[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by Sunnie

Something occured to me in looking at the above quote from Rainbow's bloodwork. I have been doing so much research to try to understand what is going on. I had no idea what hemolysis is so I did some searches and let me say what I THINK it is saying. From what I read hemolysis is something that happens to the blood (some kind of damage) as a result of either too much pressure from the syringe while transferring the blood to the tube, or too much suction when drawing the blood, or something to that effect. Basically what I think it is saying is that the sample was not properly taken or possibly not handled properly and that caused the red blood cells to burst. I THINK what that comment is saying is that hemolysis DID occur (1+) and that it is effecting the results. Am I way off base here? I hope Michelle (MyFairLacey) reads this... Maybe she knows what it is saying.

also could this be why the vet suggested waiting and re-doing the test in 4-6 weeks?

Hemolysis is rupture of the red blood cells. It can either be happening in the body (some diseases cause this) or it could have been caused when collecting the blood. When you draw blood and transfer it to a tube, you never want to press on the syringe..but you have to just let the blood flow out naturally. Otherwise it exerts too much pressure and breaks the cells. I'm not sure about how much impact it has on the results though...I haven't learned about that yet. I would call the vet if I were you and ask about it.