The vet I was taking Monkee to wouldn't do more than 2 transfusions. We only
did one. When it wore off, it wore off bad. I realize now that Monkee was
suffering much more than he let on and I just didn't know it at the time
because he was such a toughie, with a real zest for life. I think
psychologically, when you have a very anemic cat, the blood transfusion effects
can be really hard to deal with. Monkee had lymphosarcoma at the same time and
I wonder now if that was causing him pain and difficulty more than the anemia.
In the future, I personally would only consider multiple transfusions (ignoring
the cost for the sake of my hypothetical) maybe if anemia is the only thing a
cat is suffering from. In hindsight, I feel like we were keeping something
going that shouldn't have kept going and I think the fact that he died in my
arms before we could even get him to a vet exactly 14 days after the
transfusion, was proof of that. His body literally was not making and red
blood cells at all and he needed that replacement blood to even function. But
it's just a replacement and the body uses it up. So psychologically, it was
really hard on me to see this cat I loved more than anything be "normal" again
for a while just because he'd been given some replacement blood. And then to
witness the effects of the transfusion wearing off slowly...very hard to
endure. I just think doing a blood transfusion really needs to be thought
through, especially if you have a cat who's Felv and anemia is maybe the least
of his problems...like it was in Monkee's case.
-Caroline > Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 06:05:48 -0700> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To:
felvtalk@felineleukemia.org> Subject: Re: blood transfusion> > I do know of one
cat that has had many transfusions, more than 5, I > think it was one of
Hideyo's cats, I seem to remember her posting it on > the anemia list I'm on. I
believe it was because the epogen quit > working or her vet thought the cat had
developed aiitbodies. I will > write her and ask to double check, this cat is
alive and well though > still with an extremely low HCT, she is doing good. The
vets can't > figure out what is causing her anemia.> > > Did you get the
answers you needed? Speaking specifically about > > anemic cats who are FeLV+,
blood transfusions are probably given every > > 10 days, and probably not more
than 3 times. This is only knowledge I > > have gleaned from what I've seen
here in the past two years and might > > not be completely right. Some vets
won't even do more than 2 > > transfusions.> -- > > 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 &
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animals websites]> http://bmk.bemikitties.com> >
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