Questions with an enemic cat

[ilovetuxedocats]

Hello all! i'm brand new to this forum. One of the cats in my house hold,Spike,who is a 10month old male short hair over the past month has shown rapid weight loss,and acting lethargic,and softly moews to me,so I took him to the vet last week,he had a fever of 104.he gave him a shot and gave me panmycin drops to give him 2 a day. He has had a steady appetite all week,but still isn'tvery lively,and hangs around andseems disintrested with most things,even catnip. The vet did a feline lukemia test on him,and it cameback negative. Today he gave him a injection of depo madero in his neck.He thinks Spike is anemic,and has low red blood cells,his gooms are pale yellow/white,as are his ears. He has no feaver now,his temp is normal,and his breathing is fine,but he doesn't drink much water,and now uses the liter box very little. The vet also gave me some vitamins for him to build up his Iron. I was just wondering If you think we are on the right track with him,or what could be wrong with him??? He is kept indoors all the time,his mom and Dad and my tuxi have all their shots up to date.He has had no illness at all untill this (he did get into and eat 3/4 of a pound of raw hamburger last month,so maybe samonila??
We are keeping a close eye onhim and saying prayers for him to fight whatever he has and to recover from this. any ideas???
Thanks.

 

[pat]

I am sorry to hear your little one isn't well. I honestly would either ask my vet to do the further testing needed (he can test to be sure if your cat is anemic or not, and to see how the liver function tests come back since you mention jaundice - the yellowing of the ears you mentioned.)

The cause of the anemia if present needs to be determined...if your vet doesn't feel it necessary to do more testing, I'd zip off for a second opinion with a feline specialist if you can find one within a reasonable distance.

I'm sure others will pop in with their advice, but this, to me, screams for more specific answers..more than being sent home with vitamins.

 

[catdvm]

Was any blood work done? If not, I would bring him in right away and do a CBC and biochemical profile. For one thing his gums should be light pink in color, not yellow, and not pale. Though anemia does produce pale gums, it is not the only reason for it. And though iron deficiency anemia is common in humans, it is not common at all in pets (anemia does occur, but it is usually because of other reasons instead of lack of iron).

 

[marsch21]

We lost a cat to Anemia last month. You definitely want more tests done to rule out other causes. I wish you luck.

 

[kitty's keeper]

I have found through my experiences with Kitty when she has been ill and sometimes had to see a different vet that some vets are not as thorough as I would like them to be. I would try calling the vet and talking to them. Let them know about the new problems and how concerned you are. Kitty had an episode like this a few monthes back and she pulled through, I hope the same for your sweet kitty!

 

[tom w]

I would ask for blood work also, That is how we found out Tuffy was anemic. Turned out he was bleeding from worms, he was treated for worms and in a couple weeks his blood test was ok again.