I really need advice on what to do. Not medical help of course just a friend to a friend. Many of you know Morton the young kitty with ITP (a disease where the body accidentally destroys platelets). And his dka/sepsis/pancreatitis death bed story from August..you wouldn't have even think he spent half of it in the icu he is plump and in diabetic remission ever since!
He WAS also in ITP remission somehow since August when they abruptly stopped all of the immunosuppressive therapy in the icu. Now as of a little over a week ago his ITP is back. He walked up to me all happy and I noticed his ears (bleeding marks and bruising which in my experience with him means his platelets are 12,000 or under) platelets for animals and humans range from 150,000 to 450,000. Low platelets like his cause spontaneous bleeding usually petichiae and purpura (bleeding into the skin in big bruises or tiny red patches all over the body). I work for a vet and we have been on this rollercoaster for 2 years and most of that time he was severely overly immune suppressed, never feeling good or acting good and didnt need to be on the doses so high and it's actually what caused the August incident. Now with careful consideration his health is in my hands and the vet just wants me to be careful and look every day for any signs of low platelets and I get free blood work through my job for him usually every 3 weeks to check.
He is just doing so so well. Acting like a kitten, eating, PLAYING. He's making up for lost kittenhood he didn't get to experience. He is just so un disturbed when his platelets fall so low..they went up on their own a little bit all of his bruises went away within a few days and platelets are at 21,000. 65,000 is considered a safe zone for ITP. And usually based off symptoms for him 12k is getting critical.
I don't know what to do here. We have never given his body a chance to fight this and giving it a chance right now the platelets moved from active bleeding to not but they're still too low. If I put him on a high dose of steroids the platelets return to normal within a week or so but then I'd have to start the very careful weaning process.
Besides the platelets his blood work has NEVER looked so good. I want to frame it lol. I just need advice.. do I wait this out? Do I overload with steroids again to bring them up and try to wean off? What would you do? The vets all say steroids but I'm in an ITP group and almost all of those people just live with platelets like his because they feel fine and hate the drugs because they make them sick. They just are careful of tripping/being clumsy to prevent bruising. Hes just doing so well and of course ITP has to be thrown back in his face. He has an appt with the holistic vet tomorrow and she has some herbs that she is sure of that can help ITP and another that acts as a "natural immunosuppressive drug" I just don't know what to do
At home he is on a weekly b12 shot, multivitamin, iron (for when he is bruising), probiotic, 2 chinese herbs and he just acts so great..
He WAS also in ITP remission somehow since August when they abruptly stopped all of the immunosuppressive therapy in the icu. Now as of a little over a week ago his ITP is back. He walked up to me all happy and I noticed his ears (bleeding marks and bruising which in my experience with him means his platelets are 12,000 or under) platelets for animals and humans range from 150,000 to 450,000. Low platelets like his cause spontaneous bleeding usually petichiae and purpura (bleeding into the skin in big bruises or tiny red patches all over the body). I work for a vet and we have been on this rollercoaster for 2 years and most of that time he was severely overly immune suppressed, never feeling good or acting good and didnt need to be on the doses so high and it's actually what caused the August incident. Now with careful consideration his health is in my hands and the vet just wants me to be careful and look every day for any signs of low platelets and I get free blood work through my job for him usually every 3 weeks to check.
He is just doing so so well. Acting like a kitten, eating, PLAYING. He's making up for lost kittenhood he didn't get to experience. He is just so un disturbed when his platelets fall so low..they went up on their own a little bit all of his bruises went away within a few days and platelets are at 21,000. 65,000 is considered a safe zone for ITP. And usually based off symptoms for him 12k is getting critical.
I don't know what to do here. We have never given his body a chance to fight this and giving it a chance right now the platelets moved from active bleeding to not but they're still too low. If I put him on a high dose of steroids the platelets return to normal within a week or so but then I'd have to start the very careful weaning process.
Besides the platelets his blood work has NEVER looked so good. I want to frame it lol. I just need advice.. do I wait this out? Do I overload with steroids again to bring them up and try to wean off? What would you do? The vets all say steroids but I'm in an ITP group and almost all of those people just live with platelets like his because they feel fine and hate the drugs because they make them sick. They just are careful of tripping/being clumsy to prevent bruising. Hes just doing so well and of course ITP has to be thrown back in his face. He has an appt with the holistic vet tomorrow and she has some herbs that she is sure of that can help ITP and another that acts as a "natural immunosuppressive drug" I just don't know what to do
At home he is on a weekly b12 shot, multivitamin, iron (for when he is bruising), probiotic, 2 chinese herbs and he just acts so great..