My 10yr old indoor Cat Has Anemia & abdominal bleeding

This was taken the day he got his Vaccine I wonder what he was looking at.. Maybe it was an angel in the room, telling me to get him out of there! And I couldn't hear or see them.. But maybe he could. :'(

This is him happy & healthy. Never been to a vet for anything, fed well and taken care of. I need him back this way! his whole demeanor has changed! He use to be so happy, and affectionate! I miss the sound of his purr!! :'( I'd give anything to hear it again.


See his cute little belly... (Sigh)... He was perfect!! A chubby little furry angel. Always came to my rescue when I was sad, slept with me and put his arm around my neck to cuddle with me... And now he is just so different! Vaccines are the devil... I will start sharing this experience, and start a movement against them and the vets that push them on older cats that are indoors and don't need them! Only cats that are outdoors primarily should have them, and even they should seek an alternative to the poison in that vaccine for all cats!!! This is awful to do to these furry angels!!! We must be the voice for the Voiceless!!!

He is a chubby, cubby boy, adorable! Because of my chunk munk Krissy I am partial to chunky /fat cats forever!

So I'm gonna say this based on what I can see.

The new pic actually looks better, almost like when you first get a bad bruise, it becomes faded looking and darkish.

BUT, and it's a big but, this is very capable of going in the opposite direction here.

Either he is healing finally, which I do think he is, but externally. If he has infection in his body that is now unable to drain out, he can be in big trouble.

This is why I have been pushing you to give him the doxy.

If he does infact have infection that is inside and left untreated, it can be deadly. 

So if this is the route you want to take, and watch him heal this way, that's okay, just as long as you understand it might not really be okay.

If he improves, everyday and with never a setback at all, which would be a signal of infection internally, then he may very well continue to heal and finally be well again.

But you watch for this okay? Not paranoid though, but if his appetite drops one day, or his temp seems higher, eartips are hot, eyes glossy, literally anything that would mean he is only getting well on the outside, then he needs medical help asap, immediately.

If this happens, be prepared for a hospital stay while massive antibiotics are pumped into him. I'm just saying.....

Otherwise, it looks fairly good at this point, he ate well, peed and pooped, let him sleep, this is how the body works on healing itself. Canned pate, water in it, loves and hugs. 

He doesn't seem ready to check out that's for sure.

I'm not one for false hope and he does seem to FINALLY be showing some progress here. 

Unless you are able to video clip his backwards motions, I can't say what the heck that's about.

I can't see where he would be affected neurologically from this. That wouldn't really make any sense.

Maybe it's that he wants to get up but it still hurts....

It looks like an abscess to me. 

I don't believe cats can catch this but this is what it looks like in horses when they get a really bad abscess (just be prepared for graphic photos)

http://www.mwveterinaryservices.com/pigeon-fever-info.html

Here is an abscess in a cat for comparison

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Ask-Veterinarian-700/2013/2/blue-skin-around-abscess.htm

Abscesses can occur anywhere on the body, around the neck, chest and abdomen, even thighs, around the base of the tail and within the paws.

If you scroll way down, the abscess in one of the  dogs looks very similar- lots of lumps and bumps here to look through!  The dog with the prepuce injury is the right one (under abscesses).

http://rayyathevet.com/2013/02/02/oh-no-i-discovered-a-lump-on-my-pet-part-ii/

If it is an abscess, you need lots of antibiotics. The drainage is a very good thing!  You may need the vet to reopen the wound for it to continue to drain.  Or it is possible the abscess may be absorbed internally.  My concern is that with an abscess that large, internal absorption may be difficult.  If it absorbs internally it is also possible for the infection to spread to other parts of the body such as the heart which  can be deadly.

Definitely keep him on antibiotics! If he were my cat, I would even ask about IV antibiotics. It is very important that the infection is destroyed and does not spread to any vital organs.

Antibiotics can cause nausea and vomiting. If that occurs ask the vet if you can change him to a different antibiotic. 

As a side note, my dad was shot in the back as a teenager. The bullet was in his back for 30 years without issue.  Suddenly he swelled way up and got an abscess where the bullet was.  They had to remove the bullet, and put in a drain in to remove the extra fluids and infection. The drain stayed in for 5 days and was removed. He was placed on antibiotics to destroy the infection.  A few months later, the infection came back and he had to have the procedure repeated a second time.

 Feline Abscesses

Indoor/outdoor cats that fight, as well as un-neutered stray tomcats are very susceptible to septicemias (bacteria in the blood stream) and subcutaneous abscesses. These often result in toxic, non-regenerative anemias early in the condition. Once the infections coalesce into an abscess, the anemia almost always subsides unless the pets are already positive for FLV, FIV or both of these virus.

From: http://www.2ndchance.info/anemia.htm

Ok, here's the situation. The first doctor thought it may be an abscess too, so he made attempts to pop it, and drain it for me. He poked at my cats pouch Three consecutive times (which is likely why he kept bleeding from it) and rolled the skin, squeezing and rolling like pizza dough, and no puss or anything extracted from it at all. That's when he thought it was too rare of a condition for him to take on, and felt I needed a Specialist. He recommended "Hollywood animal hospital", and none of the Doctors there can identify this as an abscess either. No one knows whats going on, and he also said there are NO signs of bacterial showing up in the blood work, so he decided to treat him "blindly" with antibiotic, specifically Doxy due to it being effective in treating Skin Allergies etc. but again, he is treating without knowing for sure what this is. The cat in the link above had a vet drain puss from the abscess, abscesses carry puss and bacterial.. My cat (unless misdiagnosed by 4 doctors) has no issues with puss filling in his pouch. I believe this is a bad case of either internal Hemorraging / Hemoabdomen/ Hemoperitoneum. Look those up. I found this info. Online as I did my own research on what it could be. I can't believe with all of the training and schooling these vets have been through, no one can identify this. Remember, he also received the shot in the back of this leg, I read horror stores of why they do this.. When it is generally administered in between the shoulder blades. I read it's incase there is a bad reaction, they can always decide to amputate the leg. Trama can be an issue as well, my bed in my living area is pretty high up. My mother believes he may have jumped off and landed on his tummy too hard, since he's a big boy weighing almost 20lbs and the pouch could've landed first being it hangs from him, and I have wood floors out there. Just another possibility. I am looking for answers here. so very desperate. Today's another day, it is 7:15 where I am, and he is laying in that box I cut open for him to walk in and out of on the floor. He hasn't left it all night. He seems alert & hydrated.. Mouth is moist today.. Just a little weak. Going to feed him now, then try giving the antibiotics again. Wish me luck! [emoji]128591[/emoji][emoji]10024[/emoji][emoji]10084[/emoji][emoji]128062[/emoji][emoji]127808[/emoji][emoji]127808[/emoji][emoji]127808[/emoji]

Does anyone know if I should give him Iron before the antibiotic or after? I know the last time I have it to him right after, and he threw up the iron only. His gums and lips took pale today.. So I feel the iron can help.

I found a site that says Iron & doxy should be given 2-3 hours apart on a full tummy. So he ate, I'm just waiting for him to digest now. And he didn't eat alot. I'm worried about him bleeding internally too. When he pooped yesterday, his stool was dark brown/black. I just read that color can mean bleeding of the intestine.

If your giving iron that will also cause dark stool.  I remember when I was pregnant and taking iron supplements it caused mine to actually be black.  Shots are given in the leg now because of the small possibility of injection site sarcoma which is aggressive but would not get this large this fast.  Some vets have started giving vaccines in the tail.  It's been a number of years since vaccines were given between the shoulder blades.

It's fine to give him the antibiotic right after he eats, the food will hit his tummy before the doxy does.

I would give the iron a couple hours later, and as denice said, iron DOES cause black stool, as well as constipation, but is needed for his blood.

For him to have injured his tummy pouch on his own is in my opinion, HIGHLY unlikely.

No, I do think this is all due to the rabies vax, and I may be calling it an abcess but I don't mean as a standard abcess like from a bite, but an internal way of his system rejecting the vax, causing the site where the medicine went to, dramatic trauma to the area, inflammation, the fluid/blood drainage is it's way of getting that medicine out and him to heal and be well again.

He does not have random internal bleeding, if he did, it would be coming out somewhere like his butt, penis, mouth, nose, eyes, not a volcano type area like he had. This is a localized spot where the med settled.

Also, I don't know if the state you live in requires the rabies vax, but if so, be sure you get a form that exempts him from future required rabies vaccines due to the seriousness of his reaction.

I left work early, couldn't think straight. I come home, my mother said he is barely eating, hasn't drank water, and yet he seems alert, but delirious. He's wagging his tail. Not interested in eating anything. I gave him syringes of water.. 3.. And he pushed them down. As I went to pick him up, he peed on himself, and it smelled oddly. I am so scared right now! I am about to create a donations page for him, my cousin has one for her fibroids, I need financial help with this at this point. It's alot for me, and I know he needs a specialist at this point. I am at a panic right now, I can afford the visit.. It's 120$ just the visit alone (ridiculous) ... Test and treatment will be extra.. Lord help me.

I hate that this is happening to your boy. Based on your descriptions of his condition and the photos, I'm very concerned about the outcome of this.    I hope he has the strength to beat it. Cats hide pain really well, so just be in tune with your kitty and look for signs of any suffering. If he is in distress, please take him to the ER.

Words can't describe what I am going through right now, please pray, everyone on here, in JESUS name! Pray... My faith is strong... And what has happened tonight was a supernatural attack, nothing less. He is sooo lathargic!! Very very weak.... Head hanging over, and went through sooo sooo much just now with me driving in circles getting lost going to the Emergency room, only to find it, and have two devils advocates at the front... Very insensitive woman at VSSF (Veternarian Specialist of South Florida) they actually denied my cat treatment because my mother wanted me to see my cat and they were giving us a hard time, being very rude and insensitive...so we had to take him to Hollywood Animal hospital... My eyes are swollen from crying... I feel like I'm dying a slow death.... My babies blood count is 12, it dropped. How? No one knows! Again. He is being hospitalized with steriods and a blood transfusion. Why steriods?! I heard they are risky! I am suffering so severely, I have never felt this way before., they didn't diagnose him and mentioned they don't know why he is anemic and where the blood is going!!!!! They are not promising me he will pull through. Prayers, please... This bill is almost 1400$ and I don't have it all, I left 500 deposit, gotta come up with more. I'm devastated....

I'm so sorry  I know that the administering of strong meds can be scary but at this point I think it's necessary.  Has this vet been able to give you any sort of indication as to what the root cause may be yet?

Check your PM box as well.

I'm so sorry you are going through this. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Anemia in cats is often autoimmune in nature which is the reason for the steroids.  There is usually a cause for the autoimmune reaction, often it is bacterial in nature sometimes there are other causes.  Whatever is the primary cause changes the coating of the red blood cells so the body doesn't recognize them and the immune system begins to attack them.  The steroids lowers the bodies immune reaction.

Any updates?

The only time I have seen oozing from the skin like that is with an infection.  IF the cat has been itching or scratching his stomach or if the skin gets infected, it will begin to ooze blood/clear discharge.

It does seem likely that this is a severe reaction to the vaccine. The location of the injection is not so much of a concern. The reason they inject the leg is that if the cat gets cancer from the injection they can amputate.

Now they have changed the recommendation to vaccinating in the tail, but most vets have not adopted that policy yet.

Is this what they are treating him for?

http://www.petplace.com/cats/immune-mediated-hemolytic-anemia-in-cats-imha/page1.aspx

Could you share what vaccine he got? Brand name? You may need to call the vet's office to find out.  I would want to know the brand of vaccine and have the vet report a vaccine adverse reaction or you can do it yourself:

http://truth4pets.org/reporting-reactions/

Have they done any imaging or X rays to check for cancer or neoplasm?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20433398

Did you read this article?

http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/surgery-stat-emergency-management-hemoabdomen

We are still thinking of you.  Any updates?

@SaraAnn thank you dearly for taking the time to share those links with me. I found them helpful. I was never told the specific brand of the Vaccine nor weather or not it has been reported. I will certainly find out though. Updates are, I took him to a final vet specifically with Specialist that his primary vet recommended to see. I was a little upset that after speaking with with Primary (Dr. Munoz at Banfield) and her urging me to see the Specialist Dr. Canon, I was not only expected to pay up front when I got there (250$) before even speaking to anyone, I never got the chance to see her at all. I saw another Doctor, who I actually liked he was a male (forgot his name, I think Dr. Sacros w/LVS ) who was very open and honest with me about my cats declining condition. We did an Ultra Sound and it came back negative.. As all other screaning. Im at a loss for words at this point, I mean with all that I have tried and yet still I have no answers??! He mentioned it looks to him like he needs a biopsy next, another blood transfusion, two additional kinds of Antibiotics (clavamox 62.5 mg 3 tablets every 12 hrs. And also Marbofloxacin 50mg 1 tablet every 24hrs) both in addition to Doxy, about 6 hours apart.. He also mentioned his honest opinion is that even if I were to do all of these things, there is a good likelihood my cat will not make it anyhow..and that the prognosis doesn't look good with him. :'( He suggested I consider euthanasia, and we are back at square one. First and foremost, if I chose to do all of this, it would cost me an additional 1,457 $$$ on top of everything I already have done, and have received no real answers or progress. He is sooo out of character, weak, thick saliva, either sleeping alot with irregular breaths on occasion, and / or siting with his eyes open, head propped up, spaced out. I don't know what to do... :'( I decided to take him home with me and they were kind enough to donate a few doses of the antibiotics to get me started on it, but I only gave him Doxy thus far cause I wanna research a little first on these meds and mixing. Also, he is starting to refuse to eat since yesterday, refuse to drink water (which he drank on his own yesterday) and hasn't used the potty to poop. He has been peeing on himself especially when I travel with him to take him to & from the vet in the carrier. Poor baby is scared of them, he's so intelligent, he knows they did this and that he hasn't been the same way since. All of this has got me so sick, and last night I myself was admitted to the Hospital at 12 at night due to a high fever that kept climbing..also, I was paranoid I caught something from my kitty, cause I have been pop kissing him on his mole where his mouth is, and my throat hurts tremendously. I just like him soooo sooo much, and don't know how I'm gonna be able to say goodbye. This has worn me out in everyday. I don't even have health insurance and I'm dreading this Emergency bill. That hospital is super expensive always for nothing, but it's closest to my house. I couldn't even drive so well, I was weak and seeing blurry. Today I am no better, feeling sick, weak, with a terrible sore throat. Turns out I am developing a bit of a Strep throat, the Doctor said I have burned my candle at both ends, and need to rest & take care of myself. She also sympathized with me as I explained my story about my Baby boy and what has gotten me this way. She saw all the pics, and herself could not recognize what could cause this. Well... I am laying in bed as I type this to you all, and A.D.D is sleeping right beside me. I have him on Subcutaneous fluids, Iron, and will give him Doxy in a few. I will follow with other meds once I read up on them more.. What I am basically waiting for is a CLEAR sign to euthanize him. I believe in miracles! I prayed & cried soooo hard before landing in the Hosptial from Exhaustion last night... However, I am also preparing myself to say "goodbye" to my very best friend.. My love... My Soul Kitty. :'( this is soooo very hard.. And I am already love sick. It feels like a long time since he has been himself... It was actually only about 5 days ago that he was still mentally alert and showing me some affection. He now is not in all his faculties. I don't want him to suffer... It's hard at this time to tell if he is or not. I woke up at 6am this morning after getting back from the Hospital at 3am, and he walked off my bed and was on the floor sleeping. So I picked my boy up, and laid him next to me so I can spend every last moment with him.. Monitoring him.... My poor mother has been walking the fire with me every single step of the way, and she too is mentally & physically exhausted by all that has transpired with our boy. This is such a tragedy... He was perfectly fine before the Vaccines (plural.. Yes.... ) I found out from Dr. Munoz that that Awful Vet Dr. Davila gave my boy a distemper shot as well. I was shocked by this! He is 11yrs old!! Never ever outside! Or with other animals. What was he thinking???!!!! I will never know.....and it's too late to undo the damage. I now stand with making the decision to have to finish what he started. [emoji]128534[/emoji][emoji]128560[/emoji][emoji]128557[/emoji][emoji]128554[/emoji] and this is unjust!!!! He will pay for this. I called corporate, and they filed a case # of the incident, and said they would call me back with a resolution. This was early around noon yesterday, and I never received a call back.. Nor did I receive on this morning and it is almost 11am here. This whole experience with Banfield has been a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE. I pray that at the very LEAST.... My baby boys story WILL NOT be in vain! We need to clamp down on this awful doctors who keep Killing our loved ones!!!! I am hurt by the amount of cases I have read online! Many of which owners were hopeful like myself, and invested 7k, 12k, even up to 25k just for a shot at reversing the effects of the vaccine, and to no avail.. They still lost their baby...this crushed my spirit to no end. I feel for these people, and I still cannot believe I am in this same predicament today. I will NEVER be the same... This will not go unnoticed! My heart is in agony, and each day the pain just drags on while me & my family wait for the inevitable. [emoji]128534[/emoji][emoji]128575[/emoji][emoji]128148[/emoji][emoji]128554[/emoji]

Typo...above when I said "I just like him sooo soooo much.." I obviously meant LOVE... I'm just weak and exhausted with this flu now.. Just to make the correction, cause after reviewing it, I realized the error. Thanks to all of you who have been wonderful with your words of comfort and excellent advice. I am blessed to have found this community and grateful for it. One question.. In addition to the three antibiotics, does any of you think it's a good idea to also give steriods a try??? I read that it can stimulate appetite & thirst and help alot with his condition. I just don't wanna make the end of this life a one of torture etc. I have given him all my love and comfort his entire life, and if he has to go :'( I would rather go knowing I didn't over medicate him.. I just gave him a good shot at beating this poison...

I'm so sorry  I'm praying that you start to feel better as well.  You've been going through such a stressful time.  I have had cats on steroids in the past for various reasons and personally didn't experience bad side effects from them.

My kitty has been on a steroid for almost 4 years now.  He started on a high dose to get his IBD under control then he was tapered down to a maintenance dose.  Kitties generally tolerate steroids well, better in general than humans.

I understand being both frustrated and scared because of poor vet care, I have been there.  The way the law stands now a vet is in essence lawsuit proof so it's really up to the profession to police itself.  I don't feel they are doing nearly enough.