my dog is a 12 year-old medium size schnauzer, he had his yearly lab work done a week ago and it shows that RBC, HGB, HCT are low, while the MCV, MCH are high and the MCHC is normal. WBC is normal. I was told he is anemic-- although he has appetite when I feed him something else but his dry food, and drinks/pees constantly. He has energy when going out, loves to run, but gets tired easily. I assumed that I saw him more sleepy as he is older. No vomiting and stools look good. Everything else is either negative or withing normal limits. I wonder if he is anemic as he is very picky to eat and sometimes we must hand-feed him, or maybe it is because of a chemical near the farm where we live.

Hello, Currently, I have a 10 pound miniature schnauzer, Winson, that has been on Apoquel for probably a year to treat itching. Last week, I took him in for a vet visit because he had been eating dirt for a couple of months and not acting himself (low energy) and losing weight. He was down to 9.1 pounds last week. His blood work showed an extremely low RBC count of 7. Everything else in his lab work was normal. I reminded the veterinarians that he takes Apoquel and they said there’s nothing in the literature to point to that being the cause of his severe anemia. He was started on prednisone and doxycycline (in case it may be tick bite related) and I discontinued the Apoquel. Exactly one week later, his RBC has only gone up to 10. He is otherwise presents normally… no vomiting, no breathing problems, he is eating, drinking, peeing and pooping normally. My question is this: in your experience, do you think his bone marrow (RBC only) has been suppressed by the Apoquel and by simply removing the drug, he should improve? There is discussion of him having Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia and that is the reason for the prednisone. As of right now, the vet is kind of stumped and is seeking a specialist to consult with. Thank you! -Maureen Heim

Are there any farm toxins that could cause a red cell line specific marrow suppression HgB 37, crit 112, normal WBC and platelets Well puppy, no infections or underlying disease found

Hi, My dog has been sick for over two months now. On December 30 I took him into the vet since he was acting weird. Had puked twice in 2 weeks and was acting very snappy with our other dog, just not himself. Check up was good until she checked his gums and realized there was an issue and took his blood. His platelets came back as 0 and his rbc was at 22. We took him to emergency and they got him stable and after a couple days we were able to take him home on the prednisone. After a week his levels were not improving so they added atopica (cyclosporine) to the mix. This boosted his platlets back to normal but he is still very anemic. We have been back with the internal medicine specialist and lowered his pred and atopica thinking they could be suppressing his rbc. We just had him in after a week and his rbc has actually dropped to 20. We have another appointment in a week but wondering if anyone has any ideas about what this could be? A lot of what I’ve seen for the bone marrow issues is a similar treatment to what he’s already on and I believe testing his bone marrow is the next step of his rbc doesn’t increase but if this doesn’t change his treatment I’m not sure what to do