Dog Owner's Guide: Canine Blood Chemistry Elements

Here's a brief Dog Owner's Guide on Canine Blood Chemistry

I am sure you have read out my post on CANINE BLOOD PRESSURE thoroughly. This post is all about the components of blood in dogs and some important blood tests for dogs. Just keep in mind that the chemistry of blood in dogs may vary to a little extent from these ranges according to dogs’ age, state of dogs’ health, dogs’ lifestyle, food habits, and even sometimes the breed. These are just an approximate overview of the normal values for blood chemistry elements in canines that may come come to help as a Dog Owners' Guide. These values can differ a bit from what your vet has mentioned.

Approximate normal values for blood chemistry in dogs:

• Glucose: 67 - 125 mg/dL
• ALT: 15 - 84 U/L
• Total Bilirubin: 0.0 - 0.4 mg/dL
• Total Protein: 5.2 - 7.8 gm/dL
• Urea Nitrogen: 9 - 27 mg/dL
• Phosphorous: 2.6 - 6.8 mg/dL
• Sodium: 140 - 153 mmol/L
• Chloride: 106 - 118 mmol/L
• LDH (Lactate dehydrogenase): 10 - 273 U/L
• Magnesium: 1.5 - 2.7 mg/dL
• Lipase: 200 - 700 U/L
• T4 (Thyroxine): 1.0 - 4.7 ug/dL

Haematology study in dogs:

The study of haematology in dos shows the counts of the canine blood cells along with the measurement of their shapes and sizes. The study showed that particularly Deerhounds (and also Greyhounds) usually have very high number of red blood cells (RBC) per unit volume of blood. Most interestingly, the red blood cells (RBC) are comparatively smaller than most of the other dog breeds that are existing today.

Approximate normal values Derived from the study on canine Haematology:

• Red Blood Cell Count (RBC): 5.5 - 8.5 X 100,000/L
• White Blood Cell Count (WBC): 6.0 - 17 x 1000/L
• Mean Corpustular Hemaglobin (MCH): 19.5 - 25.5 pg
• Red Cell Distribution Width (RDW) : 14 - 19 percent
• Hematocrit: 37 % - 55 %
• HgB (Hemoglobin) g/L: 120-180
• Reticulocytes: 0-1.5%
• Segs (x1000/ul): 3.6-11.5
• Bands x1000/ul: 0.0-0.3
• Lymphocytes (x1000/ul): 1.0-4.8
• Monocytes (x1000/ul): 0.15-1.35
• Eosinophils (x1000/ul): 0.01-1.25
• Platelets (x100000/ul): 2-9

In order to determine the actual values of the blood chemistry elements in your dogs, you need to go for the following tests…

General Metabolism Test

• GLU (Glucose)
• LDH (Lactate dehydrogenase)
• CPK (Creatine phosphokinase)

Kidney Function Test

• BUN (Blood Urea Nitrogen)
• CREAT (Creatinine)

Electrolytes Test

• Na (Sodium)
• K (Potassium)
• Cl (Chloride)
• CA (Calcium)
• PHOS (Phosphorus)

Liver Function Test

• ALP (Alkaline phosphatase)
• ALB (Albumin)
• GGT (Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase)
• SGPT (Serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase
• TP (Total Protein)
• CHOL (Cholesterol)
• GLOB (Globulin)
• TBILI (Total Bilirubin)

Thyroid Test

• T3 (Triiodothyronine)
• T4 (Thyroxine)

Pancreas Test

• AMY (Amylase)
• LIP (Lipase)