Duh! I feel so stupid not suggesting the Doxy treatment also. I know you said that Slinky had been on 2 rounds of antibiotics; which kinds were they? Hemobartanella is very hard to diagnose, so even with a negative hemobart test, I would still definitely go with the 2 week doxy treatment in case it is hemobartanella if Slinky hasn't had that yet.
:) Wendy --- Belinda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > What I would do is get the transfusion and start > him on epogen, do > they know what is causing the anemia. Bailey my > positive was anemic and > it was due to the virus surpressing his immune > system, my vet started > him on epogen and a fairly high dose of prenisolone > (20mgs) before he > got horribly bad and it brought his HCT back up to > 40%. > > His HCT was 20% when my vet suggested epogen and it > got down as low as > 15% while we were waiting for the epogen to kick in. > When we started > the epogen his HCT was at 18%, it dropped to 15% but > went up from > there. It took about 6 weeks from the time we > started the epogen for it > to get back up to forty and it went down the first > week. Epogen and or > Procrit (they are the same this but Procrit is > cheaper by about $25 > dollars in my area) can take as long as 3 weeks to > kick in and sometimes > even longer so don't wait to much longer if you > decide to give it a try. > > Vets will scare you by telling you that cats will > eventually develope > antibodies to the epogen but that happens in reality > about 10% of the > time and usually only after being on it for 3 months > or longer. Bailey > was on it 5 months before he passed of undiagnosed > cancer. We knew he > had cancer because of his symptoms but we couldn't > find it, we did every > test imaginable and could pin point where or what > kind. By the time I > consented to exploratory surgery to find it Bailey > was too weak to have it. > > My vet was treating a cat that was on it a year with > no problem. Here > is what I think about, without the epogen or > continuous transfusions > Slinky will die ... period. > > Just out of curiousity was he tested for > hemobartonella and has he been > treated with doxycycline for a minimum of 4 weeks. > Hemobartonella is > VERY hard to test for but most vets as a precaution > will put anemic cats > on it while trying to figure out what is causing the > anemia. > > Bailey had a bone marrow aspirate to find out what > was causing his > anemia. It did show myloid dysplastic pre-cancerous > cells, and when he > still didn't perk up after his HCT was normal again > and was having > muscle wasting thats when we knew there was most > likely cancer > somewhere. He fisrt got sick with anemia in > December of 2005 and > succumbed to pancreatic cancer in May of 2006, he > was 11 years old, he > was positive since 5 months of age when he found me > and changed my > life. :) > > Lots of prayers coming to Slinky, I hope you can > reverse his anemia and > pull him through this. > > What is his HCT?? > > -- > > Belinda > happiness is being owned by cats ... > > Be-Mi-Kitties > http://bemikitties.com > > Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens > http://adopt.bemikitties.com > > FeLV Candlelight Service > http://bemikitties.com/cls > > HostDesign4U.com [affordable hosting & web design] > http://HostDesign4U.com > > ------------ > > BMK Designs [non-profit animals websites] > http://bmk.bemikitties.com > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love (and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265
