Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Clinical application of reticulocyte counts in dogs and cats.
- Journal:
- The Veterinary clinics of North America. Small animal practice
- Year:
- 2003
- Authors:
- Cowgill, Elizabeth S et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Population Health and Pathobiology · United States
Plain-English summary
Reticulocytes are young red blood cells that can help veterinarians understand how well a dog or cat is recovering from anemia, which is a condition where they have fewer red blood cells than normal. In cats, there are two types of reticulocytes, and the aggregate type is especially useful for checking how well the body is responding to anemia. Several things can affect how many reticulocytes are present, including when the test is done, any other health issues the pet might have, and the treatments they are receiving. While there are machines that can count reticulocytes, doing it by hand is still considered the best method in veterinary care. This information can help your veterinarian determine the best course of action for your pet's anemia treatment.
Abstract
Reticulocytes are anucleate immature red blood cells that contain a network of RNA, organelles, and mitochondria, which stain with supravital dyes. Both aggregate and punctate reticulocytes are present in domestic cats, and aggregate reticulocytes are used to assess the degree of regeneration in anemic dogs and cats. Multiple factors influence the degree of regenerative response to anemia. These factors include time of reticulocyte measurement, concurrent diseases, species, and ongoing therapy. Although many automated systems for reticulocyte enumeration exist, manual counts remain the gold standard in veterinary medicine.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14664196/