Anemic cat?

[cards222002]

And Veronica we never did the bone marrow asperation with Trust, our vet felt the cost, and the disconfort it would cause Trust really wasn't worth it. All his test never showed anything that would be causing it. It was honestly like one day his body decided it was going to be sick.

 

[lucatgirl]

I'm s glad Trust is still giving you guys a run for your money. Lucky is also still with us, he's having lots of issues, but he only complains about having his food whenever he wants to. Anemia comes and goes, when he debilitates we feed him raw beef liver (small amounts to be sure vitamin A will not poison him) and some raw chicken liver, well, this last one we kind of not feeding him much since it seems to be a bit hard in his stomach. Anyway, some raw meat (beef, turkey, chicken, fish, etc variety since he gets bored lol) along with his regular can food and his levels go back to normal. My vet is telling us that Lucky is having such a blast with all the pampering that he's refusing to die and loose all his royal treats and treatment, lol; he might be right, but mom and I are happy to be his royal servants in return we only ask for some purrs that he happily oblige

 

[akat717]

Cards222002,

I am so happy your kitty Trust is doing well. I was directed to your thread by site advisor Denice and was wondering if you could take a look at my thread http://www.thecatsite.com/t/316158/anyone-with-a-cat-that-has-an-autimmune-condition , all the information about my cat is there and we are only about a month and a half into figuring things out with him. If there is any advice regarding diet or options to talk to the vet about that would be greatly appreciated.

I did read through your entire thread and it seems like there have been a lot of similarities although there has been more concern with a low platelet count in my cat, although he is also anemic, which prevents him from clotting properly. If you get to it I would appreciate it as it can be hard to know what options are best but, if not thank you for sharing it has already been a lot of help!

 

[cards222002]

I read your thread, really for trust diet wise didn't do anything differnt, we give him b12 injections once a week still, and as of now he's on a special diet for the bladder stones he developed (vet feels from all the meds he was on) you probably read we tried prednisone, prednisolone, atopica. All of wish he didn't respond to. The depo really was a little miracle. He had been in normal range for his red blood cells for over a year now. None of his other reading on his blood panels really were off other than the retics(new red blood cells) I wish you and your feline friend the best of luck, I really know how stressful can be. The depo really seems to be what has turned trust around from whete he was. He hasn't had an injection for 8 plus months now.

 

[brooksie42]

Thank you so much for this thread. I have been dealing with some of these exact same issues with my darling Tom Terrific. He just turned 1 year old and it is a terrible thing to face, both for him and for us. He's going back to the vet tomorrow for some blood tests and my instinct tells me he has relapsed. He's been on doxycyline for around a month and prednisolone for around 3 weeks, seemed to be responding until a couple of days ago. Blood tests confirmed it as well as his behavior. The good news is that he eats like a champ, but I have never been as worried as I have been for the past month. Thank you again for the advice as I now have a list of things to speak with his vet about. Additionally, I have discovered some supplements that I have ordered and that may help. Thank you again.

 

[cards222002]

Just figured I would pass along Trust goes in today for his surgery on his bladder stones. Hopefully everything goes well

 

[goholistic]

Just figured I would pass along Trust goes in today for his surgery on his bladder stones. Hopefully everything goes well

I'm just now seeing this! How did it go? How is Trust doing? 

 

[cards222002]

He's doing good, came out of the anesthetic pretty hard. He ended up having 6 stones still waiting to hear what they were made up of. No the less no more straining to use the litter box

 

[goholistic]

He's doing good, came out of the anesthetic pretty hard. He ended up having 6 stones still waiting to hear what they were made up of. No the less no more straining to use the litter box

Glad to hear he's doing good! Yeh, some kitties just have a hard time with anesthesia. Wow...six stones. I bet he's feeling SO much better!

 

[littlebitsmom]

HELLO

I HAVE BEEN READING YOU HELPFUL INFORMATION NOW FOR QUITE SOME TIME TODAY

MY CAT SHE IS SMALL ONLY WEIGHS 9 LBS AT FULL WEIGHT CAME TO US FERAL

LIVED UNDER HOUSE FED OUTDOORS EXCEPT AT NIGHT SHE COMES IN FOR LATE MEAL AND TO SLEEP

WHERE QUIET DOESN'T LIKE BEING HELD COMPARED TO OTHER FERAL CAT I HAVE WHO IS A HEALTHY WEIGHT OF 15 LBS

CONDITION WAS LOSING WEIGHT THOUGHT IT WAS DUE TO IT BEING SPRING AND SHE WAS PLAYING AND RUNNING AROUND MORE

SHE LOVES TO STAY BY THE BIRD FEEDERS AND CAUGHT HER WITH A BABY ONE TIME GUESS IT IS THE FERAL IN HER.

LOOKED LIKE SHE WASN'T EATING FOOD WASTE DECLINED TO NO FECAL INTO THE 4TH WEEK NOT DRINKING WELL INSIDE FORCED BABY FOOD EXTRA WATER INTO HER ALL I COULD AND BROTHS...NOTHING HELPED

SO I TOOK HER TO VET 5 DAYS AGO WEIGHT WAS DOWN TO 5.7

TESTS SHOW 22 ON HER   FEVER ABOVE 103 DEHYDRATED ( SLEPT AND WAS COMING IN MORE AND THEN HIDING BEFORE I TOOK HER TO VET. SHE LOVES DARK PLACES BUT THIS WAS MORE THAN THAT.)

STARTED HER ON PREDNISONE ALL OTHER TESTS BLOOD WORK LOOKED GOOD NO INFECTIONS OF FIV OR FELV CREATNINE GREAT OTHER MAJOR TINGS GOOD WENT TO 23 3 DAYS LATER SAID FEVER DOWN

THE STARTED SUBQTANEOUS FLUIDS ONCE A DAY WITH PREDNISONE THEN ADDED DOXYCLINE AND SHE HAS BEEN THERE 5 DAYS EATING A LITTLE BUT NOT MUCH 

HER LEVEL TODAY IS 18 SHE LOST ANOTHER LB SHE CAME IN AT 5.7 NOW 5.2 AND THEY HAD JUST GIVEN HER A FLUID PACK SO PERHAPS LOST MORE WEIGHT YOUNG VET THERE TODAY JUST DIDN'T GET A VIBE THEY ARE CHECKING HER FOOD INTAKE SAY SHE IS EATING A LITTLE I TOOK SEVERAL TYPES OF FOOD OVER THEY SAID IS SAYS HERE YOU BROUGHT FOOD I SAID YES BUT WHAT IS SHE EATING THE BROTH OR GRAVE FOODS BITS OR WHAT THEY HAD NO ANSWER THEY SAID WE WILL GIVE HER SOMETHING IF SHE RUNS OUT NOT THE POINT AND IN THE BACK THEY ALL SEEMED LAXIDAZY. REG VET IS CARING EXTENDED HELP IS ?? AND HE CAN'T DO IT ALL.

I AM WONDERING WHAT YOUR CAT WEIGHED WAS HER LOSS ALMOST HALF LIKE MINE........I AM TRYING TO HELP VET THINK HE IS ONLY ONE THER WITH A HELPER AND THE

CLINIC IS SO BUSY AND AN OLDER PERSON.HE HAS MUCH TO CONTEND WITH SO ANYTHING YOU'LL CAN HELP ME WITH WOULD BE APPRECIATED I DON'T WANT TO LOSE THIS

CAT SHE IS SO SWEET AND PURRS PERFECTLY TO ME.....SHE DID TODAY AND I FELT LIKE I WAS HOLDING A SACK OF BONES.....I AM SO HAPPY YOURS IS DOING BETTER AND IS HEALTHY NOW AND HOPE THE STONES SURGERY RESULTS ARE GOOD AND HE IS CONTINUING ON HIS PATH TO RECOVERY..........

 

[cards222002]

Sorry I am so bad at checking this life gets in the way. Trust's weight was a constant 13lbs however when he was on the pred he did get up to almost 15lbs. I do want to give an update on Trust he is doing great still haven't had to give him another depo shot in over a year now. I'll really try to check this more often for some reason I stopped getting email notifications

 

[cards222002]

I just wanted to stop in. How has this been over 6 years ago? I wanted to just give an update on Trust. He’s still with us and has had no relapse at all. I still can’t thank those who chimes in and offered the support and advice in this thread, and I hope this continues to offer encouragement to anyone going through something like this with their furry buddies

 

[lucatgirl]

That is wonderful!!!! My Lucky past away less than a year after my post, but we had about 21 wonderful years with him. May you enjoy Trust happy and healthy for at least as long as we enjoyed Lucky

 

[fionasmom]

Thank you both for coming back to update us. So often newer members will ask how a thread concluded. It is wonderful that Trust has continued on for these 6 years. I am sorry that Lucky passed on; 21 years is certainly a tribute to how well you took care of him.

 

[cards222002]

So Here we are again what is it 7 years later. We noticed Trust wasn’t really eating earlier this month so took him in for a check up. Most his blood work came back normal however his kidney values were pretty bad. A few of the reading almost weren’t on the chart. He spent a few days at the vet getting fluids to flush the kidneys and has been doing well with that. The only issue is, this is started another bout of anemia with him. Over the past few weeks we’ve been taking him in for checks and his rbc has slowly been dropping. We would like to do the depo shot again however with the kidney disease we are somewhat hesitant on it as steroids are not too kind on the kidneys and once you give the depo it’s in the body for like a month with no turning back. Last full blood work up we did (9/22/23) his kidney values were pretty much normal which is However his rbc were at 20 and retics were at 15. Took him back in on 9/25/23 and RBC were at 18.9 and retics doubled to 30.
So unfortunately a lot of cats with kidney disease do develop anemia and we are really at a point of fighting two things right now.

our current daily treatment for Trust is Sub Q fluids to help support the kidneys l, Cerenia for nausea, pred for the anemia to hopefully stabilize (doing the pred because kidney values are looking ok). We also just started him on a new drug called Varenzin-Ca1 which is supposed to help cats with kidney disease produce RBC. We did have him on an apatite stimulant called Elura however looking at the potential side effects one of them listed was could cause anemia so we stopped that.

I’ll try and keep everyone posted on how this new journey goes

 

[fionasmom]

The fact that this is 7 years later is remarkable. Elura is specifically for cats with kidney issues which is why is was probably prescribed, although I am not saying at all that you should use it if it might cause complications to the anemia. I have used Elura and was never overly impressed with the results, although you may have had a more successful experience with it.

Is he eating without a stimulant?

Varenzin is brand new...like a few months into use and I hope that it is successful for Trust. Please keep us posted.

I know that you are familiar with Varenzin, but this information may help others who read the thread to familiarize themselves with it.
FDA approves anemia drug for cats with chronic kidney disease

Thank you for updating us.

 

[cards222002]

At first the Elura seemed to make a difference however he is eating just fine without it (actually gaining some weight) so more wondering that since we got the kidney levels in check he just feeling better. The vet is actually somewhat surprised on how quickly and how much they improved. We have another blood work check on Saturday see how little guy is doing with the anemia.

 

[cards222002]

So we ended up taking Trust in today instead of tomorrow as he looked pale and was being very withdrawn. My worries were confirmed as his rbc is down to 15.2 however his retics are close to 50 which almost double from Monday. So we made the call to try the depo shot as basically a last resort. We have another recheck Monday so hoping for either him to level off or start improving. Will say the varenzin does seem to give him an upset tummy. Hopefully he bounces back like he did last time with the depo without stressing his kidneys too much

 

[fionasmom]

Please let us know what happens.