Case description
Physical examination of the dog revealed mild tachycardia
(132 beats/min), moderate tachypnea (40 breaths/min), and
tacky mucous membranes. The cranial abdomen was tense
and painful on palpation. Right lateral abdominal radiography
revealed loss of serosal detail throughout the abdomen. A complete
blood cell count performed in-house (Vet ABC Animal
Blood Analyzer; Heska, Loveland, Colorado, USA) revealed
a mildly increased hemoglobin concentration [190 g/L; reference
interval (RI): 119 to 180 g/L] and hematocrit (0.58 L/L;
RI: 0.37 to 0.55 L/L). There were decreased numbers of lymphocytes
(0.8 3 109/L; RI: 1.2 to 4.5 3 109/L) and monocytes
(0.2 3 109/L; RI: 0.3 to 1 3 109/L). All other parameters were
within the normal range. Biochemistry (Abaxis VetScan VS2;
Abaxis North America, Union City, California, USA) indicated
a mild increase in alanine transaminase activity (172 U/L;
RI: 10 to 118 U/L).