Question About Platelets

[Guest paulamariez]

My Bueller had gotten a bad tooth infection and had to be put on antibiotics. The vet did a CBC and Chem Panel. All of Bueller's numbers came back in the normal range, except the vet felt that his platelets were too low. She thought maybe it was due to the infection and that we would recheck Bueller when he finished his meds. So we took him in last week for a recheck on the CBC and the platelet count came back about the same, about 96,000. Now from what I've learned the greyhounds "normal" platelet range starts at 80,000. I went into the vet armed with my greyhound paperwork, showing the blood test results for greys versus regular dogs. (she's like, "How do I know where you're getting these numbers from and are they accurate??") The vet basically said she felt the 80,000 count might be "normal" for a racing greyhound, but a retired one should have a higher platelet count. But she did feel that it might go up after Bueller gets his dental in two weeks, because he has an ongoing infection problem with a tooth that probably will get pulled. She thought the platelets would go up a bit after the infection is totally cleared up. I did question her on the possibility of ehrlichiosis and she said to wait and see what the platelet count is after the dental and then we'll revisit the possibility of testing Bueller for that if his platelets are still in the same range. I've had a total of five greyhounds through the years and never had come across this before. This is a relatively new vet we're seeing, since we moved about a year and a half ago. I'm wondering if someone out there has come across this before. I don't really know how concerned I should be. Bueller is acting fine and not showing any other symptoms and all of his other blood tests are in the normal range. The vet just feels that the number is a little on the low side and said that if Bueller were to start bleeding for some reason or another, the platelets are what clots the blood, the more he has the better. She said let's put it this way, if the count was like 15,000--he would die and wouldn't you rather his numbers were higher rather than closer to that 15,000 number?? I need a little input from some of you knowledgeable greyhound folk out there! Thanks a bunch!

 

Paula and Tiger, Bueller and Domino

[Burpdog]

I'd do a tick panel. May or may not show positive. With the ones I have under 150,000, I put them on doxy (my vets are on board with this) and see what happens in 4 weeks. If the numbers dramatically jump up, I leave them on doxy for 8 weeks. For instance, Huston went from 104 to 179,000.

[Guest mandm]

I've had 2 TBD greyhounds and both showed dropping platelets. So if his platelets stay steady at that number, I would not necessarily worry.

 

HOWEVER, my 2 TBD greyhounds were both Wisc. dogs. I know TBD is not very common in Wisc, but these greyhounds have been all over. And my experience makes me very careful about TBDs. So I would get a Tick Panel if I were you. Protatek is where I go. Make sure you test for Babesia Canis, even if your vet says it's not possible in Wisconsin. Babesia is not treated with Doxy, but with Imizol.

 

Except for platelets, it seemed that my TBD greyhounds showed normal on standard CBCs. Best bet is a tick panel.

 

Edited to add: I didn't really understand your vet's reaction to greyhound blood values. Does she know they are different and just wants to see a higher platelet count? Or was she unaware of differences? If she is unaware of differences, well, that would make me nervous.

Edited March 27, 2008 by mandm

[Batmom]

Might want to check as to whether that platelet count was an estimate from the CBC blood sample, or a more accurate count (requires a second, special tube of blood). You want the accurate count before making judgements about it.

[feemandvm]

Diane and I disagree on platelet counts. I'm not aware of any experts that believe that <150,000 platelet counts are abnormal in a Greyhound.

 

You can share this with your vet which should provide the answer to "How do I know where you're getting these numbers from and are they accurate??" (your vet should have access to the whole paper):

 

Platelet concentration and hemoglobin function in Greyhounds

J Am Vet Med Assoc 205[6]:838-841 Sep 15'94 Clinical Study 16 Refs

*Patrick S. Sullivan, DVM, PhD; Heather L. Evans, DVM; T. P. McDonald, PhD

*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of HIV/AIDS, 1600 Clifton Rd. Mailstop E-47. Atlanta. GA 30333.

Hematologic characteristics of 36 Greyhounds were studied and compared with characteristics of 22 non-Greyhound controls. Fourteen of the Greyhounds were tested and found to be seronegative for Ehrlichia canis and Babesia canis. Compared with the non-Greyhounds, Greyhounds had higher mean hemoglobin concentration, PCV, mean corpuscular volume, and mean cellular hemoglobin, and lower mean RBC count, hemoglobin P50 value, Hill coefficient, platelet count, and total plasma protein concentration. The lower mean hemoglobin P50 value in Greyhounds suggested that the higher mean hemoglobin concentration and PCV were not solely a result of selective breeding for superior racing abilities, but that Greyhound hemoglobin may have a greater affinity for oxygen than does the hemoglobin of non-Greyhounds.

 

If you read the results section in teh actual paper (not the abstract above) then you will find that all of the Greyhounds were tested and were negative for E. canis and B. canis and 19/36 Greyhounds tested had platelet counts ranging from 80,000-147,500. So 53% of these NORMAL Greyhounds had platelet counts less than 150,000.

 

For me personally... I'll do a TBD titer IF the count is <100,000 but will tell the owner it can be normal down to 80,000. Make sure there are no "clumped platelets" as this will artificially lower the true platelet count. A dropping platelet count as someone else noted would be cause for concern as well.