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PING: Phil or anyone with anemic cats
I received the following email from my brother:
begin paste---- Shiro is in the hospital. He has severe anemia, extremely low hematocrit levels. We've pumped almost $2000 in tests but so far the tests - liver, kidney, viral, radiological views - all show a healthy cat. The vet is puzzled as to what is causing it. Our toxics are all stored well above his (and Tessa's reach). No one has dropped any acetaminophen on the floor lately (ever) and besides, he wouldn't eat it anyways. I'm afraid we may be nearing the end for Tessa's first best friend L. Our next step is to run to a marrow biopsy... end paste---- Does anyone have an idea what might be wrong, or where they can point their vet to look? I did a search, and severely low hematocrit was only associated with anemia and in one (human) case, a hemorrhage. They didn't mention any of Shiro's symptoms to me, so I can't add anything there. Shiro is also a very obese cat (22 lbs last I heard, but I heard he has been able to lose a bit of weight in the last year or so), if that might be a factor in anything. Shiro is one of the sweetest cats in the world (although he did send me to physio for 3 months by sleeping on my head), and I want my brother armed with as much info as possible when he heads to the vet. |
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Phil or anyone with anemic cats
"Rona Y." wrote in message ups.com... I received the following email from my brother: begin paste---- Shiro is in the hospital. He has severe anemia, extremely low hematocrit levels. We've pumped almost $2000 in tests but so far the tests - liver, kidney, viral, radiological views - all show a healthy cat. The vet is puzzled as to what is causing it. Our toxics are all stored well above his (and Tessa's reach). No one has dropped any acetaminophen on the floor lately (ever) and besides, he wouldn't eat it anyways. I'm afraid we may be nearing the end for Tessa's first best friend L. Our next step is to run to a marrow biopsy... end paste---- Does anyone have an idea what might be wrong, or where they can point their vet to look? I did a search, and severely low hematocrit was only associated with anemia and in one (human) case, a hemorrhage. They didn't mention any of Shiro's symptoms to me, so I can't add anything there. Shiro is also a very obese cat (22 lbs last I heard, but I heard he has been able to lose a bit of weight in the last year or so), if that might be a factor in anything. Shiro is one of the sweetest cats in the world (although he did send me to physio for 3 months by sleeping on my head), and I want my brother armed with as much info as possible when he heads to the vet. Hi Rona, I'm sorry to hear about your brother's cat. Did your bother's vet tell him which type of anemia Shiro has (regenerative, non-regenerative, hemolytic, immune-mediated)? Has Shiro's blood been checked for Haemobartonella felis? If so, find out if the blood sample was *fresh*? If the blood is drawn into a tube that contains an anticoagulant- and/or if the blood sample is refrigerated, the parasite will detach from the red blood cells giving you a false negative. I might be able to help if I knew which type of anema she has-- try to find out, ok? Best of luck, Phil |
#3
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Phil or anyone with anemic cats
"Phil P." wrote in message news:yfHni.2369$gC5.2023@trnddc04... Hi Rona, I'm sorry to hear about your brother's cat. Did your bother's vet tell him which type of anemia Shiro has (regenerative, non-regenerative, hemolytic, immune-mediated)? Has Shiro's blood been checked for Haemobartonella felis? If so, find out if the blood sample was *fresh*? If the blood is drawn into a tube that contains an anticoagulant- and/or if the blood sample is refrigerated, the parasite will detach from the red blood cells giving you a false negative. I might be able to help if I knew which type of anema she has-- try to find out, ok? Best of luck, Phil Thanks for the reply, Phil. I emailed my brother asking those questions, and he replied with the following: begin paste--- Hi - Shiro has non-regenerative anemia, and is not CRF related - his kidney's are fine, but his marrow is just not producing. They tested for ehrlichiosis, hemobart and bartonella. He is on prednosone and his PCV is holding steady. He will get a third blood test today to see if the steroids are working and then we can determine if we can take him home. The vets don't think RhEPO will be effective since his kidneys are fine and but marrow is unresponsive. At this point we don't know if it is auto-immune. I've heard about Leukeran - some people have had great success with it but it has some side effects, like marrow suppression. I plan on broaching the subject with the vet today. He hasn't had a marrow aspirate or biopsy, just because the cost of the specialist would be about $2000 or more just to run the diagnostics. It sucks (REALLY sucks) that it has to come to dollar figures but we just don't have this. The emergency clinic wanted $1500 up front before they did anything! To complicate matters even more, Shiro has to be anaesthetized whenever we do any kind of procedure on him - he turns vicious whenever we take him to the vet. Think of Shiro as his normal laid back loveable self. And then think of an animal that is the exact opposite - that's Shiro at the vet. This adds considerable stress to him, and expense to us. We visited him yesterday, he was happy to see us. We fed him baby food - the steroids make him so hungry! He was pretty weak, but he purred for us and tried to head butt us like he always does. It was heartbreaking for us, because he has to wear this cone around his head. The staff was amazed at how nice he was for us, but I can't blame them as they've only seen the at-the-vet Shiro. I think we are coming to terms with letting him go. We can do small things, like additional transfusions and steroids, but the big ticket things that might really help him are out of reach for us Oh, BTW, the samples are fresh. His PCV count went from 9% to 13% after the transfusion - still very bad. Unfortunately, he is so big that the donor cat wasn't able to keep up! end paste--- they're getting ready to euthanize, I think. I have much to say about that, but I won't say it right now. It wouldn't be very productive, and I just want to help Shiro. Thanks again for your help. rona |
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Phil or anyone with anemic cats
"RY" wrote in message ... "Phil P." wrote in message news:yfHni.2369$gC5.2023@trnddc04... Thanks for the reply, Phil. Hi - Shiro has non-regenerative anemia, and is not CRF related - his kidney's are fine, but his marrow is just not producing. They tested for ehrlichiosis, hemobart and bartonella. He is on prednosone and his PCV is holding steady. Rona, If there aren't any other cytopenias, I'd start looking for a hidden chronic infection-- the best place to start are x-rays of the entire mouth so you can see if anything is going on below the gumline. Does your brother live in an older house? Phil |
#5
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Phil or anyone with anemic cats
"Phil P." wrote in message news:TQZni.3317$gC5.2721@trnddc04... Rona, If there aren't any other cytopenias, I'd start looking for a hidden chronic infection-- the best place to start are x-rays of the entire mouth so you can see if anything is going on below the gumline. Does your brother live in an older house? Phil Hi Phil, thanks for the reply. As it turns out, they had Shiro euthanized yesterday. He took a turn for the worse Thursday night, and they felt it was the best option. Poor Shiro. thanks again for your help. rona |
#6
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Phil or anyone with anemic cats
"RY" wrote in message ... "Phil P." wrote in message news:TQZni.3317$gC5.2721@trnddc04... Rona, If there aren't any other cytopenias, I'd start looking for a hidden chronic infection-- the best place to start are x-rays of the entire mouth so you can see if anything is going on below the gumline. Does your brother live in an older house? Phil Hi Phil, thanks for the reply. As it turns out, they had Shiro euthanized yesterday. He took a turn for the worse Thursday night, and they felt it was the best option. Poor Shiro. thanks again for your help. rona I'm so sorry. Phil |
#7
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Phil or anyone with anemic cats
"Phil P." wrote in message
news:BIIoi.493$Ub7.456@trnddc04... I'm so sorry. Phil Thanks. I'm still trying very hard not to be angry about the whole thing, but knowing how long Shiro had symptoms before they did anything about it makes it difficult. On a positive note, they probably won't be getting another cat anytime soon. And I believe they shouldn't have one. thanks again for your help. rona |
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