Anyone have experience with AIHA/autoimmune disordered with kitten/cat?

Spomeroy

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Hi, I am looking for others who have had experience with their cat/kitten having an autoimmune disorder such as AIHA? Our 7 month old kitten recently passed, and I have a lot of guilt wondering what we might have done wrong. He was a normal, thriving kitten who was fixed at 4 months old, and was up to date with his vaccines. We noticed he wasn't himself, and that he hadn't been using his litter box for a few days....when I took him to the vet he had a low temp, and white blood cells in his urine, and was anemic.They did blood work and found that his blood was like water, and had almost no red blood cells....they told me that he likely had an autoimmune disorder that caused his body to attack his red bloods cells, and the anemia was a just a symptom of his underlying disorder...they said even though he tested negative for Feline Luk, that he might have actually had it and that could have triggered his body to attack his red blood cells. He also could have been a different blood type from his mother, and she could have passed him an antibody that would have caused his body to attack his red blood cells....he also could have had a bone morrow cancer, or disease....there was just no solid answer, and has left me wondering if I did something wrong? he was brought into our local shelter at 3 weeks old...no history on his mother and if she was feral....or domestic.

I can't help but wonder if maybe he wasn't getting enough nutrients, and that caused his anemia..which got so bad that he had no red blood cells left?

I just don't know...and wondered if anyone has experienced anything similar.....I need to be able to calm my mind with this situation. Any help or advise is welcomed.

Thank You -
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. I am so sorry for what happened with your little guy. I am only responding because no one else has - and can only offer the following One of which is a series of threads on this site that talk about AIHA (see below for link) and the others are a few articles about this condition - which you probably are already aware of - but, just in case they may help you any at all. The link to other threads on this site may not all be helpful, so sorry if you have to dig through them to get additional information that might be of benefit to you.
Search Results for Query: AIHA | TheCatSite
Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia in Cats - Causes & Holistic Solutions - Natural Cat Health
Auto Immune Haemolytic Anaemia (AIHA) – Net Vet
Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia in Cats | VCA Animal Hospital (vcahospitals.com)
 

Ellis75

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I am so sorry for your loss. I don't have any experience with my own pets having AIHA (typically now called IMHA, or immune mediated hemolytic anemia), but I was a vet tech in a hospital that treated some IMHA patients.

It is absolutely not your fault. Anemias that can be caused by diet are rare in cats, since cat foods are required to show that they have all the nutrients necessary. It would also appear differently than IMHA, since it's just a deficiency in red blood cells rather than the body attacking red blood cells, and it would be more of a slow, long-term progression than something sudden. He also would have been able to build his red blood cells back up over time on his own, which is not the case with IMHA.

Hemolytic anemia is really difficult. It's both difficult to determine the cause and difficult to treat. There's not an easy way to determine the cause, unfortunately. It could have been any of the things your vets mentioned (feline leukemia, cancer, etc.), or it could have been caused by a blood borne parasite. It also could have been a combination of these things. I know it doesn't help ease your mind to have the cause be so uncertain, but please know that it was not your fault. You gave your boy the best life he could have possibly had, even if it was a short one.
 

babiesmom5

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Hi, I am looking for others who have had experience with their cat/kitten having an autoimmune disorder such as AIHA? Our 7 month old kitten recently passed, and I have a lot of guilt wondering what we might have done wrong. He was a normal, thriving kitten who was fixed at 4 months old, and was up to date with his vaccines. We noticed he wasn't himself, and that he hadn't been using his litter box for a few days....when I took him to the vet he had a low temp, and white blood cells in his urine, and was anemic.They did blood work and found that his blood was like water, and had almost no red blood cells....they told me that he likely had an autoimmune disorder that caused his body to attack his red bloods cells, and the anemia was a just a symptom of his underlying disorder...they said even though he tested negative for Feline Luk, that he might have actually had it and that could have triggered his body to attack his red blood cells. He also could have been a different blood type from his mother, and she could have passed him an antibody that would have caused his body to attack his red blood cells....he also could have had a bone morrow cancer, or disease....there was just no solid answer, and has left me wondering if I did something wrong? he was brought into our local shelter at 3 weeks old...no history on his mother and if she was feral....or domestic.

I can't help but wonder if maybe he wasn't getting enough nutrients, and that caused his anemia..which got so bad that he had no red blood cells left?

I just don't know...and wondered if anyone has experienced anything similar.....I need to be able to calm my mind with this situation. Any help or advise is welcomed.

Thank You -
I am so sorry about your little boy. Your are heartbroken now and looking for answers. I had a cat who developed IMHA when he was about 13 years old. We kept him going for a couple of years with several blood transfusions, immune suppressants, and hormones; all very expensive. I can tell you that feline anemias are rather complicated to diagnose and treat. For sure, it entails a lot of diagnostic procedures to determine the underlying cause. Treatments must be tailored to the underlying cause and can be lengthy and expensive with no guarantees. I can tell you that it is not likely result of dietary deficiency or anything that you did. While iron deficiency anemia occurs sometimes in people, it is rare in cats. You have no reason for guilt. Do take comfort that your little boy was given a good home and received lots of love in his all too brief life.
 
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Spomeroy

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I am so sorry about your little boy. Your are heartbroken now and looking for answers. I had a cat who developed IMHA when he was about 13 years old. We kept him going for a couple of years with several blood transfusions, immune suppressants, and hormones; all very expensive. I can tell you that feline anemias are rather complicated to diagnose and treat. For sure, it entails a lot of diagnostic procedures to determine the underlying cause. Treatments must be tailored to the underlying cause and can be lengthy and expensive with no guarantees. I can tell you that it is not likely result of dietary deficiency or anything that you did. While iron deficiency anemia occurs sometimes in people, it is rare in cats. You have no reason for guilt. Do take comfort that your little boy was given a good home and received lots of love in his all too brief life.

Thank you - it means a lot
 
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Spomeroy

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I am so sorry for your loss. I don't have any experience with my own pets having AIHA (typically now called IMHA, or immune mediated hemolytic anemia), but I was a vet tech in a hospital that treated some IMHA patients.

It is absolutely not your fault. Anemias that can be caused by diet are rare in cats, since cat foods are required to show that they have all the nutrients necessary. It would also appear differently than IMHA, since it's just a deficiency in red blood cells rather than the body attacking red blood cells, and it would be more of a slow, long-term progression than something sudden. He also would have been able to build his red blood cells back up over time on his own, which is not the case with IMHA.

Hemolytic anemia is really difficult. It's both difficult to determine the cause and difficult to treat. There's not an easy way to determine the cause, unfortunately. It could have been any of the things your vets mentioned (feline leukemia, cancer, etc.), or it could have been caused by a blood borne parasite. It also could have been a combination of these things. I know it doesn't help ease your mind to have the cause be so uncertain, but please know that it was not your fault. You gave your boy the best life he could have possibly had, even if it was a short one.

Thank you. It is just so hard not to feel the guilt.
 
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Spomeroy

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Hi. I am so sorry for what happened with your little guy. I am only responding because no one else has - and can only offer the following One of which is a series of threads on this site that talk about AIHA (see below for link) and the others are a few articles about this condition - which you probably are already aware of - but, just in case they may help you any at all. The link to other threads on this site may not all be helpful, so sorry if you have to dig through them to get additional information that might be of benefit to you.
Search Results for Query: AIHA | TheCatSite
Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia in Cats - Causes & Holistic Solutions - Natural Cat Health
Auto Immune Haemolytic Anaemia (AIHA) – Net Vet
Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia in Cats | VCA Animal Hospital (vcahospitals.com)

Thank you for your help. Much appreciated.
 
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Spomeroy

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Hi, I am looking for others who have had experience with their cat/kitten having an autoimmune disorder such as AIHA? Our 7 month old kitten recently passed, and I have a lot of guilt wondering what we might have done wrong. He was a normal, thriving kitten who was fixed at 4 months old, and was up to date with his vaccines. We noticed he wasn't himself, and that he hadn't been using his litter box for a few days....when I took him to the vet he had a low temp, and white blood cells in his urine, and was anemic.They did blood work and found that his blood was like water, and had almost no red blood cells....they told me that he likely had an autoimmune disorder that caused his body to attack his red bloods cells, and the anemia was a just a symptom of his underlying disorder...they said even though he tested negative for Feline Luk, that he might have actually had it and that could have triggered his body to attack his red blood cells. He also could have been a different blood type from his mother, and she could have passed him an antibody that would have caused his body to attack his red blood cells....he also could have had a bone morrow cancer, or disease....there was just no solid answer, and has left me wondering if I did something wrong? he was brought into our local shelter at 3 weeks old...no history on his mother and if she was feral....or domestic.

I can't help but wonder if maybe he wasn't getting enough nutrients, and that caused his anemia..which got so bad that he had no red blood cells left?

I just don't know...and wondered if anyone has experienced anything similar.....I need to be able to calm my mind with this situation. Any help or advise is welcomed.

Thank You -


**UPDATE***

For anyone who has been following my post regarding IMHA (AIHA)....I requested Gurgie's blood work, and it showed suspicious spherocytes cells, as well as high levels in his ALT.....both of which are linked to IMHA. The rest of his bloodwork was normal (including WBC), however some of his platelet counts, including RDW, MCH, PDW and MPV were so low they didn't even read. His RBC
was .96:(......so everything the vets told me was directly connected to IMHA, and sadly the symptoms came on quickly as the disease does a good job of hiding itself. After learning this information, I am feeling better knowing that it likely wasn't anything we did or didnt do....and that sadly there wouldn't have been much we could have done as this was so aggressive. I hope that my post will help someone in the future.
 
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