Minerals

Bone marrow iron scoring in healthy and clinically ill dogs with and without evidence of iron‐restricted erythropoiesis

“…Interestingly, this range is higher than what is normally reported in healthy people, where grades 1–3 are generally considered normal, and a grade of ≥4 typically indicates increased iron stores 27 . This species difference might be at least partially explained by the more standardized iron‐replete commercial diets given to most dogs compared to people, for whom iron intake can be variable due to non‐standardized diets and possibly inadequate intake or access to iron‐rich food 2,24,31 …”

“…Marrow iron scores ranged from 3 to 5 in a group of 28 adult dogs with no detectable hematologic abnormalities, which included 27 This species difference might be at least partially explained by the more standardized iron-replete commercial diets given to most dogs compared to people, for whom iron intake can be variable due to non-standardized diets and possibly inadequate intake or access to iron-rich food. 2,24,31 We also evaluated the clinical utility of combining marrow iron score interpretations with peripheral blood CHr measurements using two separate cut-offs for decreased marrow iron; <1 indicating severely decreased iron stores, and <3 indicating iron stores below the level seen in our dogs without detectable hematologic abnormalities. Regardless of which cut-off was used, dogs with decreased marrow iron scores in conjunction with decreased CHr values had significantly more hematologic and clinical evidence for absolute iron deficiency than dogs with only one of the values decreased.…”