Clinical Approach to the Anemic Reptile

Anemia is a relatively common blood disorder but a seemingly underreported and investigated condition in reptiles. Better characterization of anemia in the sick reptile could help determine which available diagnostic tools could be best utilized to determine the cause of low red blood cell counts in these animals. There are, however, a number of limitations that exist when trying to interpret hematologic data for the large number of reptilian species presented to the exotic animal practitioner, including interspecific and intraspecific variation in hematological reference values, limited availability to specific reagents, and a lack of scientific-based studies that focus on anemic conditions in reptiles. Therefore, better documentation and consistency in the scientific-based studies of reptile anemia and rapid dissemination of this information are considered necessary to increase our knowledge in this area of reptile medicine. Collaborative research efforts between practitioners, owners, reptile collection curators, pathologists, immunologists, microbiologists, toxicologists, and laboratory scientists are urgently needed to augment our understanding of anemia and other hematological disorders in reptiles.