Biochemical factors affecting newborn survival in dogs and cats

The importance and implications of small animal neonatology were underestimated until recent times. Despite the recent increasing interest for this branch of veterinary medicine, however, perinatal mor-tality rates in canine and feline species remain high, representing an important challenge for the clini-cian. In this perspective, the prompt identification of newborns requiring additional and tailored assistance becomes a key to reduce the perinatal losses in small animals.To achieve this goal, clinical and laboratory findings must be carefully evaluated. This paper focuses on biochemical parameters and their reported influence on neonatal survival, guiding through the evalu-ation of canine and feline newborn laboratory analyses, with a thorough discussion about the use of different biological material in these subjects.Beside blood, other biological material, such as urines and fetal fluids proved to be interesting for the identification of possible prognostic markers, thanks also to their easy and safe collection. However, the correct reading-through the results must consider many variables such as type of delivery, anesthesia protocol in case of Caesarean section, age of the newborn at samples collection, and for blood analysis, also the type of blood, site of collection, modality of collection and storage must be considered.Notwithstanding the recent progress in literature, for most of the parameters more research is needed to define cut-off values with certainty.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The importance and implications of small animal neonatology have been underestimated until recently. Despite the growing interest in this field of veterinary medicine, perinatal mortality rates in dogs and cats remain high, posing a significant challenge for clinicians. Prompt identification of newborns requiring additional assistance is crucial in reducing perinatal losses. This paper focuses on evaluating biochemical parameters, including blood, urine, and fetal fluid, for their influence on neonatal survival and discusses the variables that should be considered when interpreting the results.