Hi all,
Bean’s blood work from yesterday saw a bit of a decrease in her RBC count and she’s still high in her WBC count.
The results from Dec 29/2016 were:
WBC 21.5
RBC 5.3
Hemoglobin 135
Hematocrit 0.357
MCV 69.4
MCH 25.5
MCHC 367
RDW 20.2
Platelets 352
% Reticulocyte 0.7
Reticulocyte 37.1
Here’s what the results were on Jan 10/2017:
WBC 22.3
RBC 4.7
Hemoglobin 126
Hematocrit 0.35
MCV 74.9
MCH 26.8
MCHC 357
RDW 16.8
Platelets 396
% Reticulocyte 1.4
Reticulocyte 65.8
We haven’t spoken to the vet yet about it, just had the results emailed and comparing against her last results on Dec 29/16 it seems she’s going backwards a little bit.
We haven’t taken her off any of her medications yet and just finished her antibiotic dose yesterday.
Nicole, sorry my boy is very sick at the moment so I’m a bit of a mess. Just wanted to say the hemacrotic is almost the same. The difference is most likely to be how hydrated she is.
I’ve sent Patrice an email to check blood results for you. I’m not good with that. She should respond.
Vally
Hi,
Sorry just noticed that I made a mistake. Bean’s hematocrit level on Dec 29 was .37 and on Jan 10 was .35
Not a big decrease but she’s been showing steady improvements up until that point (went from .12 to .24 to .29 to .37) so it’s a disappointment to see that she’s dropped at all.
Also – sorry to hear that Vally. Hope your boy is doing better & thanks for still taking the time to respond… we’ll keep you guys in our thoughts!
Hi Nicole,
The important values to watch are the reticulocytes.
Dec 29 2016:
% Reticulocyte 0.7
Reticulocyte 37.1
Jan 10 2017
% Reticulocyte 1.4
Reticulocyte 65.8
Reticulocytes are the immature “new” cells that the bone marrow makes in response to the body cells “asking” for more oxygen. Anemia is really that, a shortage of O2 to the body cells followed by a complex series of events that should happen when the body sends out that SOS.
In our daily lives, we destroy old worn out blood cells and replace them on a daily basis. So reticulocytes are always in small quantities in our blood. They look a bit different than mature red blood cells, with a bluish “reticular” material inside the cells. They are also a bit larger in their juvenile state. In fact, to an automated analyzer they can almost appear to look the same as white blood cells. The vet must take this into account when viewing the CBC results.
So in a healthy human or dog, as we destroy and replace our old RBC, we maintain a very specific value for reticulocytes for our everyday needs. Those values are 60,000 absolute reticulocytes or approximately 1% if the total blood elements, give or take a bit either way. Any human or dog that has anemia and has a value less than these values has bone marrow that is not responding properly. The greater the anemia (measured by a value lower than 38% hematocrit or PCV and a lower than normal amount of hemoglobin inside the RBC), the greater the response must be by the bone marrow to be considered regenerative.
So compare a hematocrit of 37% and hemoglobin of 135 in Dec with a hematocrit of 35% and hemoglobin of 126 Jan 10, what do you see that is different? Yes, the hematocrit and hemoglobin are lower. That means that the RBC have slightly less capability of carrying the right amount of O2 to the body cells, but not by much.
Now compare the two values of reticulocytes, what do you see?
Dec 29 2016:
% Reticulocyte 0.7
Reticulocyte 37.1
Jan 10 2017
% Reticulocyte 1.4
Reticulocyte 65.8
Yes, you have seen that in Dec the bone marrow was not responding well to the need for O2 and the reticulocyte values are low, less than 60,000 and 1%. Those two values should have been higher. 37% is just a very tiny anemia, not much. But there still should have been a sufficient response to return the body to normal.
In Jan we see that the hematocrit is 35%, and the hemoglobin has dropped a bit. And bingo, you see that the bone marrow has responded and now the value is 65,800 and 1.4%. For mild anemia this is a very moderate response.
What would be important to watch is if this regenerative response continues at the next CBC. Remember that once the hematocrit reaches around 37 – 38% the body accepts that as normal and it will go back to only producing about 60,000, 1% reticuloyctes to replace old RBC. So don’t expect a massive response at this point, considering how small the anemia is.
One thing of importance to factor in is that the WBC seem to have risen from one test to the next and the number of red blood cells have dropped from 5.3 million to 4.7 million.
Dec
WBC 21.5
RBC 5.3
Jan
WBC 22.3
RBC 4.7
I think, (though your vet should also confirm), that this is an errant value and that these extra white blood cells are actually those big reticulocytes mimicking WBC. They can determine if this is true by running something called a differential, that details the WBC in more detail, in that they can usually figure out if the WBC are truly high or just reticulocytes.
Reticulocytes are in the blood a short time, only 3-5 days, before they drop the reticulated RNA, and mature into true RBC. So that test was 2 days ago and by the next time you do another CBC you will see different values, make sense?
The platelets are normal, which is always a good sign.
So we may want to begin to think about looking for something called anemia of chronic disease if these WBC values continue to remain highish, despite being on antibiotics. They would be a sign of something called an inflammatory condition, not really related to anemia, but perhaps a non responsive infection or a body organ that is “complaining” about the prednisone, first to come to mind is the pancreas and second is the liver.
Right now there is no danger, the anemia is so mild that it’s hardly worth the worry. I would like to see the PCV get up to 38% at least, but many dogs never get past 37% after these conditions, so not to worry. Are the gums nice and pink, is she acting like she feels better? Busy with the household, normal pottying, eating good? Those are the kinds of signs I look for and you are an expert at your own dog, the vet can’t come close to your ability to evaluate your dog!
Remember the body is always in a state of change, no single value really remains the same from day to day or even hour to hour, even in a healthy body. When we grab a CBC, it is a tiny momentary snap shot that is dependent on many things like when the last meal was, how hydrated your dog was, was your dog stressed out by the clinic, did the tech make some critical mistakes doing the blood draw and damage the sample, did the sample sit out too long and the blood changed for the worse? I wish I could say that every vet clinic has been careful about these things, but sadly that is not true.
So having a few CBC to compare will give a better idea of what is really happening. If you have questions, please ask,
my best, patrice
Hi Patrice,
Thank you so much for the detailed response. We contacted our vet today to go over the results with him, and what he told us was very similar to what you’ve said. We emailed him your response in order to talk about it more in depth when we go in for our next appointment.
Thanks again for the breakdown, it’s very helpful and I’ll definitely keep you all updated on what happens moving forward.
Wow Patrice .. your knowledge is amazing ! I remember the vet sharing this info. with us at the time all was happening but it faded so quickly with all we went through with Flossie .. so it’s nice to have a reminder lesson .. ! Thanks for all you do here at Second Chances and the help you have been to all of us !
Sara and Flossie !
Hi all,
Just wanted to update on Bean’s progress. We did another CBC yesterday (Jan 19) and here are the results.
WBC 18.7
RBC 5.6
Hemoglobin 135
Hematocrit 0.43
MCV 76.9
MCH 24.2
MCHC 314
RDW 17.7
Platelets 360
% Reticulocyte 2.0
Reticulocyte 112.0
So all in all it seems that she’s improving. We’ll be keeping her on all her meds for a bit longer, and then begin tapering prednisone if her next couple sets of results come in looking good.
Thanks everyone for your support, this forum has been so invaluable for our peace of mind! We’ll keep up the updates as we go.