Red blood cell's osmotic fragility in dogs and cats affected with chronic kidney disease

Anaemia is a common finding in dogs and cats affected with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), and have a multifactorial pathogenesis, mainly depending on erythropoiesis inhibition (low calcitriol levels, bone marrow fibrosis and erythropoietin deficiency), increased RBC loss (inhibition of platelet aggregation), low erythrocyte life span (increased osmotic fragility). The aim of this preliminary study is to determine possible changes in RBC’s osmotic fragility (OF) in blood of dogs and cats affected with CKD compared with healthy subjects and to evaluate the possible correlation between OF and haematological parameters.