Age: 10 years
Diagnosis: Benign Mass
Breed: Cocker Spaniel

Diagnosis: Benign Mass

Betsey came in for an annual dental cleaning, as she had done the year before. Prior to administering the anesthetics necessary for the procedure, a comprehensive blood panel was performed in-house to make sure she was in good health. Betsey's blood work revealed she had a low platelet count. Platelets are the cells that help form normal blood clots.

The dental cleaning procedure was postponed and a blood sample was sent to an outside reference laboratory, which confirmed that Betsey had an autoimmune disease called ITP (immune-mediated thrombocytopenia), a condition where an animal's immune system attacks and destroys its own platelets. This can lead to life-threatening internal bleeding. Betsey was immediately started on medications to prevent her immune system from destroying her own platelets.

​​​​​​​Today Betsey's platelet count is back to normal levels and she is doing great at home. If not for doing routine pre-anesthetic blood work, Betsey's disease would have gone untreated, with possible life-threatening complications.