Table 2. Results of the backward elimination

ACVIM MMVD stage	Variables selected as a result of backward elimination	AIC as a result of backward elimination
B1	Seg_no, RBC, Hct, Hemoglobin, MCV, MCHC, platelet, PCT, RDW, albumin, ALP, creatinine, heart murmur, MR flow	121.34
B2	WBC, Mono_per, Lympho_per, Seg_per, Eosinophil_per, Mono_no, Lympho_no, Seg_no, Eosinophil_no, RBC, hemoglobin, MCV, MCH, MCHC, RDW, total protein, albumin, creatinine, K, heart murmur, LA/Ao, LVIDDN	98.12

ACVIM, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine; MMVD, myxomatous mitral valve disease; AIC, Akaike information criterion; Seg_no, segmented neutrophil count; RBC, red blood cells; Hct, hematocrit; MCV, mean corpuscular volume; MCHC, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; PCT, plateletcrit; RDW, red blood cell distribution width; ALP, alkaline phosphatase; MR flow, mitral regurgitation flow; WBC, white blood cells; Mono_per, monocyte percentage; Lympho_per, lymphocyte percentage; Seg_per, segmented neutrophil percentage; Eosinophil_per, eosinophil percentage; Mono_no, monocyte count; Lympho_no, lymphocyte count; Eosinophil_no, eosinophil count; MCH, mean corpuscular hemoglobin; K, potassium; LA/Ao, left atrium to aorta ratio; LVIDDN, left ventricular end‐diastolic internal diameter normalized for body weight.