Can antibiotics cause my pet's high blood count? Is he very ill?

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. We do not typically see prednisolone cause an elevation of white blood cells, as this is an corticosteroid which is anti-inflammatory at most doses, and even immunosuppressive at higher doses. Elevated white blood cell counts can be due to inflammation alone, such as that from irritable or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Long term use of steroids can cause liver damage, which may result in inflammation and increased white blood cell counts. Generally cats with IBD will have thickened intestines on an abdominal ultrasound, but this can be subtle and hard to detect without a veterinary radiologist performing the ultrasound. I hope this is helpful - best of luck managing Trixie's IBD!

This may be a good case to choose a Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach Consult as there are a lot of variables we would need to know to help you the most. Causes for low white cells could be severe, overwhelming infection, viral, or even something like cancer. Many medications would take longer than 5 hours to see a positive response, but it varies based on the presumptive diagnosis your vet has made and the particular medication. Some medications can be dual purpose and treat pain. There are many diagnostics I would recommend based Kent he bit of information you gave us, like other tick testing, blood chemistry, urinalysis, x-rays, ultrasound, fecal testing, etc.

With a white count that keeps getting higher despite antibiotics I would be concerned there is cancer hiding somewhere. An ultrasound would be my next test as it can look at the intestine, lymph nodes, liver and spleen. The spleen makes the red blood cells, and if it has a tumor then that can cause that count to drop. An immune disease can also cause a low red count.

It looks like sandy's white blood count is elevated which indicated her body is trying to fight off some type of infection or inflammation. I cannot read the bottom results. It also looks like your vet has written at the bottom that he is suspecting it might be ehrlichiosis. Ehrlichiosis is a tick born disease that can be treated with antibiotics. I would recommend to have her tested for that and treat accordingly. i hope this helps.

Hello, I am sorry to hear about Daisy. Based on the blood work abnormalities it is possible that Daisy has an infection secondary to tick borne disease or another organism. Many of these diseases cause destruction of the platelets. The white blood cells are part of the immune system and fight infection. It is possible that this value went up despite being on treatment secondary to fighting a severe infection. However, if Daisy is still not feeling well or these counts don’t improve it may be possible that Daisy’s platelets are low due to a different cause such as immune mediated disease. Your veterinarian can help assess for this kind of disease and determine if treatment is needed if Daisy’s blood counts do not improve or she is clinically ill. Hope this helps, good luck!

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. It sounds like infection. I would suggest 6-7 days of antibiotics treatment and then repeat the test. Alternatively, sending off blood for a smear evaluation will be a good option to differentiate infection from other (rare) causes of neutrophilia, like neoplasia and bone marrow diseases.

Hello, sorry to hear about Theo. This is really dependent on the type of infection. If the infection is responding well to antibiotics and her bone marrow is now starting to show evidence that it may be working, then you could likely hold off on obtaining a bone marrow biopsy after consulting it with your veterinarian. Alternatively, if the bone marrow is not responding adequately, or if an underlying cause for such a low WBC count is not able to be determined, then a bone marrow biopsy is likely the next best diagnostic step. Hope this helps and best of luck.