THANKS! 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 Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 9:48 AM, Beth <create_me_...@yahoo.com> wrote: > 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 > _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
