What are neutrophils and what does a "left shift" mean for my dog?

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.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. There can be multiple causes of low RBCs and WBCs. I would make sure that all possible infectious causes are ruled out such as tick borne diseases. A chronic infection can cause low RBCs and low WBCs as well. Bone marrow could still be diseased and be leading to the low RBC and WBC count and a bone marrow biopsy in this case would prove to be useful. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hello. Those blood results indicate that there is a low red cell count, low white cell count and low platelets. This COULD indicate leukemia as all three cell lines are low, however it could also be due to a systemic infection and the platelets being low could be due to clumping. The first next step would be to send the blood away to an external lab to look for regeneration, as well as platelet clumps. If your dog is acting sick your vet may want to start on antibiotics in case of a systemtic infection. I suggest you go back to your vet and discuss these results, and discuss what the pathologist comments were if the blood was sent away externally. If bone marrow disease is suspected they can do a bone marrow biopsy.

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to see that Dollar is having a problem. The blood work looks fairly normal with regards to the packed cell volume and platelets. These were checked to evaluate whether there was a bleeding problem due to the skin bruising. The white blood cell response is due to what is occurring with the skin. This is my opinion from looking at the photo of the skin- Some trauma occurred such as a bite wound (puncture marks) and there is a lot of soft tissue injury (crushing from a bite) causing the bruising. I hope this helps and I hope Dollar makes a speedy recovery.

Hello, the elevations of the cells is very mild. It appears that she may have a mild infection, given that his eosinophils are high, the most likely cause may be associated with parasites. The medications should not cause the white blood cells to go up, instead, it should help decrease their number. Speak with your veterinarian about checking his stool for parasites and consider deworming him as well. Also check for heart worm disease. Hope this helps and best of luck.

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!

Thank you for sharing Millie's bloodwork results. She has VERY high white blood cell counts which may be indicative of a severe infection, autoimmune disease, or even cancer. I would have her evaluated for the underlying cause which may require radiographs, an ultrasound, and or a blood smear evaluation by a pathologist.