You're not going to believe this... Lazlo's anemic

I just wrote out a detailed post and forgot to copy it into Word before hitting "submit." (I keep getting messages about a missing security token. Driving me nuts).

Anyway...

Yes, Lazlo has the same gene pool as Tuxedo. Don't know if he has the same father, but he has the same mother.

Lazlo was throwing up a lot in December. It seemed to be hairball based, but we got blood work (including liver and kidney function) and x-ray done in January (though hairballs don't show up on xray, we could at least make sure it wasn't something else). Vet said everything looked normal. (Chum's vet says that his lymphocytes were slightly elevated. Now they're low).

He started throwing up again. I started the hairball treatment and zantac. But he seemed "off." His appetite was off. And I thought his gums and paw pads looked too white... but I thought - or hoped - it was my imagination.

So we took him to see Chumley's vet.

Long story short (for me), his physical exam found:

He was severely dehydrated (he hadn't eaten much in four days - they get wet food 4x a day, so not surprising);
He hadn't lost weight (only been a few days since his appetite went),
His thyroid felt slightly enlarged.

Obviously I'd told her about Tuxie.

So we did blood work again. It was only 5.5 months ago, but six months is a few years at his age. She included liver, kidney and thyroid. She also tested for FIV (just to make sure), and hemobart and the other buggies. There's nothing in his blood eating his red blood cells.

His hematocrit is 21%. Below 25% is anemic. 21% isn't horrible. We caught this early.

She obviously gave him fluids. She also gave him a shot of convenia (he had gingivitis and bad plaque on his back teeth, which is disturbing, because it didn't get this bad in 5.5 months, and the other vet said his teeth and gums looked great). She also gave him a shot of depo. (Depo, in the end, is what saved Tuxie's life).

He responded quickly. He's been meowing for "dinner" again, drinking water on his own, and seeking out "brushies."

But right now... we're where we were with Tuxie (though the numbers aren't so dire, knock wood). So far, a mystery. She's calling the lab to see if they have enough blood (we'll know tomorrow if we have to bring him back in): she wants to see his B12 and iron levels.

I'm trying not to freak out. I don't want to scare Gary, and everything worked out for Tuxie (knock wood), and we caught this much earlier.

But Lazlo could use some vibes.

More for your gang too, Nat.

Yup, Spooky and Shel are also part of the same gene pool...

At least Spooky was the only one with problems with her teeth from such a young age, but I guess the anemia (or the gingivitis) shouldn't have come as a surprise. Re: the gingivitis, we just see the vet so frequently, and everyone gets an annual - I was really upset he got the "all clear" on his teeth just this January, and clearly there was a problem already by then. I HATE it when you trust a vet and find out you shouldn't have! Really shakes the faith.

The only reason we took Laz to see Chum's vet was because she did such a great job with Chum - it just seems that where Western medicine doesn't manage the problem, Chinese medicine can help, and his regular vet had run out of ideas for what to try re: the vomiting. (This isn't the "great" vet we refer to as "Tuxedo's vet" though). I know - a lot of vets LOL. But I guess this is a good illustration as to why! I wonder if we'll start taking them for "annuals" every six months, and just alternate vets LOL. (Not a bad idea, actually).

And even though I suspected this... I guess I wasn't prepared for the news.

Thanks all.

The problem is it'll be temporary. We have no idea how long the depo will work. We may never know the cause of the anemia (we don't with Tuxie)... and it just always leaves that linger of worry. It was a real roller coaster with Tuxie, and hopefully it won't be that bad with Laz as we caught it earlier.

And it was bad enough worrying about Chumley's FIV with one immuno-compromised kitty in the house... *sigh* But it is what it is. At least Chumley's grooming buddy doesn't come from that gene pool. Well - we don't think he does. But he could, I guess. He was rescued from the RV park. I have to stop driving myself nuts!

Yup, for Tuxie it is lifelong. It's down to about every year now. But it was years to get to this point. His problem is his immune system sees his red blood cells as a virus and attacks them. The depo suppresses his immune system to stop (or slow) that process.

We'll just see what happens with Laz.

Laz is OK. Not running around or playing or anything, but definitely eating, and "bouncing" up to his top spot up in the cabinet above the cat trees for his meal. Technically the depo is a 2-week thing. But his eyes look better, and he's still drinking water and eating closer to a normal amount of food.

And Marina, you are SO right! At least we're armed with information and experience. I can't help wondering if the switch to all wet is what caused him enough stress to weaken his immune system enough to bring this on.... (we switched in November, and December he started having problems). ...but he now gets "kibble" snacks whenever he asks for them in addition to his four main meals, so hopefully he's not stressing about food.

I was waiting to hear back from his vet as to whether or not we needed to bring him in for another blood draw to get his B12 and iron levels checked - but she called Friday late, and yesterday was Saturday LOL, so I won't know until Monday.

And Marina, I forgot to answer your question about the age. Lazlo, Sheldon, Spooky, and Tuxedo are litter mates born late April 2002, and that's the order in which we brought them inside full time. They solidified our... cat rescue "career." (A stray, Booger, officially launched it LOL).

Laz came inside full time on July 6 (2002); Shelly on July 15, Spooky Dec 28 (after a failed adoption), and Tuxie April 22, 2003.

There was a 5th, but he was adopted out to one of the vet techs. I asked - and he's still doing great. But she also knows to be on the alert now.

Well thankfully with Spook it was just a (very large!) hairball. (Never thought I'd find myself smiling about that LOL).

The vet never called back about the blood, so I called earlier today. They had enough at the lab, so they're running the B12 and iron levels. Not sure when we'll have everything back. She just said she'd call as the information came in - and if anything is out of whack, she'll call right away (which she did), otherwise, she'll call once it's all back (which might be the case now). So just waiting.

At least Lazlo's appetite continues to be good.

Well, Lazlo goes back to the vet Wednesday. I don't know what's up with the vet (summer with twin sons? LOL), but I didn't hear back from her, so just went ahead and scheduled a follow-up visit. Thankfully I'm already up on the anemia thing (depo shots technically last two weeks). However, I did miss her call Saturday where she left a most apologetic message - they didn't have enough blood to run the iron and B12 tests.

I'm worried that he's lost weight. He's been feeling so boney to me (despite two vet assurances he's a "perfect" weight). But I'm pretty sure he's lost some weight. He still looks better than he did, and he's acting the same... comes when I call for dinner, and hops up into the upper cabinet where he eats - and wants his brushes - but I have been having to encourage him to eat by fiddling with his food again. And his paw pads still look very pale to me...

We were back at the vet for the follow-up today.

Good and bad news.

Good news:

1) his hematocrit did improve, to 24% from 21%.
2) All of his organs and other tests had normal numbers.
3) His white blood cells were back to normal this time.

Bad news:

1) He lost 1.5 pounds in the past 2 1/2 weeks. He weighs 10 pounds now. He's "perfect" at about 12, but not fat at 14, so he DOES look like skin and bones, it wasn't my imagination. (And the vet agreed - his gums and paw pads look REALLY white. She never would have guessed his hematocrit improved. So that wasn't my imagination either).

2) Even though his hematocrit improved, his RBC dropped to 3.92 from 4.14.

3) His protein count is high, so we can't rule out cancer.

4) His plateletes are low, so no surgery (no bone marrow aspirate) / no anesthesia for a dental to correct his gingivitis or his teeth.

He received fluids again, another shot of convenia, another shot of depo (since he did seem to respond to it!), and a shot of B12 because of the "thrombocytopenia" (low plateletes).

We're treating him as if it's hemolytic anemia (basically like Tuxie, even though the underlying blood work problems are different). We're back again in 2 weeks for another depo shot.

In the meantime, we left today armed with a bunch of Chinese herbal remedies I'm to give him. Three are for his blood, one is for his tummy. (He has been dry heaving. He was vomiting before, but that's probably because he had a problem with hairballs, so the food was stuck in his tummy. Now, with no hairballs, he's "just" dry heaving. ).

We see how he responds to this course of treatment - give it one month - and decide what to do from there.

Oh - and I'm to start giving him iron supplements. I have trouble getting liquids in him, so rather than give him Petinic, I'm getting a human iron supplement and giving him 1/4 pill every three days.

My finger is going to be seriously chomped on - the other pills I have to give him are so large I have to cut them in half, and two of them I have to give 2x a day. The other one is smaller, and it's just once every three days (like the iron).

LOL, I've tried. Lazlo doesn't like them - even with no pill in them.

Lazlo won't touch his food if there's anything but food in it. But he's not difficult to pill at all, he just naturally bites down - it's not so much that he's fighting it. Flowerbelle is the wiggler/thrasher. It doesn't help she's so small LOL. The big ones are easy.

It's weird with Chum - I initially tried to pill him, because I usually don't have trouble with any of them. But even compared to Flowerbelle, the inside of his mouth seems so SMALL. Very strange for such a big-headed cat! But his mouth just doesn't open very wide, and getting my finger over the hump of his tongue was really difficult. That's why I even bothered trying the pill pockes on Chumley. Thankfully, he's just not fussy.

But someone also suggested a type of finger protector, and I remembered we've got those "finger" toothbrushes (Spooky prefers an actual toothbrush LOL), so that works great. Already got today's dose down.

He didn't complain at all about being palpated - no pain - and she really dug in there (and he's so skinny now anyway). She couldn't feel any masses - and he was x-rayed in January, and nothing showed up then. That's another big reason she wants to pursue this first - because really, the next step would be the bone marrow aspirate.

We're all hoping that it's some genetic thing because of Tuxie... and that Lazlo continues to respond well to the depo as Tuxie has. Tuxie needed it less and less often - and is down to only needing a little "booster" about once a year now.