Sick Cat - Possibly Leukemia, I need your advice CP.

[IliketoPuck]

Little update on Theo:

We took him in yesterday to get his blood work checked and he came back 100% healthy! The people at the clinic are calling him the "miracle cat" now, he went from a 11% red blood cell all the way back up to 31%, which is unheard of. So pumped right now, awesome news to start the day.

[Ducay]

Atta boy! Keep that red count high! Hopefully he can stay healthy and we can all enjoy a feel good CP story!

Yay Theo!

[Finner]

Hey, sorry to hear about your cat.

My cat went through the same thing last year.

It actually ended up being something called Haemobartonella, a blood parasite that causes low red blood cell counts.

Ask your vet to look for a parasite, that particular one is pretty rare, but is extremely common in other forms, and can be tough to find, ie. the parasite won't show up in one blood sample, but will in another.

Or switch vets, i went through 3 before finding one that figured out what it was and what to do.

Our cat ended up dying due to another complication, but i have another one who has a different blood parasite, but same effect.

Supposedly lots of cats carry them but in most cases it doesn't affect them (like cold sores in people, everyone has virus but only a few people get them).

Just my 2 cents.


Edit: Just realized this is an old thread and your cat is now healthy...but it actually could be what i posted.

[WhiteTiger]

This is great news to hear. We've recently gone through some issues with our cat, and it seems that she's recovering now as well.

Glad to hear this, I hope he continues to improve!

[IliketoPuck]

It is incredible really. The little bugger has put on four pounds and you would never know that just a few months ago he was days from dying. Such a fighter, and such an awesome cat too, we are really happy he managed to pull off the highly improbable.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by fotze

Did it go through the normal cancer treatments?

The tests came back and he never had leukemia, but a blood disorder that caused his body to destroy the red blood cells, causing him to become anemic. We put him on steroids, and that sparked his blood cell production, it isn't a cure but it is a treatment for the problem. So we have to give him a pill once a day, but that's nothing.

[transplant99]

Friggin awesome.

We have an aging little dog that was doing some really loopy things about 3 years ago including being only able to walk backwards at one point. Vets had no idea, so as a last resort tried her on Prednizone....been taking a pill a week for 4 years now and that has helped in so many ways. Now she has since become 90% blind and can no longer jump or really do much more than eat and sleep and sit on our laps, but all the same she got a long repreive with the help of the steroid.

[Jake]

It is great to hear your cat rebounded. In these types of situations it can be hard to get your thoughts in order, but I think you handled it really well. Also, to the vets credit, she seemed to lay out the situation as clearly as possible.

Insurance may be something to consider in the future. Even a minor injury, like a broken leg, can cost thousands if surgery is required. Plus, diagnosis these days can cost a lot of money.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by Jake

It is great to hear your cat rebounded. In these types of situations it can be hard to get your thoughts in order, but I think you handled it really well. Also, to the vets credit, she seemed to lay out the situation as clearly as possible.

Insurance may be something to consider in the future. Even a minor injury, like a broken leg, can cost thousands if surgery is required. Plus, diagnosis these days can cost a lot of money.

Yes, we have been seriously considering getting insurance for our cats. Does anyone have any suggestions for pursuing that, and how much per month does it usually cost?