Veterinary Incompetence?

Took my cat to the vet today to review blood results

Vet's diagnosis was and I quote "feline leukopenia" I was a bit confused by the wording of this diagnosis and after consulting online it was pretty evident this was just parvo.

I called him back looking to confirm this and he said, quote: "No, cats don't get that, that's in infectious disease specific to canines"

I'm pretty much speechless at this point. Have I tremendously misunderstood every website offering information regarding this disease? I even mentioned to him my cat received a vaccine for "panleukopenia". So why would there be a vaccine administered for a disease it's recipient isn't vulnerable to?

Does someone have any insight as to what possible reason this oaf could have to be confused regarding this?

http://www.cat-health-guide.org/felineparvo.html

Hoping that might link help with the confusion.

Its not something i personally know much about.

Hi Boris89.

Frankly, I'm not understanding your question (nor do I understand how the specific term "parvo" could be attributable to cats).

From a reliable Veterinary website:

 Dog distemper and feline distemper/panleukopena are entirely different virus - but dog Parvo and cat distemper/panleukopenia virus are very closely related.

Panleukopenia in Cats - Ron Hines DVM PhD

Click to expand...

So, this Vet is spot-on.

Now, if you're wondering how your cat could be diagnosed with panleukopenia after having received a vaccine against it.....well, that's an entirely different question.

Yes, your vet is correct. Parvo is specific to dogs but it is very similar to feline distemper, which is what your cat has.


How old is your cat? Cats can be born with feline distemper.


In fact, one of my cats was born with it and we didn't find out until 2 weeks after we adopted her, when she started showing symptoms (she was 12 weeks old at that time). She was vaccinated for it at 8 weeks, but obviously that did nothing since she and her siblings were born with it. There were 6 kittens in her litter and she was the only one to survive because we were the only ones who were able to (barely) get her to the vet in time. She spent over a month at the vet and recieved round the clock care (my vet was nice enough to take her home and give her all the medical care she needed, so we didn't have to pay to have her boarded in the kennels at the vet for a over a month).

Thank you both for replying and clearing that up for me.

Glad to hear I this was just me being foolish and not reading all the information thoroughly rather than my vet being mistaken. Next time I'll speak with him before frantically looking online.

To answer Raina's question he just turned 7 years old today actually, your vet sounds pretty awesome btw