My dog has low WBC on bloodwork. Should I be worried if she's normal?

In looking at the bloodwork you attached, I would not be concerned about the total White Blood Cell value being slightly lower than normal. After the total WBC value, the bloodwork breaks it down into individual white blood cells, like neutrophils and lymphocytes, none of which are too low. In fact, neutrophils, the body's first responders to infection or inflammation, are a little higher than the normal range. White blood cells are the fighters of the immune system, and it appears that Mary still has plenty in case she needs them. There is nothing you can do raise them other than keep her in good health. However, I do see that both BUN and Creatinine are also elevated. This can happen for many reasons, including severe dehydration, kidney insufficiency or failure, kidney infection, among others. These are the more concerning numbers that I see, and I am sure your vet has discussed a plan of action for these values.

Sure thing. All values appear to be within normal limits. There are some suspected nucleated rbc's, but this doesn't really mean much since all over values are normal. Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and If you have further questions or would like to go over your pets case more in detail feel free to repost with additional information (i.e. symptoms) about your pet Bubble. Best wishes and take care.

I can see the results, but I'm unable to see the reference ranges for each value which can vary based on the machine so it's a little difficult to say for certain what these changes could mean. It looks to me like the monocytes and lymphocytes (specific types of white blood cells) are a little low - this could be a stress response which is very normal for a dog having it's blood drawn in the hospital. Some dogs simply lie on the lower end of the reference range as well. I can't think of any disease where low lymphocytes and monocytes in the absence of other changes would be significant, and this would not raise a flag for possible cancer in my mind. Red cell distribution width (RDW) gives an idea of the average size of a red blood cell and mean cell hemoglobin concentration (MCH) tells how much hemoglobin is present in each cell - these parameters are really only significant when there is also anemia or low hematocrit. If you have other concerns you should definitely follow up with your vet - it's always easiest for the doctor who has examined the animal and is familiar with the case to interpret lab results!

I would not be concerned about these results if this were my dog as long as the dog was acting normally and not showing any signs of illness. Remember, when we draw the blood we are only getting a tiny sample at one second in time. You could run the CBC again today and the levels may be back in the normal range. You can use an immune boosting supplement if you would like. It will not hurt anything and may help. I am sorry but we don't have access to what products are available in your country. You will need to get advice on that from your vet.

If Pudding has been normal and the veterinarian did not find any abnormalities on her physical exam, then try not to stress. The blood cells are cyclic in nature and sometimes we catch them at a low point. Stress can also impact the counts. Retesting in 3 weeks is the best route to go so that you can see what the trend is and then make an appropriate assessment. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

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!

I'm glad to hear that Missy's incision is healing well. White Bood Cell (WBC) counts can change quickly in the blood stream for a variety of reasons including even stress. Depending on the lab, her value in September may have been slightly high, but I suspect her value last month was likely within the normal range, so would wait for the results to come back from the biopsy testing and determine that to do from there. Her WBC count might not be a major concern at all. We often see VERY low WBC counts with cancers in the bone marrow (less than 1.5), so I would not be particularly worried about a value of 7.47. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and answered your question. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.