CKC has petechae and very very low platelets

[medwriter]

while I know that low platelets are normal in Cavs, the vet noticed petachae (pinpoint hemorrhages) in his mouth when I brought him in for a vaccine; she didn't give him the vaccine, and drew blood; she sent it to a special pathologist who confirmed that even for a Cav his platelets are abnormally low (17,000 vs the 36,000 they were last time he had dental work,a bout 5 months ago). He is 10; no other symptoms, eating fine, happy, etc. . .

She's having the lab run a series for tick diseases, but in the meantime put him on doxycycline and a whopping dose of prednisone.

Has anyone else had a Cav whose low blood counts became a problem??

Deb

[Karlin]

All I know is that if they have done a hand count and still confirmed the count is low, then this can possibly be serious, but I have never heard of a cavalier that actually had low platelets where it wasn't a miscount due to a mechanical rather than hand count so can't offer any suggestions -- it must be fairly rare (though I understand there are a whole range of reasons the count could be low). I'm glad your dog is doing well anyway -- what does the vet think?

As an aside, not sure what vax you were in for, but current thought is that a dog would really not need a general vaccine any longer at age 10 -- all the current vet school protocols are for vaccinations every three years with many recommending dogs and cats do not need further vaccination once they reach age 7-8 or so. There's very good evidence that they have lifelong immunity by old age.

See: http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/vmth/cli...ccinproto.html

[PennyLane]

Rabies is still every three years though, even at 10 eh?

[Karlin]

Rabies may be every year depending on your local requirements. We do not give rabies at all in the UK/Ireland as we don't have rabies in these countries so it isn't an issue.

A good point to reiterate; as noted above I am only talking about the general, core vaccines, not the others.

Let's leave the focus of this thread with the poster's original question -- and a vaccination discussion can be started in a separate thread if desired.

[Cathy Moon]

Geordie's low platelet count has not become a problem. Last time he was at Ohio State University for the PSOM study, his platelet hand-count was very low, but was determined to be adequate since he has no symptoms or health problems related to the low count. I'm looking at the CBC paperwork, and they hand counted 1 platelet!! He is nearly 5 years old.

[Crittercall]

I would insure that the platelet count was done by hand. A lot of the time the problem isn't so much that the platelet count is low, rather that the platelets are large and the machines miss them.

I don't know about the petachae (I've never known how to spell that word!); Wallis had platelet issues but not that. She was tested for erhlicia but was negative, and even though she had a handful of problems the blood issues didn't seem to make them worse.

Good luck. I'm glad your baby is feeling so well at 10.

[timclayton]

while I know that low platelets are normal in Cavs, the vet noticed petachae (pinpoint hemorrhages) in his mouth when I brought him in for a vaccine; she didn't give him the vaccine, and drew blood; she sent it to a special pathologist who confirmed that even for a Cav his platelets are abnormally low (17,000 vs the 36,000 they were last time he had dental work,a bout 5 months ago). He is 10; no other symptoms, eating fine, happy, etc. . .

She's having the lab run a series for tick diseases, but in the meantime put him on doxycycline and a whopping dose of prednisone.

Has anyone else had a Cav whose low blood counts became a problem??

Deb

I'm a newby to this site, my little cavalier puppy is now 6 and 1/2 months and absolutely brilliant. I am a doctor not a vet but this problem sounds like ITP, which is often post viral and usually self limiting.

[Cathy Moon]

As many as 30% to 50% of all cavaliers have low platelet counts and/or large platelets, which requires no treatment. We printed information and gave it to our vet to keep in Geordie's medical records.

Here is more information:
http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/clerk/carriere/index.php

http://www.ackcsccharitabletrust.org.../platelets.htm

http://www.cavalierhealth.org/platelets.htm