Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Bacteremia on blood smear in emergency pets and survival chances
By Ford, Summer Scout et al.·Published in Frontiers in veterinary science·2025·Department of Emergency and Critical Care, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Bacteremia detected on peripheral blood smear in small animal patients presenting to the Emergency Department and its association with prognosis to discharge.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 16 pets, mostly cats, were brought to the emergency department with a serious condition called bacteremia, which means bacteria were found in their blood. Unfortunately, 75% of these animals did not survive their hospital stay. The study found that higher blood sugar levels were linked to a better chance of survival, but no other factors seemed to make a difference. This highlights how serious bacteremia can be in pets, and it suggests that more research is needed to understand how to help these patients better.
People also search for: cat blood infection symptoms · bacteremia in pets · high blood sugar in cats · emergency vet for sick cat
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Detection of bacteremia on peripheral blood smear (PBS) is rare and may be a poor prognostic indicator for small animal patients. This study aimed to determine the relationship between bacteremia on PBS and survival to discharge in clinically ill patients presenting through the Emergency Department (ED). METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed data from two veterinary tertiary care facilities from 2014 to 2024. Records from 16 client-owned animals presenting to the ED with PBS-detected bacteremia were reviewed. The primary outcome was survival to discharge. Secondary outcomes evaluated associations between survival in these patients with glucose level, leukocyte count, toxic change, band neutrophils, total bilirubin, blood pressure, and antibiotic use. Statistical comparisons between categorical data were made using Fisher's exact test. A-value of <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: In-hospital mortality of the 16 patients was 75% (12/16). Hyperglycemia was positively associated with survival ( = 0.0099). All survivors were cats. No other parameters showed statistical significance between survivors and non-survivors. CONCLUSION: PBS-detected bacteremia in clinically ill small animals was associated with a high in-hospital mortality in this study. Further investigation is warranted to better understand its clinical relevance and potential diagnostic utility.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40534780/