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I just had the blood work done on my horse and it came back for the second year in a row that he is anemic. Low on red blood cells. He is wormed on a regular system. 3 months on three months off. He is grained every evening, has plenty of salt and minerals out for him. He is half draft and half quarter. 18 hands tall and weighs 1735. There is no signs of problems other than blood work and he is a little lazy. My vet says he looks great. What do I do... Would like a second opinion...
Optional Information: Type of Animal: Horse Gender: Male Age: 7 Name of Horse: Romeo Already Tried: Nothing. He had joint problems last year and we put him on Phenylbutazone for a short period. His back hock was seizing up. I put him on another dose of it for the last three week. His blood work was done last year before he was given the Phenylbutazone. His blood test are almost the same from both years..
Welcome to Just Answer! I'm Dr. Hinson and I'd like to help you with your question.Can you tell me what his hematocrit was on the labwork?What dose his diet consist of (type of grain and hay)?Any supplements?
I think you want his HCT, it is 27.8.
Yes I wanted the HCT (hematocrit). At 27.8% I'm not sure I would be too worried. It could be normal for him especially since it has been recorded at that level before. When we have those reference ranges on the lab work we use those as guidelines. Labortories make those normal ranges based on averages from a group of horses. There are definitely horses that can be lower or higher than the reference range and be normal.If your vet has not already done so, I would suggest having the laboratory look at a sample of his blood under the microscope to look at the morphology (size and shape) of the red blood cells and make sure that is normal. They should also be able to see if he has any red blood cell parasites.If that is normal there isn't much else you can do diagnostically other than doing a bone marrow aspirate. There could be a problem with his bone marrow not producing enough red blood cells. That is a pretty expensive/extensive/painful procedure and if he is otherwise normal I don't know if it would be warranted to do.The "laziness" you describe could be normal for him or he could be "lazy" from being anemic. Unfortunately, there is not a good way to tell the difference.You may want to try the supplement "Red Cell" to see if it helps his energy level. It provides support to red blood cells. Here is a link to it:http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16412I hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions!Dr. Hinson
Experience: 11+ years experience in the veterinary field. Former trainer of show and race horses.