Elevated White Blood Cell Count

[tatdmommy]

I took Pumpkin to the Vet last week for a nail trim and check up. They did a new patient CBC panel, I think that was what it was called. Everything they did in house checked out great they said. They had to send some blood work to the lab also.

 

Anyways the vet left me a message that she had an elevated white blood cell count but that she didn't think it was anything to worry about. She won't be in the office until Wednesday this coming week, great.

 

I did search on the Net and read that this can sometimes happen with the stress of being at the Vet office.

 

Has anyone had something like this happen before? I don't want to over worry myself.

[Dave007]

Very true and frequently happens with high strung biords. Stress in some birds can elevate the white cell count, and juvenile parrots (less than 7 mos of age) can have a slightly higher white cell count than adult birds. Normally, there's very little problems going on when that happens but don't be surprised if your vet tell you to keep an eye on certain things for a short time. This is normal procedure and nothing to worry about.

 

Low white blood cell counts are occasionally observed with severe viral infections, particularly psittacine circovirus (beak and feather disease virus) infection in young birds. Parrots can't get a low blood cell count from stress.