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Feline anaemia 1. Clinical signs and investigation
Author(s) -
Ramsey Ian,
Gould Sara
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
in practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.211
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 2042-7689
pISSN - 0263-841X
DOI - 10.1136/inpract.21.8.411
Subject(s) - cats , medicine , liter , anemia , physiology , pediatrics , disease
ANAEMIA is a decrease in the number of erythrocytes, concentration of haemoglobin or haematocrit volume and, as such, should be regarded as a clinical sign rather than a disease. The haematocrit of normal adult cats is greater than 0‐25 litre/litre. Although normal kittens have lower numbers of erythrocytes and haemoglobin concentrations compared to adult cats their haematocrit is still rarely less than 0‐25 litre/litre. Anaemia is a common presentation in feline practice and is caused by many different underlying pathologica,l mechanisms. The aims of this article are to describe the clinical signs and discuss general principles in the investigation of feline anaemia. A second article, to be published in the next issue, will deal with the differential diagnoses of feline anaemia.