order. In the blood test you want to look for the PCV value. The normal (healthy) range is between 30 and 60. Different labs use different normal ranges but a good average to shoot for is 35 - 60.

Anemia can be treated but doctors are hesitant to treat until the PCV value hits 20. The drugs they usually give for this are Aranesp. Procrit or Epogen. The reason they don't treat until the levels hit bottom is because the body adjusts to these medication quickly so the effects don't last long.

You can add supplements to help support red blood cell production and iron levels so you may never get to that magic number. Things like spirulina, leafy green vegetables, black strap molasses and nutrived

If your friend wants more, detailed, "scientific" information she can always check the Merck Veterinary Manual

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/10200.htm