I did a blood transfusion on my cat with an 8 & Doxy & he started bouncing back within a day. He was not FeLV+, but he did have Hemobart
Beth Dont Litter, Fix Your Critter! www.Furkids.org --- On Tue, 8/24/10, jbero tds.net <jb...@tds.net> wrote: From: jbero tds.net <jb...@tds.net> Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] URGENT: help needed re: info on transfusions/epogen, etc To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Date: Tuesday, August 24, 2010, 10:13 PM Sounds like the vet is not too interested in working with felv cats. Gave up before fighting, huh. With a hematocrit of eight the cat's in real trouble. If it's hemobartonella the rbcs are being continually destroyed. They will generally transfuse around 18 so she doesn't have much time to make a decision. I would go to the emergency clinic if deciding to do the transfusion as they often have blood in house. For hemobartonella, all it would really take is a drop of blood to look at under the the scope to see if there is agglutination. It isn't a definitive test, but very suggestive if there is a limited sample. As far as treating with doxy at this hct, I would. To the best of my knowledge, doxy does not cause bone marrow suppression and the benefit of treatment far outweighs the risk if this is truely a bartonella issue. It is unfortunate further work-up wasn't done. If it were me, I would probably go to the emergency clinic, give sub q fluids, see if I could get a smear to look for agglutination and if there was I would do the transfusion and start doxy. This, however, can be expensive and invasive. She could just try the doxy without a transfusion - in that case I would probably also do prednisone as you need to stop any further destruction of rbcs, but only for a matter of days. It may not work, but it would be the least invasive and less expensive. She may than add some supplements - I'd do cod liver oil about half of human gel capsule(for the Vitamin A, Vitamin D), NAC - about 100mg, and sodium ascorbate - 750mg, and consider the herbal tonic. As you know, no guarantees, but God is in the business of miracles, I believe. Good luck and God bless. Jenny On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 4:47 PM, MaryChristine <twelvehousec...@gmail.com>wrote: > my suggestion is CERTAINLY to check for hemobartenellosis--why it > wasn't done initially, i have no idea. not knowing the kind of anemia > either, makes it difficult. > > the vet involved claimed that they were having trouble finding any > blood, and they wouldn't be able to call til after 5PM. i'd thought > that the vast majority of cats in the US were one type, just wasn't > sure which. > > perhaps the vet just presumed she'd want the cat euthed, so once he > got preliminary results, he didn't keep looking. > > you think that doxy is not too hard on the system of a kitty with > such a low hematocrit? > > the good thing is that the cat's mom is NOT going to do extraordinary > care to make herself feel better. > > MC > -- > Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors! > Maybe That'll Make The Difference.... > > MaryChristine > Special-Needs Coordinator, Purebred Cat Breed Rescue (www.purebredcats.org > ) > Member, SCAT (Special-Cat Action Team) > > > > > > On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 5:24 PM, jbero tds.net <jb...@tds.net> wrote: > > Hey, > > > > With respect to blood transfusions in cats. Most cats are blood group A > - > > around 99% in the US. As it is in people you need to match the blood > > types. Because there is such a high prevelance of type A in the US, they > do > > not always do a type and cross - to me this seems foolish as it would be > > easy to just do a cross and look for any reaction in the test tube. I > don't > > think they always know how to do this in general vet labs. If you have a > > cat that is O or B (again unlikely in the US), they will react to the > > transfusion of an A blood type donor. > > > > I personally have had bad luck with transfusions in felv because you are > > only treating the symptoms of the disease and they will have to be > > transfused every month or two. Every transfusion increases the risk of a > > bad transfusion reaction. If, however, the cat has a regenerative anemia > > (lots of reticulocytes) and something like a hemobartonella infection, > the > > transfusion in conjunction with treatment of the hemobartonella may yield > > positive results. What I am trying to say is that, if the cat is anemic > > because his bone marrow is not producing more red blood cells, a > transfusion > > will only prolong the inevitable by a month or two (this would be end > stage > > effects of the felv). Unless there is some novel treatment for felv in > this > > stage (I haven't found much - LTCI, acemannan and interferon have been > > proposed and sometimes help but no guarantees) and you are willing to try > > one of them, I would probably not opt to do a transfusion. If, on the > other > > hand, there is a regenerative anemia and an underlying cause for the > anemia > > - like hemobartonella - a transfusion in conjunction with treatment of > the > > hemobartonella may be helpful. Especially if there is some desire to > > attempt to treat the felv - LTCI, interferon, acemannan, a combination of > > herbal remedies, etc. > > > > If all they want to do is a transfusion, I can almost guarantee that is > will > > simply prolong the inevitable by a few weeks. > > > > Hope that helps. > > > > Jenny > > > > > > On 8/24/10, MaryChristine <twelvehousec...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> just got an email from a rescue i work with, about someone who adopted > >> a FeLV positive a few months ago. kitty is NOT doing well--with a > >> hematocrit of 8. she asked her vet about doing a transfusion, and he > >> said that's not done with FeLV cats. well, other than getting a new > >> vet, i'm asking you guys for help. (he's also saying it could be > >> whatever-they're-now-calling-hemobartenellosis.) i've got all the info > >> from the rescue, and the contact info of the cat's mom. > >> > >> i know that some of you have experience with this, which i do not: if > >> any of you are willing/able to help walk lisa (the human) and josie > >> (the cat) through this, please let me know! feline anemia boards? i've > >> suggested she check www.adopt.bemikitties for local vets (she MAY be > >> in the miami, FL area, but not sure on that yet--that's where the > >> rescue is), as well as amer assn of feline practitioners for a vet > >> near her, but i think that talking with someone who knows what they're > >> talking about would be a big help..... > >> > >> thanks! > >> > >> MC, out of her depth > >> -- > >> Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors! > >> Maybe That'll Make The Difference.... > >> > >> MaryChristine > >> Special-Needs Coordinator, Purebred Cat Breed Rescue ( > www.purebredcats.org > >> ) > >> Member, SCAT (Special-Cat Action Team) > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Felvtalk mailing list > >> Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > >> http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > Felvtalk mailing list > > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
