Severe Anemia and Thrombocytopenia in 1 year old female cat

Help!

I have a cat who is about 11months to 1 year old. She was born under a deck. My neighbor and I rescued the whole litter in July. She was vaccinated, screened and fixed. She and the entire litter was very healthy. Combo tested three times, all negative.

4 days ago, I noticed blood spots on her ears. Thought it was from playing with other cats. Last night, she started crying and blood was coming out of eyes, nose and mouth.

Took to ER vet.

Her platelets were so low they could barely measure it. However, not only that, but her WHITE cells are also very low, which I am told is extremely uncommon in cats.

She received a transfusion. I have no rodent poison in the house. Everything is kept immaculate.

This is the best vet hospital, and they are baffled.

More tests pending for infectious disease and autoimmune.

I am so scared. Love my little Bella.

Has anyone ever had this happen????

The low white cell count is unusual.  I know that in humans a severe virus will cause a low white cell count, that happened with my daughter when she was very young.  There are a few things that can cause anemia in a kitty but I don't think any of them cause a low white cell count.  The main ones involve a parasite and auto immune of unknown causes.

I don't know if this is auto immune or not, the white cell count does indicate something different.  If the vet determines that it is still auto immune in nature then your kitty will be put on a steroid.  If so ask about a steroid called depo medrol.  We have had a couple of kitties here that vets tried other steroids with no lasting results but the depo worked.  This is the last thread that we had, it is long and I don't know that your kitty has an auto immune disease or not.  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/283731/anemic-cat   With this one he asked his vet about the depo after trying other steroids.  The vet was skeptical but tried it and it worked, the kitty appears to be in remission now.

Thanks. I am overwhelmed right now. Bella had 2 transfusions and her PCV is up from 17 to 24, still no platelets. She is home now because the hospital environment was stressful and she was not eating.

She is on Prednisone and Doxycycline. I think I was mistaken when I said her white count is low.

Her low values are RBC, HCT, HGB, EOS and of course her platelets.

She is better but I am afraid it is just because of the transfusions. It has been 48 hours and she shows no bruising, and seems good.

I will keep the Depo Medrol in mind if this doesn't work.

We are also still waiting on the infectious disease results, which will hopefully be in tomorrow.

I have no real advice, but just want you to know that you and Bella are in our thoughts!  The only thing close to this that I've ever dealt with was Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia, which IIRC only affects the RBC count.  I do not believe his platelets or WBC, etc were involved.

Hopefully this helps soothe your a little bit, but a close friend of mine had a dog that developed what appeared to be blood blisters (like you saw in Bella's ears).  Her PCV and (especially) her platelets were really messed up, and (I believe) she had a transfusion as well.  This was several years ago, and for all she (the dog) has been through, she's in excellent shape provided she stays on her medications, and provided that the owner keeps an eye out for any unusual behavior.

Fingers crossed for good news, and many hugs sent.

Thank you. She is just 11 months old and I just have no idea why this is even happening. I am devastated. She is such a sweet little girl. My heart is breaking. I hope we have good news tomorrow at the vet.

I hear this is somewhat common in dogs, but not so much in cats.

I am not certain if cats get this, but humans do. Has your vet looked into aplastic anemia?? It's pretty much damage to all RBCs, Platelets, and white blood cells.  It can be caused by a variety of thing like infection and a multitude of other things. Sorry I can't be more helpful. 

Very old post but any update? Is kitty ok?

Hi mikeykitteh ,

I had this issue myself as a teenager. I got bruises and bleeding gums out of nowhere. My platelets were tested and were a very low 11,000 (normal range is 150,000-400,000!). It turned out to be an auto-immune disease called ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura), which basically means unknown cause of low platelets. They treated me with steroids to suppress my immune system because my anti-bodies were attacking my own platelets. It worked and my platelets rose to a normal range over time and then I was weaned off the prednisone.

I don't know whether cats can get ITP, but I thought I'd mention it and that steroids can be effective in raising human's platelets.

At first they tested me for leukemia, but quickly realized that wasn't it after ruling it out with a bone marrow test.

Let us know how your cat is, even though it was so long ago.

downton ali said:

Hi mikeykitteh ,

I had this issue myself as a teenager. I got bruises and bleeding gums out of nowhere. My platelets were tested and were a very low 11,000 (normal range is 150,000-400,000!). It turned out to be an auto-immune disease called ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura), which basically means unknown cause of low platelets. They treated me with steroids to suppress my immune system because my anti-bodies were attacking my own platelets. It worked and my platelets rose to a normal range over time and then I was weaned off the prednisone.

I don't know whether cats can get ITP, but I thought I'd mention it and that steroids can be effective in raising human's platelets.

At first they tested me for leukemia, but quickly realized that wasn't it after ruling it out with a bone marrow test.

Let us know how your cat is, even though it was so long ago.

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Exactly what my kitten has.. he was good for 6 months on very low prednisolone and on the 6th month his platelets are 10,000. I'm happy you're managing it well. And I hope the original posters cat is doing ok.

Catxmama said:

Exactly what my kitten has.. he was good for 6 months on very low prednisolone and on the 6th month his platelets are 10,000. I'm happy you're managing it well. And I hope the original posters cat is doing ok.

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Wow, so cats can get ITP too? What is a healthy/normal range for them?

downton ali said:

Wow, so cats can get ITP too? What is a healthy/normal range for them?

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He has had every test in the books.. cannot be vaccinated again they think it possibly could be from a vaccine reaction he had in foster care it was mandatory to get all of these ones when he was so tiny

Normal range for cats is what you listed for humans under 150,000 is considered lower end and goes up to 400,000. He got put on 5mg prednisolone which is easier taken form of prednisone. No side effects at all very happy boy for these last 6 months but out of no where the platelets fell to 12,000. When he first got diagnosed I think he was 3 months he was COVERED in those red spots (petichae) his eyes were bleeding and his gums. God awful. They cleared up within a day or two on pred and he went in for his week recheck and platelets normal and have been for 6 months up until last week so his pred is doubled. They are rechecking tomorrow. If they havent gone up I'm going to be devastated.

Knowing your story though gives me some hope he can eventually be ok. He did not have a bone marrow test because the doctor thinks it would be pointless but if his platelets continue to go down then he said it cant hurt (well it will hurt baby kitty but he will be asleep) to do it.

It is EXTREMELY rare in cats. Humans it's not rare.

He shows absolutely no symptoms which is the difficult thing we never know when hes doing bad from it thats why hes in once or twice a month to get them checked especially being on steroids they want to make sure his insides are ok from the drugs

If they haven't gone up, know they still could. I was on 80 mgs a day and my platelets still bounced up and down regularly. It was definitely a roller coaster. But, eventually they trended upwards into normal range long enough to wean me off of the medicine (8 or 9 months).

The vet can try increasing the steroids and sounds like he has. In humans, the spleen can be taken out if meds don't work. That is not always fail proof though, but I tell you that so you know there are other options.

My platelets have ranged anywhere between 30,000 and 300,000 since I was originally diagnosed. I've never had to be treated again though I've had plenty of scares. They're monitored for life. No ibuprofen for me, limited alcohol consumption, and I've got to tell every doc not to give me meds that will adversely affect my platelets (and there are plenty out there). All that being said, I live a normal happy life and they are not an everyday concern anymore.

ITP has odd symptoms, but you might learn to recognize the clues in your kitty over time.

Hang in there, and let me know how it goes next week!

Hi everyone! I was the original poster on this thread. Thank you all so much for your input and sharing your stories. I never thought I would find other people who had cats with this disorder. It has been almost three years now and Bella is still on prednisolone but doing pretty good. She was started on something like 10mg a day, and I weaned her down to 0.9mg a day! But her last checkup showed her platelets falling again so I have put her back up to about 3mg a day. Re-checking again very soon. She has otherwise been in perfect health, although I do worry about the long term pred use. Her labs get checked frequently and she seems to be tolerating it well. The first sign for me that something is wrong is her ears. She gets very visible spots there first, or at least that is the most noticeable area. Her weight is stable. No blood sugar issues.

Catxmama said:

Exactly what my kitten has.. he was good for 6 months on very low prednisolone and on the 6th month his platelets are 10,000. I'm happy you're managing it well. And I hope the original posters cat is doing ok.

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Thank you!! What is his dose now?
I am trying to answer everyone but I am not used to this board format! Please let me know if you have any questions and please keep me posted on how your cats are doing. I hope I can reassure you. My cat's platelets were up and down the first year, quite a bit. I was scared too. But after the first year, things stabilized. the only thing that effects her platelets is if I take her down too much on her dose. Other than that, you would not even know she is sick.

mikeykitteh said:

Hi everyone! I was the original poster on this thread. Thank you all so much for your input and sharing your stories. I never thought I would find other people who had cats with this disorder. It has been almost three years now and Bella is still on prednisolone but doing pretty good. She was started on something like 10mg a day, and I weaned her down to 0.9mg a day! But her last checkup showed her platelets falling again so I have put her back up to about 3mg a day. Re-checking again very soon. She has otherwise been in perfect health, although I do worry about the long term pred use. Her labs get checked frequently and she seems to be tolerating it well. The first sign for me that something is wrong is her ears. She gets very visible spots there first, or at least that is the most noticeable area. Her weight is stable. No blood sugar issues.
Thank you!! What is his dose now?
I am trying to answer everyone but I am not used to this board format! Please let me know if you have any questions and please keep me posted on how your cats are doing. I hope I can reassure you. My cat's platelets were up and down the first year, quite a bit. I was scared too. But after the first year, things stabilized. the only thing that effects her platelets is if I take her down too much on her dose. Other than that, you would not even know she is sick.

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My goodness hello! That is amazing to hear. So it it just the platelets thats her issue?
He has been on 5mg prednisolone since he was 3 months old...so hes been on the same dose for 6 months. The doc said 5mg isnt enough to suppress the immune system for his current weight (9lbs) vs when he was just a couple lbs.. so these last 6 months of him doing well was a great sign. But last week yes they fell. Hard. So his dose is now 10mg. He acts fantastic through all these months even when they're low he just doesnt notice at all. As long as baby is happy I'm okay. So yes this battle has only been 6 months and they were so happy to begin tapering the pred but since the CBC came back severely low they doubled it. Felt like a punch in the gut and slap in the face for them, my husband and I. But reading these stories from you makes me have hope. Again I am so happy she is doing well...


Downton ali: yes they said removing the spleen could be a possibility if things dont continue to improve. They arent sure if it will work but with me working for that clinic they just are able to talk with me a lot more since the vet is my boss. He tells me "Morton will be ok though this will all be ok". That's so scary for you... but kind of the best for a human to have the issues because theres so much more research into autoimmune diseases and unlike pets, humans can say hey I dont feel well... and docs can say okay we will change things up for you

My buddy is in every 4 weeks. If they do decide to taper a lower dose theyll want him in every 2 or 3 weeks until they're good then monthly for a long time which I'm fine with..the appointments are free for me basically since I work there and even if they werent free I'd still do it