- Joined
- Oct 14, 2020
- Messages
- 8
- Purraise
- 4
SHORT VERSION:
So my 10 year old cat Harry has anemia, but he's still eating and still grooming. That's good, right?
LONG VERSION:
6 months ago my cat Harry had an enlarged and torsioned spleen that had to be surgically removed. He recovered back to normal in about a month. However, yesterday morning he was being grumpy and, as he left the kitchen and headed for the kitchen, he started growling and sitting down then getting back up like he has having trouble walking. He jumped up on my bed but kept growling, and kept moving awkwardly like he couldn't get comfortable, holding his rear end kind of up. That lasted maybe a minute or two total, then he was normal the rest of the day. We took him to the vet anyway.
The vet did scans/x-rays and blood work, and told us that:
Harry had a bad flea infestation a few months ago during and for a little while after his surgery. We couldn't find a vet who would prescribe Revolution until recently, as his old vet had retired and the Frontline junk did nothing for him. Harry also fights tooth and nail against his flea medication so it's very hard to get a full dose on him. The vet tech helped us get this month's dose on him while there (he was 3 days overdue for this month's dose). I asked if the bad case of fleas could have caused the anemia, and they said possibly but they need to run tests and don't want to give a full diagnosis until they get the results back. In the meantime, vet told me that he has to treat what he can see is the problem, so he gave Harry a steroid and an antibiotic shot.
Harry is mostly acting normal, except he's spending the morning on my dad's bed. He did this 6 months ago when he had all the vet visits and surgery, and I assume he's doing it now in response t going to the vet. I'm hoping it's not because he's feeling sick. Otherwise, he's acting normal. He's still eating like a little pig (he was overweight before the surgery in the Spring, lost 3 pounds back then but I think he's gained them back by now. the vet did not bother to weigh him yesterday); So far this morning, he's gone to his kibble bowl maybe 5-6 times to graze, had a serving of wet food and still had some Friskies senior cat bisque after all that. He's not an energetic cat, his activities mainly involve: sleeping, moving from spot to spot for naps, looking out the window, and grooming himself. He's still doing all that stuff, so I'm hoping that's a sign the anemia is not very severe. Vet is checking for leukemia but I'm almost positive Harry got his feline Leukemia vaccine 2 years ago; the old vet gave it to him by accident when we took him for a rabies vaccination.
Anyway, if anyone whose dealt with this before wants to chime in, I'm wondering how bad the anemia could be if he's still acting normal. Could it be
So my 10 year old cat Harry has anemia, but he's still eating and still grooming. That's good, right?
LONG VERSION:
6 months ago my cat Harry had an enlarged and torsioned spleen that had to be surgically removed. He recovered back to normal in about a month. However, yesterday morning he was being grumpy and, as he left the kitchen and headed for the kitchen, he started growling and sitting down then getting back up like he has having trouble walking. He jumped up on my bed but kept growling, and kept moving awkwardly like he couldn't get comfortable, holding his rear end kind of up. That lasted maybe a minute or two total, then he was normal the rest of the day. We took him to the vet anyway.
The vet did scans/x-rays and blood work, and told us that:
- His red blood count is low (he showed us the numbers but I didn't know what I was looking at)
- White blood count is high
- Red blood cells are "smallish"
Harry had a bad flea infestation a few months ago during and for a little while after his surgery. We couldn't find a vet who would prescribe Revolution until recently, as his old vet had retired and the Frontline junk did nothing for him. Harry also fights tooth and nail against his flea medication so it's very hard to get a full dose on him. The vet tech helped us get this month's dose on him while there (he was 3 days overdue for this month's dose). I asked if the bad case of fleas could have caused the anemia, and they said possibly but they need to run tests and don't want to give a full diagnosis until they get the results back. In the meantime, vet told me that he has to treat what he can see is the problem, so he gave Harry a steroid and an antibiotic shot.
Harry is mostly acting normal, except he's spending the morning on my dad's bed. He did this 6 months ago when he had all the vet visits and surgery, and I assume he's doing it now in response t going to the vet. I'm hoping it's not because he's feeling sick. Otherwise, he's acting normal. He's still eating like a little pig (he was overweight before the surgery in the Spring, lost 3 pounds back then but I think he's gained them back by now. the vet did not bother to weigh him yesterday); So far this morning, he's gone to his kibble bowl maybe 5-6 times to graze, had a serving of wet food and still had some Friskies senior cat bisque after all that. He's not an energetic cat, his activities mainly involve: sleeping, moving from spot to spot for naps, looking out the window, and grooming himself. He's still doing all that stuff, so I'm hoping that's a sign the anemia is not very severe. Vet is checking for leukemia but I'm almost positive Harry got his feline Leukemia vaccine 2 years ago; the old vet gave it to him by accident when we took him for a rabies vaccination.
Anyway, if anyone whose dealt with this before wants to chime in, I'm wondering how bad the anemia could be if he's still acting normal. Could it be
