Low White Blood Cell Count
- Thread starter 2ManyPuppies
- Start date
He went a month without the allergy meds then went back in for a recheck on the blood and an allergy shot. The tech gave him the allergy shot THEN drew his blood....wasn't supposed to do that. 
He is off the allergy shots now until we know what this is. The vet I took him to this morning also found the WBCs to be low. He did tell me that he does not think it is acute leukemia, which made me happy.
He is off the allergy shots now until we know what this is. The vet I took him to this morning also found the WBCs to be low. He did tell me that he does not think it is acute leukemia, which made me happy.
Sorry it took so long for an update. The whole thing is very odd. The bone marrow biopsy came back. No cancer but they can't find the cause of the low count either. They tested him for a rare strain of erlichia (sp?) and a cobalamine deficiency. Both negative. The only thing they found was a folate deficiency. He's on an antibiotic that they put him on while waiting for results of the erlichia, just in case it was erlichia. He had blood drawn this past Tuesday and his count has doubled. He goes back in 2 weeks to recheck the count. If it is low again the vet said they can send us to a specialist. I just don't know how much to put him through. I'm so happy that it isn't cancer but I sure would like to know the cause.
Well, that's very good news that the bone marrow test was negative! I'm glad to hear that. My previous dog had the bone marrow test done while waiting for the ehrlichia test and that is a rough one.
If the blood counts keep improving on the medication, (doxycycline?), then maybe he had a false negative on the ehrlichiosis test and he will be fine after the course of meds is done. They did the trick for my dog. You might not ever know for sure, but if he gets better, that's the main thing. Hope to hear more good news on this.
If the blood counts keep improving on the medication, (doxycycline?), then maybe he had a false negative on the ehrlichiosis test and he will be fine after the course of meds is done. They did the trick for my dog. You might not ever know for sure, but if he gets better, that's the main thing. Hope to hear more good news on this.
I'm not sure if I posted this or not, so forgive me if it's a repeat..when my aussie was literally at deaths door about 4 years ago, her wbc was so low it was almost not registering, we tested for EVERYTHING, and I mean everything, at one point, some idiot vet put her on a high dose of pred (we were thinking lupus tho it came back negative) it shot her wbc up, but almost killed her...I decided to take matters into my own hands, because this dog was thisclose to death, and I didn't want to lose her,,I took her off everything, and put her on a good dose of doxy, and kept her on it for 2 months, the dog did a complete turnaround and has been fine ever since..never did get a diagnosis.
BUT I think, it was tick related and just kept coming up with false negatives, she also seems to tend to have a low WBC count, it's just "her",,
anyhow just wanted to share, and thank goodness it isn't cancer)
BUT I think, it was tick related and just kept coming up with false negatives, she also seems to tend to have a low WBC count, it's just "her",,
anyhow just wanted to share, and thank goodness it isn't cancer
)
I'm not sure if I posted this or not, so forgive me if it's a repeat..when my aussie was literally at deaths door about 4 years ago, her wbc was so low it was almost not registering, we tested for EVERYTHING, and I mean everything, at one point, some idiot vet put her on a high dose of pred (we were thinking lupus tho it came back negative) it shot her wbc up, but almost killed her...I decided to take matters into my own hands, because this dog was thisclose to death, and I didn't want to lose her,,I took her off everything, and put her on a good dose of doxy, and kept her on it for 2 months, the dog did a complete turnaround and has been fine ever since..never did get a diagnosis.
BUT I think, it was tick related and just kept coming up with false negatives, she also seems to tend to have a low WBC count, it's just "her",,
anyhow just wanted to share, and thank goodness it isn't cancer)
BUT I think, it was tick related and just kept coming up with false negatives, she also seems to tend to have a low WBC count, it's just "her",,
anyhow just wanted to share, and thank goodness it isn't cancer
)
He is done with the doxy tomorrow. I am going to talk with the vet about taking it longer. Something else that seems odd to me...I mentioned in an earlier post that he was on allergy shots....he licks his paws raw from allergies. The doxy has about cleared his paws up. Clindamycin did the same thing in December. As soon as he stops the licking will start again. If it's an allergy, it seems odd that the antibiotic would help him that way.
I think I heard somewhere, and don't quote me on this, but doxy also has inflammatory properties, in other words, can help with inflamation? so maybe thats what's happening,,or instead of allergies he had some kind of infection??
Definately ask the vet, and hey I'd say, well since he does good on it,,can I continue with it?)
Definately ask the vet, and hey I'd say, well since he does good on it,,can I continue with it?
)