Abstract

Although animals have adaptation abilities to different environmental conditions, various physiological changes may occur. The present research aimed to evaluate the effects of severe winter conditions on hematological and biochemical parameters in dogs kept outside all year. The research was carried out in the province of Kars, which is known for its severe cold conditions in Türkiye. Vital signs, hematological, and biochemical parameters of 12 adult dogs aged 1–8 years old (mixed breed, 8 males and 4 females) included in the study were compared in winter and summer seasons. The results indicated a significant effect of the winter season on the body temperature, respiration, and pulse rate of the dogs. In addition, it was observed that some hematological, including White blood cell (WBC), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) Hemoglobin (HB), and biochemical parameters (urea, TP, albumin, cholesterol, glucose, creatinine) of dogs differed in winter from those in summer. It should be considered that the vital values of dogs living outdoors in intense winter differed from those in mild winter or summer. It is also concluded that veterinarians should consider these differences in routine clinical examinations of these animals. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2024