I am in a very similar boat, Caroline - please stay positive - my first every rescued kitty, ayumi whom I brought from Japan, is fighting against anemial.. like Monkee -- she is not clinically ill, but her PCV went down to 8 last week and she had her first tansfusion -- unless there is a huge treatment difference, please don't put him go through bone marrow biopsy -- that's very stressful for him.
I suggested in my previuos email.. but please consdier aranesp for anemia teatment. and you might be already, but if you are not, please join feline anemia list as there are lots of people with experience there as well. ----- Original Message ----- From: Caroline Kaufmann<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 9:17 AM Subject: RE: To Belinda: Re: Anemia Issues I talked to Dr. Susan Maier (holistic) yesterday. I was having a lot of trouble myself remaining positive and I was doing a lot of crying this week about Monkee's anemia situation. She said that Monkee's has a really strong life-force and he looks really good and I need to stay positive because the blood transfusion will buy more time for her remedies to work. I asked about reversal of the anemia and asked her to look at the records of the blood results from his CBC on Tuesday at Dr. Daley's. I asked if she could tell if he had regenerative or nonregenerative anemia based on those. She said his regenerative values were all within the normal limits, but that no, she couldn't tell from the blood results. However, she told me if the anemia is brought on by the chemo, it's usually regenerative (and can thus be reversed); if the anemia is brought on by his actual Feline Leukemia, it's usually nonregenerative (and usually irreversible). I said, I guess that is why Dr. Daley talked about doing the bone marrow biopsy, because that would be the only way to really examine the marrow and be able to tell what is going on with the RBC, right? Dr. Maier said yes. I said, of course, we aren't doing a bone marrow biopsy, but now I FINALLY have a better understanding of what is going on. I know Dr. Daley is a good Vet, she's just sooooooooooooo clinical, and soooooooooo cerebral that I don't think she explains things the way I need things explained to me. And it's not that I am dumb, it's just that this is my first FelV+ cat- and unlike her, I haven't been through this (sadly) a million times with other FelV+ cats. Also, when I am sitting there crying my eyes out at what she is saying to me, I really need her to slow down and talk to me like I am a dumb baby! So, I am kind of having an issue with that right now. Dr. Maier said that I can call her anytime to "bounce ideas off" of her or ask for clarification about something so I thought that was very refreshing. I have also put a call into Monkee's original Vet, Dr. Jones at the Cat Clinic of Louisville- for him to call me to discuss us returning to him for primary care since Monkee's main problem now is anemia and not cancer. I haven't heard from him yet. But his office is only 5 minutes away, so the stress on Monkee is decreased. Plus, he only treats cats and so the stress of the sound of dogs barking is also eliminated for Monkee. Dr. Jones just has a really good bedside manner that I think Monkee and I both really need right now. Dr. Maier suggested that I feed Monkee raw, lean hamburger meat and chicken livers to help his anemia. I was shocked because I am a vegetarian so I NEVER buy meat, much less handle it, but I had to suppress my disgust and do it for Monkee. Our first foray into this realm was traumatic- for me. The chicken livers really freaked me out. When I was cutting them up the first time, my legs got weak and my knees felt like they might buckle, but Monkee was sitting on the floor looking up at me licking his chops, so I had to pull through, so as not to faint and fall on top of him!!!! Needless to say, he LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES it! I think I gave him too much last night- probably because I was losing my mind while cutting everything up- and I was worried that I overdid it and he couldn't eat it all, but he cleared his plate! The same this morning. It's hilarious to watch him eat the livers because, even though I have been coating the place with paper towels, he will pick up a piece and shake his head around to help break it up (like a dog) and he so he gets blood and liver "juice" (yuck) everywhere! I swear he's doing it just to freak me out! But he is so happy getting raw food, I think that, in and of itself, is going to increase his "life force" ten-fold! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: To Belinda: Re: Anemia Issues Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 07:46:49 -0700 (PDT) >Hi Belinda, > >In response to your post below, I felt the need to >clarify for Caroline's sake. Bailey's situation >should be considered a miracle in my book. As we have >seen too many times here, most cats do not respond as >Bailey did with that type of anemia; it claims the >lives of many. While I do not wish to play a part in >taking away Caroline's hope, I also want to be >completely upfront about non-regenerative anemia. It >can be reversed, but not usually. I should have made >this statement earlier. So That being said, it may be >wise to keep her kitty on Epogen considering Bailey's >case, as we never know when a situation might be >reversed. > >Respectfully, >Wendy > >--- Belinda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Everytime I hear this I post this, Bailey's anemia > > was non regenerative > > and we DID reverse it. > > > > > and it is not a good anemia to have. 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