Chronic Anemia

Hey everyone. In February, my dog had his spleen removed and it came back as benign. He’s never had issues with his blood work. in May, we did blood work and it showed he was slightly anemic-he was a little more lethargic than normal. Fast forward to Sept 17, he stopped eating his food which is very unlike him-he has NEVER refused food, even after his surgery and when he had HGE. We did blood work again, and it showed he was still anemic. This vet recommended an iron supplement. He’s eating soft food, but no dry. the first BW was from May and the second is from the 17th. My question is, with lack of appetite and chronic anemia, is this concerning? My dog ate two treats at the vet on the 17th so they just brushed everything off.

Hello!   I'm sorry that you felt 'brushed off' by your vet and feel that it's always worth letting them know that you are unhappy with the outcome of the consultation, as a good relationship between yourself and them is important.  I do not know your vets' train of thought, but it sounds as though you would appreciate them sharing it with you.  Direction questions are useful for this, and I would try the following: 1) Are they surprised by the low RBC readings?  (yes, they are in the low range on the blood machine, but bear in mind that this is not a normal dog but one that has undergone a splenectomy - so a better question is, are those blood readings within their expectations for that patient?) 2) Does the anaemia account for a sudden lethargy and lack of appetite?  If not, what are they planning to do to find out the cause of this?  What else could it still be?  Is a referral necessary? I hope that this line of enquiry proves useful.  Please do let us know what happens in this interesting case.

Regarding the fact that your dog ate treats at the vets (eating nice food at the vets when stressed is always a different matter to eating normally at home), I hear that it is your perception that the vet therefore doesn't believe you about your dogs' reduced food consumption.  Is this true?  This is another good question for them.  perhaps asking them specifically whether they perceive a drop in appetite from X to Y as normal in this case, will help to get to the bottom of this perception.