In 2004, when Tuxedo was eating litter, a vet at our vet's practice said it was nothing to worry about (our regular vet was on vacation).
Well - it was something to worry about! He'd just had his physical, and his blood work was normal. This is why I always advise people to get their pets to the vet if they suspect they're sick even if they were just recently at the vet - because had they drawn blood then, it would have revealed a low red blood cell count.
Turns out Tuxedo had some type of autoimmune disease where his body basically thought his red blood cells were like a virus. He had become extremely anemic, his heart and liver enlarged. It wasn't technically feline hemolytic anemia. But our vet worked for months to figure it out. In the meantime, Tuxedo had to undergo a blood transfusion. At one point they tried to give him another one, but couldn't (cats have much more "complicated" blood than people, and often after one transfusion, their body rejects another (the blood clots so can't be transfused)).
We almost lost him twice. We will never forget that day that the vet said "I'm out of bullets" - and his hematocrit was 7. (Normal is 25 - 40, below 25 anemic, and below 15 - 18 not survivable for long).
We had to take him to the vet daily for months for shots of nupogen and epogen. In fact, it's why we moved out of our RV and into a house - it was just 10 minutes from the vet.
As a last resort, the vet gave him a shot of depomedrol as opposed to the prednisone pill.
IT WORKED! He had to go weekly for the shot. Then every other week. The time between shots got longer and longer.
Finally, earlier this year - he hadn't needed a depo shot since - June 2008. We continued to take him to the vet every 3, then four months. But in April, the vet declared Tuxedo officially "out of the woods."
Well, on Tuesday I thought I saw him licking litter, but I wasn't sure. Today I saw him lean into the litter box, so I walked over. He was not just sniffing around. He was licking litter.
He still looks very "pink" (when anemic, his gums and paw pads where basically white). But we've got an appointment at the vet for Friday.
If you could spare any vibes for our baby boy, we'd really appreciate it! I just hope that if he is becoming anemic again, that the depomedrol continues to work its magic.
Laurie
Well - it was something to worry about! He'd just had his physical, and his blood work was normal. This is why I always advise people to get their pets to the vet if they suspect they're sick even if they were just recently at the vet - because had they drawn blood then, it would have revealed a low red blood cell count.
Turns out Tuxedo had some type of autoimmune disease where his body basically thought his red blood cells were like a virus. He had become extremely anemic, his heart and liver enlarged. It wasn't technically feline hemolytic anemia. But our vet worked for months to figure it out. In the meantime, Tuxedo had to undergo a blood transfusion. At one point they tried to give him another one, but couldn't (cats have much more "complicated" blood than people, and often after one transfusion, their body rejects another (the blood clots so can't be transfused)).
We almost lost him twice. We will never forget that day that the vet said "I'm out of bullets" - and his hematocrit was 7. (Normal is 25 - 40, below 25 anemic, and below 15 - 18 not survivable for long).
We had to take him to the vet daily for months for shots of nupogen and epogen. In fact, it's why we moved out of our RV and into a house - it was just 10 minutes from the vet.
As a last resort, the vet gave him a shot of depomedrol as opposed to the prednisone pill.
IT WORKED! He had to go weekly for the shot. Then every other week. The time between shots got longer and longer.
Finally, earlier this year - he hadn't needed a depo shot since - June 2008. We continued to take him to the vet every 3, then four months. But in April, the vet declared Tuxedo officially "out of the woods."
Well, on Tuesday I thought I saw him licking litter, but I wasn't sure. Today I saw him lean into the litter box, so I walked over. He was not just sniffing around. He was licking litter.
He still looks very "pink" (when anemic, his gums and paw pads where basically white). But we've got an appointment at the vet for Friday.
If you could spare any vibes for our baby boy, we'd really appreciate it! I just hope that if he is becoming anemic again, that the depomedrol continues to work its magic.
Laurie
