| Sumario: | Hemoparasitoses are vector-borne infections of clinical relevance in dogs. This retrospective study evaluated medical records of dogs with PCR requests between August 2021 and March 2024 (n = 853 records analyzed) at the Veterinary Hospital of UFMS, in Campo Grande/MS. Among the 1,042 dogs clinically suspected of infection during the period, 385 (21.1%) were confirmed by molecular diagnosis for at least one of the investigated agents. Molecular analysis revealed the occurrence of Ehrlichia canis (303 positive samples), Babesia canis (64), Anaplasma platys (18), and Hepatozoon canis (1), including cases of coinfection. Clinically, most PCR-positive animals were asymptomatic (63.7%); among symptomatic dogs, pale mucous membranes, cachexia, and fever were the most frequent findings. Hematological abnormalities included thrombocytopenia (observed in more than 70% of positive cases) and anemia in a large proportion of animals. Statistical analysis showed a significant association between pale mucous membranes (p = 0.0009) and increased platelet distribution width (PDW) (p = 0.0108) with the presence of clinical signs in ehrlichiosis, while other laboratory parameters showed low specificity in 46 discriminating symptomatic cases. Despite the frequent clinical and hematological abnormalities, clinical suspicion alone did not always correspond to PCR-confirmed infection. The findings highlight the importance of molecular confirmation to guide therapeutic decisions, the standardization of clinical records, and the expansion of molecular diagnostic panels in routine practice.
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