Unknown Cause For Anemia

[Candlemaker80]

So, my husband and I took our cat to the vet due to a seemingly double ear infection that also looked like it was making it hard for her to eat due to jaw movement. However, at the vet, she did bloodwork and general look over. She was very concerned and saw that our cat was very stressed. Her heart was galloping as well. Her bloodwork didn' come back great. However, the test wasn't a coverall. It was a fiv slash leukemia check. Negative. However, doc saw her pc was down to 12%. Cat was mouth breathing, you couldn' touch her ears or head area at all, stressed. She gave her a long acting antibiotic shot and an anti inflammatory shot as well. Now just a week and a half prior to this happening, she had gotten spayed because she had pyometra. Spay and neuter clinic did that not the regular vet. We took her back to the vet two days later for more meds and lab work. She said her glucose was slightly elevated but not surprised because of the situation. She did a complete blood work panel. She was thinking she might have kidney or liver issues. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zero. She's at a lose. Our girl is dying and we have no reason why. The vet is treating her for the infectious anemia. Our girl as her moments where she seems to be doing better, but she' so exhausted and we'e been havng to give her small pea sized drops of food through a syringe. She has less pain around the ear and jaw area but it' definitely still there. The anemia she has is non regenerative. Doc seems to think she may have had an issue before surgery we didn' know about. She is a daddy's girl and it' killing me to watch him cry as he watches her go through this. I'm wanting to try things to bring up her red blood cell level but we are going to see the vet in a matter of hours and I'll ask if there is a way to save her that way. Sorry so long. It' just een so difficult this past few days. Almost 500 dollars later and no definite answer or treatment. Baffled. Confused. Scared.

 

[babiesmom5]

A PCV of 12 is quite serious...she probably needs a blood transfusion at this point. I would take your cat to the nearest comprehensive ER hospital where she could be seen by an Internal Medicine Specialist.

There are several causes of non-regenerative anemia. If they have ruled out FIV, FeLV and kidney disease, it may be due to certain type of cancers, chronic inflammatory disease or it may be immune mediated. There is a Coombs test which looks for antibodies against red blood cells which indicates immune mediated hemolytic anemia. In worst case scenarios, a bone marrow biopsy may be done to determine the cause of the anemia.

I had a cat with non regenerative anemia. After a blood transfusion with a PCV of 17, he was treated on a presumed combination of immune mediated hemolytic anemia and anemia of chronic inflammatory disease.
His anemia became regenerative with a regimen of steroids and an immunosuppresant.

I would not delay getting your cat to the nearest ER.

Don't panic or give up hope. Your cat CAN be treated, but you need to act fast. I wish you all the best.

 

[duckpond]

I am so sorry that she, and you guys are going through this! Hopefully the vet visit you are having today will give you some answers, and some insight on how to help her.
Do let us know how the vet visit goes, and how she is. Sending you guys my best thoughts and prayers!

 

[cookiebeast]

Like babiesmom5 said, you should take your furbaby to the nearest ER. They can hook her up with IV fluids and possibly do a blood transfusion. Most ERs are 24/7 and they have specialists.

My cat recently has been diagnosed small cell lymphoma and started her steroids. However her PCV levels keep dropping, lowest was 15%. I did 2 blood transfusion and it went back up 25%. But the last recent blood work showed down to 19%.

The doctors have ruled out kidney, FIV, FeLV and other possible infections and concluded it's the cancer that made it drop, so she started her chemo right away. She showed some progress and I am following-up with more blood work soon.

So you would need to see a specialist right away to determine what is her problem, and the root cause of it. Don't give up hope! Wishing you all the best ...