Anaplasma platys is related to the appearance of inclusion bodies in blood platelets;; however, this may be a nonspecific occurrence as there are nonparasitic inclusion bodies within these figured elements. Aiming to validate the morphological diagnosis for A platys, 101 dogs were selected due to the appearance of inclusion bodies, independently from suggestive parasites, which were submitted to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) carried out in 2 stages. The first stage consisted of the utilization of initialing sequences or specific primers for the detection of some species of the Anaplasmataceae family, such as: Ehrlichia canis, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, Ehrlichia muris, Ehrlichia ruminantium, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, A platys, Anaplasma marginale, Anaplasma centrale, Wolbachia pipientis, Neorickettsia sennetsu, Neorickettsia risticii, and Neorickettsia helminthoeca (PCR1). The second stage consisted of the utilization of specific primers for the detection of the species A platys(PCR2). Upon comparison of the results, 18.81% of the studied animals showed positive for PCR1. For PCR2, 15.84% of the studied animals had a positive result. In the morphological analysis of the inclusion bodies, 14.85% of the animals showed positive for A platys. The other inclusion bodies were considered as nonspecific, therefore negative. When compared to the morphological analysis, the results of the molecule analysis by means of the MacNemar test led to the conclusion that there was no significant difference between the tests, which indicates that blood smear analysis is a good alternative to A platys diagnosis. The possibility of PCR use has not been discarded, as this is a highly specific test. The chance of a falsenegative among the PCR-negative animals exists, since a reduced quantity of microorganisms may cause inflammation and the appearance of nonspecific inclusion bodies