Lethargy is a frequent and important clinical feature of anaemia; however, it does not absolutely correlate with the severity of anaemia. Manganese is efficiently absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract via divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1), which is also responsible for iron transport. DMT1 is upregulated in iron deficiency (ID). Increased manganese concentrations are reported in ID anaemia (IDA) in various species. Manganese is neurotoxic and therefore may contribute to lethargy observed in some anaemic patients. In addition, anaemia and ID are common in human inflammatory bowel disease. Little is known about how anaemia influences manganese metabolism in veterinary patients and how common is anaemia in dogs with chronic enteropathy (CE). If elevated manganese concentrations are found, then potentially neurotoxicity may be contributing to morbidity in these cases. The objectives of this study were to investigate the hypothesis that whole blood manganese concentrations would be increased in dogs with anaemia, particularly in dogs with confirmed IDA, and that anaemia would be common in canine CE. Medical records from 2012-2016 were reviewed for dogs with CE that were anaemic, as well as dogs with confirmed IDA, where a sample suitable for manganese analysis was held in an archive. Manganese concentration was measured in whole blood from: 11 anaemic dogs with CE, 6 dogs with IDA, 9 non-anaemic ill controls, and 12 healthy controls. MannWhitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests with post-test Dunn's multiple comparisons tests were performed, with P<0.05 considered significant. The prevalence of anaemia in canine CE was 20.6% (33/160). Manganese concentrations were significantly different between all groups (P=0.0001) and higher in non-anaemic than anaemic dogs (P=0.0078). Manganese concentrations were also higher in healthy compared to ill controls (P<0.0001), anaemic dogs with CE (P=0.0056) and to dogs with IDA (P=0.0001). No differences were observed between anaemic dogs with CE, IDA and ill controls. Although anaemia was frequently observed in canine CE, the hypothesis that dogs with anaemia would have increased manganese concentrations, possibly contributing to a lethargic state was not supported. Further research is warranted to understand the influence of anaemia on whole blood manganese.

Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh, UK OBJECTIVESTo evaluate the utility of smartphone images in extrapolating a patient's PCV. METHODSSamples were obtained using canine EDTA blood surplus after clinical testing. A single drop was placed on filter paper, using a standard plastic pipette, and left for 30 seconds. The paper was then placed in a box with a standardized light source, and photographed with an I Phone 6S. Four images were taken. Each sample also had concurrent manual PCV measurement performed according to WHO guidelines. Colour intensity was measured using Image J in the largest homogenous area of the drop, the mean value from the four images was recorded. A scatter plot was generated using the obtained data, plotting the actual PCV against the average colour intensity. An additional ten samples were then evaluated with their colour intensity value inserted into the equation of the line generated, using the line of best fit. RESULTSSixty samples were used to generate the plot. This yielded a R 2 value of 0.9037. For the 10 samples, the mean difference between the predicted and actual PCV was −3.6%. When these 10 samples were added to the data set the R 2 remained at 0.9037. STATEMENTThis technique showed an excellent correlation with the patient's PCV. If this technique can be further automated to be performed all within the smartphone, this would be of great use, particularly in low resource settings.