Does Your Dog Have DEPOH?

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244 – October, 2026

By Caroline Coile

It was a simple neuter, and the dog seemed to recover as readily as any other dog. Two days later, his scrotum was the size of a softball, filled with blood. Four days later, he died from uncontrollable blood loss. What happened?

Dogs normally form blood clots after bleeding, and those clots remain for days until dissolving as the wound heals. Normal SERPINF2 genes make a protein called alpha-2 antiplasmin that is critical for preventing the premature breakdown of blood clots (hyperfibrinolysis). But in dogs with abnormal SERPINF2 genes, the protein does not adequately prevent the clot from dissolving, so the wound starts bleeding within a few days following surgery or trauma—although excessive bleeding can start even sooner. Left unchecked, the dog can bleed to death.

First noticed in racing Greyhounds, delayed postoperative hemorrhage (DEPOH) occurs several days after surgery or trauma in dogs that are homozygous for a mutation in the SERPINF2 gene.

DEPOH is characterized by excessive bleeding a few hours to a few days after surgery or even minor trauma. It may present as bruising or pooling beneath the skin, internal bleeding, or oozing from an incision.

It is not to be confused with other bleeding disorders. Dogs with DEPOH form normal blood clots, but the clots break down prematurely. Routine tests for other clotting disorders are negative. Primary and secondary hemostatic defects are generally normal. PT / aPTT times, platelet counts, and von Willebrand factor concentration are normal. However, increased fibrinolysis may be detected using a (modified) thromboelastography (TEG) assay.

The variant causing DEPOH is inherited as a dominant gene with incomplete penetrance, so dogs are either clear (no copies of the mutation) or affected (one or two copies of the gene).

What Breeds are at Risk?

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244 – October, 2026

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