Mild polycythemia associated with compulsive disorder in dogs¹

Canine compulsive disorder (CD) is a condition in which dogs display repetitive, exaggerated, or sustained behavior out of original context. It is believed to occur in dogs subjected to stressful situations resulting in conflict or frustration (Hewson and Luescher., 1996).

Among 63 dogs that were diagnosed with CD, 24% of the CD dogs were observed to have hematocrit values higher than the clinical pathology laboratory’s reference range. The average CD dog’s hematocrit (51%) was significantly higher than the normal average hematocrit (46%) from the reference range. The facts led us to construct two hypotheses to explain why dogs with CD had relatively high hematocrit values and almost one quarter of the CD dog population in the study had polycythemia. The first hypothesis is the stress hypothesis, which states that stress, conflict, and frustration lead to epinephrine secretion and compulsive behavior, with subsequent splenic contraction resulting in polycythemia. The second is the primary polycythemia hypothesis, which states that polycythemia results from primary pathologic processes such as cardiovascular disease or elevation of erythropoietin resulting from kidney problems, including neoplasia or bone marrow disease.

The study found that a large proportion of CD dogs observed had a mild elevation in hematocrit. This finding warrants further investigation to determine if it is a cause or an effect of CD in dogs.

Keywords:  compulsive disorder , polycythyemia , dog (canine) , anxiety , hematocrit (PCV)

• 1 Presented meeting: American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior Annual Scientific Meeting (Denver, CO, 2003)