[Hemophilia A in the dog: symptoms, blood coagulation analysis and treatment]

In our patients, haemophilia A was observed in German shepherd dogs and Siberian huskies. Frequently occurring clinical symptoms were excessive bleeding from the gums, when getting adult teeth, and haematomas in the regions of the proximal hindleg, the knee joint as well as the chest or abdominal wall, respectively. The activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) as a screening test of the intrinsic coagulation system reflects sensitively also a mildly reduced factor VIII:C activity which may be present for example during substitution therapy. Therefore, the aPTT is well suited for screening for haemophilia A. In haemophilic dogs suffering from hypovolaemic shock due to a considerable acute blood loss, besides the aPTT also the prothrombin time and partly the platelet number were beyond the respective reference range due to loss and consumption of coagulation factors and thrombocytes. For substitution therapy, fresh frozen plasma was used in the first line. Administered at a dose of 15 or 20 ml/kg BW, it caused an increase of factor VIII:C activity by 20 or 33%, respectively. 24 hours after the end of infusion the mean of the remaining activity increase in comparison with the value measured immediately after substitution was 27%. The fast, biphasic elimination of factor VIII:C in some cases required a repeated application until clinical recovery. Desmopressin acetate given at a dose of 1 microgram/kg KGW intravenously or subcutaneously to two dogs each did not cause a distinct increase of the factor VIII:C activity, and is, therefore, not an efficacious supplementary therapy to substitution therapy in haemophilic dogs.