"low blood platelet count"

Wolvenmoon · 11-17-2009, 10:51 PM

So...long story short, my highly food motivated ( to a fault ) dog turned down cheese. She'd coughed up weekend before last in public ( First time EVER making a mess in public ) and it was just bile. Did so again earlier today, she turned down treats tonight and I started worrying.

So our second trip to the emergency vet ( coupled with her COVERING the back of the car ( which happened to be my little brother's...oops ) in puke the moment we put her in - validating our concerns ) ended with the vet giving her a shot to stop the vomiting, and an antibiotic.

She's had two hip replacements and has a disk on her neck that presses on her spine that we medically manage.

The vet said the blood test, everything was normal except her blood platelet ( spelling? ) count, which was low. He said that it was normally due to tick born illness, but could be something worse. She gets a checkup tomorrow morning. Our dog trainer said we should be worried.

So, how worried should I be? She's nine years old so...

It seems that every time I stop worrying about her something else happens. In fact, it was november 16th last year that we brought her in just as her neck went bad on her.

This has been a REALLY bad dog week...yesterday my puppy got ahold of pistachios that had been left out, and we found an odd growth on our border collie's leg ( which turned out to be due to an injury, it's been drained and taken care of as of today ), and now this.

We're going for a definite diagnosis in the morning, but they'll have to send it off to a lab to be tested.

GottaLuvMutts · 11-18-2009, 12:27 AM

I'm not a vet, so I couldn't tell you how serious this is, particularly without seeing your dog's platelet count as compared to normal. However, platelets are what makes blood clot, so you need to avoid injuries at all costs until this is resolved. Even a small cut could cause problems, depending on how low her counts are. I'm sorry you're going thru this right now.

Wolvenmoon · 11-18-2009, 07:47 AM

Thanks. I hope we caught it comparatively early and that something can be done about it, and that whatever it is it isn't serious.

It's almost funny...we rushed up there in 2008 exactly 366 days before we rushed up there yesterday.

My 21st is in 5 days. I'll at least be able to legally get a drink.

Vet sent off bloodwork, waiting to hear results.

Edit: Luckily she's fine now. What a ride.