Regenerative anemia identification in cats: Red blood cell indices or morphology, what to use?

Vet World Vol.17 July-2024 Article - 20

Research Article

Veterinary World, 17(7): 1591-1595

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.1591-1595

Ana Catarina da Silva Teixeira Fernandes¹, Daniela Maria Carneiro da Silva², Felisbina Luísa Queiroga^3,4,5, and Ana C. Silvestre-Ferreira^3,4,5

1. Department of Clinical Biology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, Vila Real, Portugal.
2. Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety (Segalab), Argivai, Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal.
3. Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, Vila Real, Portugal.
4. Animal and Veterinary Research Centre, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal.
5. Associate Laboratory for Animal and Veterinary Science (AL4AnimalS), Quinta de Prados, Vila Real, Portugal.

Background and Aim: Anemia, a clinical condition characterized by reduced erythrocytes, is often observed in cats. Regeneration indicates that the bone marrow can respond appropriately to anemia. The absolute reticulocyte count is the reference for differentiating regenerative and non-regenerative anemia, while red blood cell (RBC) indices and morphology provide supplementary information. This study aimed to identify anemia types and establish the most reliable RBC indices and morphology methods in agreement with the reference method.

Materials and Methods: One hundred forty-five cases of cat anemia were prospectively classified using two methods: RBC indices and RBC morphology, and subsequently compared with the absolute reticulocyte count.

Results: Based on RBC indices assessment, 27 cases (19%) exhibited regenerative anemia. Based on RBC morphology, 29 (20%) cases were identified as having regenerative anemia. Using the reticulocyte absolute count as a reference method, 34 (23.4%) cases of regenerative anemia were identified. The findings indicated that RBC indices and RBC morphology did not align in evaluating medullary regeneration and that there is a good degree of agreement between RBC morphology assessment and the reticulocyte absolute count in identifying regenerative anemias.

Conclusion: Blood smear analysis of RBC morphology was more dependable for classifying regenerative anemia than RBC indices. Further studies should be conducted with a larger number of animals and that allow the identification of the cause of anemia and the monitoring of the animal.

Keywords: anemia, cats, red blood cell indices, red blood cell morphology, reticulocyte.

How to cite this article: da Silva Teixeira Fernandes AC, da Silva DMC, Queiroga FL, and Silvestre-Ferreira AC (2024) Regenerative anemia identification in cats: Red blood cell indices or morphology, what to use? Veterinary World, 17(7): 1591-1595.

Received: 2024-01-09 Accepted: 2024-06-21 Published online: 2024-07-24

Corresponding author: Ana C. Silvestre-Ferreira E-mail: aferreir@utad.pt

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.1591-1595

Copyright: Fernandes, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.