My cat's healthy but has a high white blood cell count. Why?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | unspayed | 8.5 lbs
Some background. My cat is a female domestic shorthair, roughly 4/5 years old. I've had her since she was a kitten. She has all her shots up to date. No kitty leukemia. She has a high white blood cell count. She has been eating, drinking, peeing and pooping regularly. There has been no out of the ordinary meowing.What could she possibly have?
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on April 27th, 2017
Well, a high white blood cell count in the absence of anything else is not always significant. Often times, particularly at a veterinary office, the white blood cell count (the neutrophils in particular) can increase above normal from stress. Also, there is some variation from cat to cat, where small elevations above normal may not always have any significance. If the white blood cell elevation is real and significant, it is an indication of some type of inflammation occurring somewhere inside of the body. This is usually due to some type of bacterial/viral/fungal/parasitic infection or bodily injury. In other cases, we can also see it with certain toxins and even cancers. Without more information regarding your cat, it would be hard to say if this is a significant finding. If your cat is completely healthy and your vet has determined this, the white blood cell count is probably insignificant at this time.
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Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on June 7th, 2017
Hello Looking at that report I would recommend her blood be looked at specifically by a veterinary clinical pathologist (they work at they lab) to see if her white blood cells loom abnormal. If they do not it could be a stress response (very normal in cats in a clinic setting). You could also have it rechecked in a week or two (if Amber continues to be normal) and see if it changes. Another potential cause is an infection somewhere but usually cats are not eating/acting normally which doesn't sound like the case here.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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