Dog with High White Blood Cell Count

by Julie
(Orange County, CA)

My 8 year old chocolate lab is our 3rd child. We have had her since she was 8 weeks old so this is so difficult.She has labored breathing, loud breathing at times...not always.....not eating....lethargic for the most part, sad, not eating much...not excited about eating at all.

Took her to the vet a few days ago because she appeared to have had a seizure...she just fell down sideways and couldn't get up for a minute.

This happened twice over the course of 3 days.Took her into vet, and they said she has a swollen lymph node in the chest area that they wanted to aspirated.They also took a blood panel and her white blood cells are way to high.500$ later, the vet came back with no cancer in her lymph node, so they think the possibilities are 1.Tick eurlicykis, or 2.Lukemia.

She told me to rule out the tick first, so we are going to have to get another blood sample to check for that.She said thereis a national shortage on doxycycline, so the medication for treating a tick is going to be outrageously expensive.

In your opinion, what do you think is going on?

Thank you for your time.


Vet Suggestion Tick Borne Illness or Leukemia


Hello Julie,

Based on your description, it sounds as if your veterinarian is thoroughly and appropriately working up what could be a very serious illness for your dog. I think anything less than an aggressive diagnostic and treatment plan could put your dog’s health and perhaps her life at risk.
The fact that your veterinarian is taking a stepwise approach (trying to rule out tickborne disease before moving on to the diagnostics necessary to diagnose leukemia) indicates she is doing her best to keep your costs down, but there is no getting around the fact that good veterinary care can get expensive.

If you feel that the cost of the doxycycline from your veterinarian's pharmacy is out of line with what you could pay elsewhere, you have the right to ask for a prescription that can then be filled at brick and mortar or online pharmacies. If you go the online route, be sure to avoid the scam artists out there that will take your money but provide you with substandard medications.

Pharmacies that are certified through the National Association of Boards of Pharmacies’Vet-VIPPs program are good choices.



Good luck,

Jennifer Coates, DVM