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My puppy is lethargic with low blood counts. What should I do?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Male | unneutered | 1 month and 17 days old | 5.3 lbs

my puppies blood reports just came as he was very sick. hemoglobin is only 5 and the platelets are just 80,000. our vet has only given us some more homeopathic meds and says he'll be fine. he's right now very lethargic, not even wanting to move. what according to you should be done for him and if the needed treatment is given properly, will he survive? he's eating and drinking well but had a little diarrhoeal poop. no vimiting

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Ann Dion, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on December 9th, 2018

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I would recommend a visit with a vet. It sounds like your puppy needs intensive care, IV fluids, possibly glucose supplementation. If he is eating and drinking and not vomiting, these are good signs, however if he is very lethargic and not moving that is concerning. To tell what is going on, what treatment to perform and prognosis, he needs more tests to determine what the cause of his illness is, so I cannot give any more specific answers. You can try posting your question again with blood results (picture of the results) along with any other information (temperature, heart rate, gum colour, how long he has been sick for, etc.). We might be able to better help you with that. Best of luck with Luffy!

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    Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on May 31st, 2019

    Jacky is experiencing very general symptoms of disease, these symptoms could fit almost any internal condition, maybe he is suffering from nausea due to a gastrointestinal disease and maybe he is in pain, from the symptoms described it's very hard to know. i would recommend taking him to the vet as soon as possible in order to get him checked, if he doesn't show any other obvious symptoms during the examination, a blood test and possibly an ultrasound will be needed in order to try and find out what is wrong with him.

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here are the blood reports of my puppy.my puppies blood reports just came as he was very sick. hemoglobin is only 5 and the platelets are just 80,000. our vet has only given us some more homeopathic meds and says he'll be fine. he's right now very l
I would suspect a tick bone parasite that is causing the abnormally low platelets and poor oxygen carrying capacity of his red blood cells (low Hgb). We can't predict survival based on just bloodwork results and no other confirmatory tests as to what blood parasite he may be infected with unfortunately. However, there are only a handful of blood parasites that have a poor prognosis. Also other causes of both anemia and thrombocytopenia, are an immune mediated disorder, which is not common in pets this young. At any rate, I would start with Doxycycline antibiotics for treatment as well as steroid therapy and cautious fluid therapy. Ask your vet about this possible treatment course and also consider a blood transfusion due to his severe anemia (low RBC count). I hope that your puppy survives this ordeal. Best of luck to you both! Take care.
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