The American Beagler Forum

this one stumped me..i know ther are people on here smarter than me so here goes...i lost a pup to anemia now the kicker is this ...the only conclusion to this is low red blood cell count ...which was 12 acceptable is 37 i think the vet said..the pup had no ticks no fleas no parasites of anykind...checked for parvo twice negative...all the other major tests were negative...had its puppy shots on time...had an autopsy done everything was normal...gave the pup a blood transfusion..no change..the pup is twelve weeks old...i also had another pup same age different parents with the same thing..she made it after the blood transfusion..and some steroid injections...now has anyone ever seen anything like this before?????...i am completely stumped..also the pups were checked for poisoning as well negative...i would understand this if they were out of the same litter but they arent...anybody with any ideas i would sure like to hear them...thanks in advance for reading my post...

http://www.ivis.org/advances/Rebar/Chap ... r.asp?LA=1

Here is a site that can give you better information, and what it says is that sometimes vaccinations will cause this.

TC,
IVIS is a very good website!!! I use it regularly for my research for college.

Yellowdog,
Sorry for your loss

How many other pups do you currently have? Would be curious to know if it could be nutritional. They make a good product for boosting the system that targets the blood and organs. It's called canine red cell, you add a small amount to the food daily, giving the dog(s) strength and stamina. It is safe for ALL dogs (even pregnant, nursing and pups over 4 weeks).

Renee'

all my other dogs are healthy...just these two...

I'd be quick to blame the food if no parasites or other problems were found. Even if all the dogs were on the same diet, you could still have a pup or two that were not as thrifty as the others and needed more blood building nutrients.
The problem with some foods is that they skimp on the vitamin premix to keep costs down. Then you get diets that supply such minimum amounts of certain nutrients that a dog in anything but top grade health wouldn't thrive. Dogs certainly can have deficiencies on commercial food.
Another thing that may be be related to diet but can also be congenital or genetic is kidney disease. Its fairly common in Beagles though I've never seen it in a very young pup. I have, however seen it in dogs as young as 4 years old after eating a low quality high protein diet for much of their life. One of the telltale symptoms of advanced kidney disease is anemia.
Either way, a diet change may be in order ... may not, but it wouldn;t hurt to tweak diet and see if you notice a change in condition (the best way to check for anemia is not necessarily looking for pale gums ... if your dog always had pale gums you might not notice if anything was off. Press your finger on the dogs's gums and see how fast the blood rushes back. If it goes back immediately, they're fine, but if you see a white spot that gradually turns pinker until it gets back to normal color ... suspect anemia coming on).
A tablespoon (more if the dog is already anemic) of raw beef liver once or twice a week is a prevention and a cure for anemia.