TREATMENT OF BLEEDING DISORDERS

In any clinical setting, hemorrhage is a very common clinical problem in dogs and less so in cats. Depending on the (internal or external) site, acuteness, and degree of bleeding, dogs may have overt signs of hemorrhage, show specific organ failure (e.g. thoracic hemorrhage, hemoabdomen), and/or signs related to the systemic effects of hypovolemia, anemia and/or hypoproteinemia. Differentiating between normal and abnormal hemostasis by clinical and laboratory assessment is crucial; dogs with a bleeding tendency often exhibit recurrent and/or multiple sites of hemorrhage. Similarly, differentiating between primary (thrombocytopenia, -pathias, von Willebrand’s disease, vasculopathies) and secondary (hereditary and acquired coagulopathies) hemostatic defects is important to choose the correct therapy. It should be noted that many tests can be used in an emergency setting and may also be applied to monitor the response to treatment and course of the underlying disease. […]