Investigation of inflammatory blood parameters in dogs with demodicosis

INVESTIGATION OF INFLAMMATORY BLOOD PARAMETERS IN DOGS WITH DEMODICOSIS Önder A. Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Master's Thesis. Aydın, 2025. Objective: Demodicosis is a common inflammatory parasitic skin disease in dogs. This study aimed to investigate the possible clinical and diagnostic significance of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), mean erythrocyte distribution width (RDW), and mean platelet volume (MPV) obtained from Complete Blood Count (CBC) in dogs with demodicosis and to evaluate the relationship between the severity of the disease and these parameters. Materials and Methods: A total of 60 dogs, 20 healthy and 40 with demodicosis, were evaluated in the study. Dogs with demodicosis were first divided into localized and generalized groups, and then into localized noncomplicated (LNC), localized complicated (LC), generalized noncomplicated (GNC) and generalized complicated (GC) groups according to the presence of pyoderma. CBC was performed from blood samples taken from the dogs, and NLR, PLR, MLR, RDW and MPV values were determined, and C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations were measured from serum samples. Results: Median neutrophil count and NLR value in dogs with demodicosis were found to be significantly higher than in healthy dogs (p<0.05). Also, neutrophil count in dogs with localized demodicosis was significantly higher than in healthy dogs (p= 0.026). Serum CRP concentration in the GK group was significantly higher than in healthy (p= 0.026) and GNK (p=0.022) groups. In addition, a weak positive correlation was determined between serum CRP concentration and disease severity (rho = 0.354, p= 0.025). Conclusion: The NLR value of dogs with demodicosis was statistically significantly higher than healthy dogs. However, the diagnostic and clinical role of this elevation has not been determined. It was concluded that more comprehensive studies are needed to use NLR, PLR, MLR, RDW and MPV as inflammatory markers in dogs with demodicosis. Keywords: Biomarker, complete blood count, demodicosis, dog, inflammation