Coombs', haemoplasma and retrovirus testing in feline anaemia INTRODUCTIONAnaemia is commonly encountered in feline practice and arises due to many different causes (Weingart and others 2004). One cause of anaemia is haemolysis following the binding of antibody and/or complement molecules to the surface of erythrocytes (Switzer and Jain 1981). In cats, such immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA) is often secondary to an underlying cause such as haemoplasma infection, feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) infection, feline immunodefi ciency virus (FIV) infection, feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), neoplasia (e.g. lymphoproliferative or myeloproliferative disorders), administration of drugs such as propylthiouracil or methimazole, systemic lupus erythematosus, glomerulonephritis, neonatal isoerythrolysis or incompatible blood transfusions (Scott and others 1973, Peterson and others 1984, Werner and Gorman 1984, Zulty and Kociba 1990, Day 1996, Person and others 1997, Bucheler 1999

Testing of anaemic dogs with polyvalent Coombs' reagent at 37 degrees C was less sensitive than testing with monovalent reagents at 4 and 37 degrees C. The pattern of Coombs' test reactivity differed significantly between dogs with primary immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia and those with concurrent/underlying disease.