Low White Blood Cell Count

2ManyPuppies

2ManyPuppies

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My 8 year old German Shepherd mix went to the doctor for blood work and it back back that his WBC count is 3.5. The doctor said normal is 5.5-17. They gave him an antibiotic and in 2 weeks his WBC count will be rechecked but I am freaking out! Has anyone here had an experience with anything like this? Other health stuff, he has bad allergies that he takes shots for and he seizures but he does not seizure frequently enough to need medicine.
 
corgipower

corgipower

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I hope it's nothing serious. :( There are infections that can cause a low white blood cell count, so hopefully the meds work and he's back to normal!
 
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Have you done any bloodwork in the past to compare it to? I only ask because my horse constantly carries a low WBC count; we went into panic mode a bit when we did bloodwork one time looking for a problem, until the vet got back to his computer and realized it had been the same the other two times we'd pulled blood over the years.

Now, I don't remember HOW low it was compared to normal, but it's something to check if you have bloodwork records from the past.

I hope everything comes up okay.
 
2ManyPuppies

2ManyPuppies

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BostonBanker said:
Have you done any bloodwork in the past to compare it to? I only ask because my horse constantly carries a low WBC count; we went into panic mode a bit when we did bloodwork one time looking for a problem, until the vet got back to his computer and realized it had been the same the other two times we'd pulled blood over the years.

Now, I don't remember HOW low it was compared to normal, but it's something to check if you have bloodwork records from the past.

I hope everything comes up okay.
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The vet looked at his last WBC count from May 2009. At that time he was normal but low normal. She told me that she has seen other animals who just seem to have a low WBC count and they can't really find a reason. I will have her look at previous counts too now. They took another count today after they got the 3.5 and the count went up a little. I'm really hoping he is normal in 2 weeks! This is driving me nuts.
 
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my aussie seems to carry low white blood cell counts and has been like this for years.

One thing I would test for are tick diseases, Jynx (aussie) tends to always come up positive for anaplasmosis(equii erhlichia), we treat, the numbers lower,
 
2ManyPuppies

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Jynx said:
my aussie seems to carry low white blood cell counts and has been like this for years.

One thing I would test for are tick diseases, Jynx (aussie) tends to always come up positive for anaplasmosis(equii erhlichia), we treat, the numbers lower,
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They tested for heartworms and tick diseases already and they came up negative. My vet said that her cat is like that and always carries a low WBC count for seemingly no reason. I am praying for that to be the case with my dog, too!
 
Amanda885

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I hope that the meds help out and raise it back up. Poor doggie! im sorry to hear. keep us posted on his health. i hope it improves!
 
2ManyPuppies

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Thanks a lot, everyone. I'll definitely update. It's nice to have a place where others understand how much our dogs mean to us.
 
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*edited by mod - you need to cite your sources*
 
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2ManyPuppies

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My dog went back to the vet and the count is still low. He is having a chest x-ray as we speak. The options are a bone marrow biopsy, which we will do in January and steroids for now (in case of auto-immune disease, I think) and anti-biotics. I don't know what to do for him. I'm totally crushed.
 
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The major role of the white blood cells is to defend the body against invading organisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.The WBC count will be lower than normal, if an animal has been weakened from a prolonged, debilitating disease and in some viral infections. But there is nothing to worry, wbc counts goes up automatically during the recovery. concentrate on your dog's diet. only diet would help him to recover faster than any one else.
 
adojrts

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ricky said:
The major role of the white blood cells is to defend the body against invading organisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.The WBC count will be lower than normal, if an animal has been weakened from a prolonged, debilitating disease and in some viral infections. But there is nothing to worry, wbc counts goes up automatically during the recovery. concentrate on your dog's diet. only diet would help him to recover faster than any one else.
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She does have cause to worry and it is smart of her to have her dog in the care of a Vet.
Diet wont change a bloody thing if it is a bone marrow failure related disease which can go hand in hand with an auto-immune disorder or be separate. If his counts have been low for a prolong period of time, doing a BMB is smart and should be the next step.

To the OP, how are his other counts? RBC's, Hemoglobin and Platlets? Have those counts ever been low or unstable?
Please keep us updated and I wish you and your dog well.
 
2ManyPuppies

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adojrts said:
She does have cause to worry and it is smart of her to have her dog in the care of a Vet.
Diet wont change a bloody thing if it is a bone marrow failure related disease which can go hand in hand with an auto-immune disorder or be separate. If his counts have been low for a prolong period of time, doing a BMB is smart and should be the next step.

To the OP, how are his other counts? RBC's, Hemoglobin and Platlets? Have those counts ever been low or unstable?
Please keep us updated and I wish you and your dog well.
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All other counts are normal. He is on prenisone for a week. Hopefully it will help. His WBCs will be counted again on 12/26. Before these tests, his WBC count was taken in May 09 and it was normal at that time. I am so worried about him.
 
2ManyPuppies

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Thanks, guys. I will know Saturday if the Prednisone is helping when they do yet another WBC count...poor guy! I'm trying to be hopeful though.
 
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