Does immuno-regulin help with anemia? If the problem is her red blood cell count, couldn't it be bad if her white blood cell count was increased?
>===== Original Message From Chris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ===== >Don't know if it would help but my Tucson has had a couple of episodes of >very low white blood count. Vet gave her a series of immune-regulin shots >and it did perk her back up pretty quickly. > >Christiane Biagi >914-632-4672 >Cell: 914-720-6888 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Katrina Animal Reunion Team (KART) >www.findkpets.org > >Join Us & Help Reunite Katrina-displaced Families with their Animals > >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Megan Heikkinen >Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 9:44 PM >To: [email protected] >Subject: RE: To Megan: Re: My cat was tested positive yesterday, and I don't >know what to do. > >Olive actually did test negative on the ELISA test, although it wasn't a >strong negative. The IFA was done twice and came up positive both times. We >skipped the ELISA test on my other two, and instead are having the blood >shipped to the vet school for the IFA. > >I don't think that my vet seems to know a whole lot about FeLV, really. He >hasn't really given me any options as to what to do with Olive. He may be >under the impression that it's a lost cause. He gave me amoxidrop, but I >don't >know if that's even helping. He didn't say what type of anemia it was, >although I would assume it's non-regenerative. He is aware of >Hemobartonella, >but I don't think he seemed too concerned about it. I'm going to call >tomorrow >and hopefully get more answers. I knew the transfusion wouldn't last long, >but >I didn't realize that it would only be for about a week. I will try to get >Doxycylcine, as well as a consultation at the vet school. Now I'm scared >that >I'm too late to help her. If need be, I can do another transfusion, although >last time we had to get blood from one of my other cats, and I hate putting >them at risk. I will try to talk to other vets if mine proves unhelpful. > >Thank you for your input, and thanks to everyone else, as well. You all are >giving me hope, even it's just a little bit. > >-Megan > >>===== Original Message From wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ===== >>Megan, > >Hi and welcome to the group. I'm sorry you had to find us but you've come >to >the best place there is for info. short of a Veterinary Internist. I hope >this evening finds you better off than last night. Michael is right...going >to the website and clicking into Archives and searching through the most >current archives is a very good idea. There is so much to learn and lot of >good, intelligent people here to help you. > >Retesting with the IFA after a positive ELISA (in-house) test is important. >ELISA can give false positives/negatives. However, since Olive already is >dealing with anemia, the test is probably correct. However, all of your >kitties who are positive can still seroconvert and 'throw' the virus, so >don't >give up hope that one day they will be negative. I would retest every 3-6 >months (probably 6, since it's less stressful on them to travel and test >less >often). About 30-40% of cats who are exposed will throw off the virus, >which >means that if all three were exposed as kittens, which is the most likely >scenario for exposure, then the other two may be negative. I'm betting at >least one of them is, considering the numbers. > >I will not sugar-coat things...anemia is bad for FeLV+ kitties. It's fatal >a >lot of the time, BUT we have seen kitties here who got through the anemia >with >things like transfusions and meds to help stimulate red blood cell >production >(mainly prednisolone). The transfusion will wear off. I think it lasts >about >10 days, give or take. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Did the vet give >you >any meds to give Olive? She needs help in getting her RBC's going again. >Did >the vet say she has regenerative or non-regenerative anemia? Do you happen >to >have a copy of the bloodwork results done on Olive? If not, can you get >them >to send you one electronically or pick one up to post here? The BIG thing >you >need to know about is Hemobartonella. Did your vet mention putting Olive on >a >three week dose of Doxycycline. Hemobart is very difficult to see on a >slide, >so difficult to diagnose. One minute the blood parasite is there, the next >it's not. So the majority >> of vets usually dose with doxy when they see anemia in an felv+ cat. >Hemobart has a much higher presence in FeLV+ kitties. If it is hemobart, >that's a good thing Megan. It means you have a much better chance of saving >Olive. But you have to get her the meds asap. And be firm with your vet >about the doxy. If your vet has not touched on any of these things I'm >telling you, find another vet asap. You need someone who is willing to work >with you to save Olive. Not make money off of you and not immediately >suggest >pts at the first sign of a positive FeLV test. Michael's suggestion of >getting a referral to UT is a great idea. I'm concerned that the vet did >not >tell you that the transfusion was just a temporary fix. It treats the >symptom, not the problem. Some people do treat with Interferon. I would >post >a question with that in the subject line and you will get more specific >responses regarding that specific treatment. Interferon will not treat >> anemia though. It helps the immune system stay strong so the virus >doesn't >kick in. > >The two most important things you can do to keep your kitties healthy and >the >virus from 'kicking in' or activating is to feed them a high quality diet, >one >with no grains, like Innova Evo or the like. Add immune boosting >supplements >like lysine to the food. Lysine must not have the additive Propylene Glycol >in the ingredients as it causes Heinz body anemia in cats. The other thing >is >to keep your kitties as stress-free as possible. New additions to the >family, >long vacations and especially boarding, moving, environmental factors like >heat, a lot of company, and loud noises are all some things that can stress >kitties out. Also, your kitties have already been exposed, so separating >them >at this point is only going to stress them out further, something you don't >want. I would not separate. I did not separate mine (I had four, one >positive; the other three never became positive after four years sharing the >same food/water bowls and litter boxes). > >Try not to stress out too much Megan, so Olive will not pick up on it. Do >as >well as you can in your studies even though you are dealing with this, and >enjoy every minute you have with Olive. Take photos of her so in case the >worst happens, you have a visual memory of her. I am not trying to scare >you; >just trying to give realistic advice. You can't know what's in store for >Olive in the near future. Prepare for the worst, but hope and PRAY for the >best. And please keep us posted and ask anymore questions you may have. > >:) >Wendy > > > >____________________________________________________________________________ >__ >______ >Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car >Finder tool. >http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/
