Feline anemia and blood transfusions

My 4 year old male cat was adopted as a stray kitten. He had a bad flea and ear mite infestation. I took him to the vet and had him cleaned up. I always took him for annual check ups and vaccinations. He never had any health issues until two weeks ago. He began acting sort of drunk and confused. Licking the patio stones and always sleeping. His nose and gums turned white. He went in to my closet and wouldn't come out. I took him to the vet and they ran a PCV test, his red blood cell count was 8%. The vet asked if he had eaten some onions but I do not think that is possible. I hate onions. He does go outside but never leaves the yard and doesn't stay out long. He was still alert but very weak. I left him at the vet for 4 days while they treated him with an IV, Doxycycline, a steroid and vitamins. During that time his PCV fell to 5%. Now he is unresponsive, tongue hanging out and staring at the floor. He can't move an inch. His breathing is very pained and once in a while he begins to make a horrible cry. It is absolutely heart breaking. Is it too late for a feline blood transfusion? Would I just be trying to make a brain damaged cat continue to live?

Oh my god, I'm so so sorry you are going through this with your fur baby!!!!!! for you and kitty.

Garlic can cause ananemia, is it possible he may have gotten into that? I do not know much about anemia, but here are a few helpful sites I had on my favorites:
http://www.petwave.com/Cats/Health/Heart-Blood/Anemia.aspx
http://pets.webmd.com/cats/anemia-cats-types-symptoms
http://www.cat-world.com.au/anemia-in-cats
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline_Anemia/

Again, more and for you.

I would do it. And ASAP. :heart3:

Our Tuxedo had a severe anemia problem - they were never able to find the cause. His was determined to be an auto-immune disease. He needed to be on depomedrol for seven years. He was on a real roller coaster for the first two years. Then it was just an ongoing up and down for another two, then things stabilized. But he did once get as low as 7%. And we did a blood transfusion. It saved his life, and he is not brain damaged.

Your kitty sounds like something caused it, and if you can get him over this hump, then he'll be OK.

But that's the key - to get him over this hump. :heart3:

It may not save your kitty's life. But I would want to try!!!!

I should add... we did have to give him shots of Epigen every-other-day for months, to help his bone marrow produce red blood cells. That was very likely a condition specific to whatever his problem was. If this is a parasite or specific food-poisoning incident, then that should not be necessary. :heart3: