Early studies on the effects of starvation in dogs were conducted in controlled laboratory environments, and food was purposely and systematically withheld by the investigators. There is a paucity of published information in the current veterinary literature about intentionally starved animals. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) HLE officers are New York State Peace officers with the authority to investigate animal cruelty, seize abused animals, and make arrests to prosecute animal abusers. Intentional starvation is a common form of animal abuse, and emaciated body condition was one of the most common reasons for a Humane Law Enforcement (HLE) officer to seize dogs in New York, NY during the time period studied. Although there was some evidence that dogs with anemia and/or hypoalbuminemia required more days to gain weight, future studies are required for confirmation. Mean time to gain 20% of admission body weight was similar for the abnormalities studied. The most common initial abnormalities, present in ≥ 25% of dogs, were hypoalbuminemia, thrombocytosis, anemia, elevated blood urea nitrogen (BUN), elevated BUN/creatinine ratio, and hypocalcemia. An initial minimum database was obtained on each animal, and when possible, clinicopathologic abnormalities were serially assessed. Dogs were classified as emaciated if the admission body weight was estimated to be ≥ 30% below the anticipated ideal body weight and classified as very underweight if the admission weight was estimated to be 20–29% below the anticipated ideal body weight. Records of 152 very underweight or emaciated dogs seized by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Humane Law Enforcement (HLE) division were reviewed. The objectives of this retrospective study were to identify the most common clinicopathologic abnormalities in starved dogs, assess the time required for those abnormalities to resolve, and determine whether clinicopathologic abnormalities recorded at time of intake to the hospital influenced time to regain weight.
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