Dog sick, on antibiotics, no improvement. Low WBC. What's wrong?

Hello. It often takes a bit of time for some infections to clear, but if you are concerned, please have her rechecked as soon as possible. This may be an indication that a new, or another antibiotic needs to be added to her treatment. Another option is to have her re-evaluated at a referral clinic, one that has multiple specialists. Sometimes, it takes a fresh pair of eyes to diagnose a difficult problem. Do not wait to see what happens since she is obviously worse. I hope Ittle is feeling better soon & thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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.

This sounds like a pretty complex situation, and I'd agree that an infection of some sort seems likely with a high WBC. I'd be worried about something viral, perhaps even meningitis, especially if it seems that she has neck pain, but that's basically a guess on my part. She should be tested for tick-borne diseases (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, ehrlichia, babesia, Lyme) if that hasn't been done. I'm not sure how far you are from a specialty hospital, but it sounds like she's still not out of the woods, and in the absence of a definitive diagnosis, I too would be worried. I would recommend taking Sky to a specialty hospital, where they might be more capable of diagnosing the problem and getting her the appropriate treatment.

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.

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.

Low white blood cells can be a sign of overwhelming infection, sepsis or cancer, and along with a fever I would be very concerned. I'm wondering if both chest x-rays and abdominal radiographs were performed, or if an ultrasound was performed because those might help determine what is causing these symptoms. I don't think there is much else you can do at home if you are unable to afford hospitalization, but you should definitely continue to recheck with your vet and if Aute seems to be taking a turn for the worse in any way you should have him rechecked immediately.

Poor Walter. Unfortunately, there are several things that can cause an elevated WBC. An upper respiratory infection or pneumonia certainly cause this, but so can any type of infection else where. I would first want to have his WBC rechecked to see if there has been any improvement since starting the meds. I would also talk to your vet to see if they ran a chemistry to look at him liver and kidney values. Just make sure you let your vet know that he isn't what you would consider normal. If everything is looking better, his change in behavior may just be part of him adjusting to the new living area and being away from the previous living arrangements. Any change in a dog's life can cause them to stress and become anxious and/or lethargic. I hope this helps and he starts to warm up to his new forever home.