Selected serum biochemical and electrolyte findings of splenectomised dogs transfused with whole blood, Isoplasma® and Haemaccel®

Blood transfusion therapy is necessitated due to high amount of blood and fluid loss. Of recent, Veterinary hemotherapists have resorted to the use of haemaccel® and/or isoplasma® as whole blood substitutes in times of hemotherapy due to unavailability of whole blood or its components. However, there is dearth of information on their serum biochemical and electrolyte effects as reports emanating from their effects are that of human studies. Twelve healthy splenectomised Nigerian dogs were randomly assigned to 4 groups of 3 dogs each. Group A was untreated and served as control, group B received whole blood, group C received hemacccel®, group D received isoplasma®. On post-surgical days (psd)- 14 and 21, the mean total plasma protein (TPP) of dogs in groups B, C and D were significantly (p<0.05) higher than that of the control while for the sodium, the reverse was the case. The mean albumin of dogs in groups B, C and D were significantly (p<0.05) higher than that of the control on day psd-21 while the mean globulin of group B value was significantly (p<0.05) higher than groups A, C and D on psd-10 and 21. On psd-1, the mean creatinine of dogs in groups B, C, D were significantly (p<0.05) higher than that of group A while on psd-7, the reverse was the case. For the blood urea (BU) group B values were significantly (p<0.05) higher than other groups on psd-14. The findings of this work showed that the blood substitutes used benefited the animal as much as the whole blood but showed a better outcome than the control.Keywords: anaemia, blood, splenectomy, isoplasma®, hemaccel