4 weeks ago I found a kitten on the street. Approximately 4 months old and it was sick and hungry. I took it to my vet and had him treat it. Once I decided that I wanted to keep the kitten he started treating the kitten more aggressively. It was an upper respiratory infection. Probably FCV. Hes been on antibiotics for 4 weeks. B Complex, Non steroid, Ventolin, and a decongestant. His appetite is fantastic. Bowel movements are normal. Coat has become shiny. He is alert and plays. Sounds healthy. Looks healthy. But his blood tests( 4 over the last 4 weeks) show and increasing WBC and a lowering of LYM. (WBC 41 today and LMY% 7.8) My vet read about the antibiotic that my cat is taking causing high WBC even if the cat has improved. Like a false positive. I had read the same thing myself and I cant find it again on the internet and dont know the name of the antibiotic off hand. The vet immediately took my kitten off that antibiotic and put him back on the first one he had been on. He said he will repeat the blood test tomorrow. I'm looking for ideas. The cat seems absolutely fine ...but those blood tests...
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A sick but healthy kitten
- Thread starter peggytoz
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His FIV and FeLV tests were negative. He hasnt been wormed or vaccinated and the vet wont until the kittens blood tests come back normal. I cant bring him home because I have 2 cats at home that I cant put at risk. I sit at the vets everyday for 2 hours and pet, play, and talk to the kitten. If I see anything unusual or any changes I tell the vet right away.I may see something he wont since Im spending so much time one on one with him.
I guess I'm a little confused, ypou said above cat's WBC count is 41? Even if meant to say 4,100 it would be too low. 41,000 would be high and usually indicates infection. Normal is 4,900 to 20,000. Let's say it is 41,000. then your vet is right. Kittens can have elevated levels too fromn other reasons. I think you are right to not expose yoru cats to possible diseases, I just worry you may be running up quite a bill..... You have a good vet that won't vaccinate a sick kitten! The fact that he is looking better is good, it means he is most likely getting better, is recovering from whatever he has. Bless your heart for taking care of this baby, I know everything will turn out alright, you are an angel!
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When I first brought him in he was congested. Lots of green eye and nose discharge and not playful but still had a great appetite. Hes sneezing on average 1 time per hour. Thats significantly less than before. The eyes have very little discharge and the nose discharge is clear.
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Did they do a chemistry profile as well? I’d do this to check for potential problems other than URI, just to rule them out. My cat had calici virus that was very difficult to treat and I know his liver values were off after treatment.
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These are the only blood tests my vet can do in his office. I think tomorrow, if the blood tests arent better, I'll ask him to call the local university and have their veterinary hospital run the blood tests he think my kitten needs. I want to avoid them treating or examining my kitten. They have a nasty habit of saying FIP for everything. If the problem isnt obvious the automatically say FIP and I dont want to hear that anymore from them. I've left there crying my eyes out several times over a bogus diagnosis.
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- #9
These are the only blood tests my vet can do in his office. I think tomorrow, if the blood tests arent better, I'll ask him to call the local university and have their veterinary hospital run the blood tests he think my kitten needs. I want to avoid them treating or examining my kitten. They have a nasty habit of saying FIP for everything. If the problem isnt obvious the automatically say FIP and I dont want to hear that anymore from them. I've left there crying my eyes out several times over a bogus diagnosis.
I wouldn’t worry yet, especially since he’s doing so good, wait for the next CBC results and take it from there. I’m only wondering if not enough days have passed since the last test to see significant changes? But it seems you do have a good vet so I’m hoping he knows. Good luck!
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He said he's not expecting any major changes, but if it were to drop down to 38,000 then he'd know he was on the right track. Tomorrow will be day 2.5 of the antibiotic change. I'm also going to request another x-ray. He had fluid in his lungs and I want to make sure it hasnt gotten worse.
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Wonderful wonderful news! I went to see Quincy today and have his blood tests done again. The vet started to backpedal and suggest that maybe we should wait one more day. I said let’s do it. If it’s moved down some my mind will be a lot more comfortable and if it’s up I’ll have to take him to the university and since it’s Friday I wouldn’t want to wait until Monday. He was flabbergasted at the results and so was I. Perfectly normal. It was a reaction to the antibiotic. He wants to keep him a few more days so he can continue the current antibiotic and ventolin treatments and he’ll do a chest X-ray in a few days to make sure his lungs are clear and he’ll worm him as soon as Quincy can tolerate it. I’m soooo happy
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I’m hopping in on this thread. My kitten seems to be sick - of course my only sign is his third eyelids popped up the evening of the 23rd and I thought it could have been his teething making him in pain.
They’re still up, and I was told this doesn’t warrant an emergency vet visit. My usual vet is closed the rest of the week so I’m calling tomorrow to get him in somewhere new.
He’s tested negative 3 times now for worms/parasites and bacteria in stool, most recent visit a few weeks ago. 3 weeks ago x ray was clear after fighting pneumonia. What should I ask for from the vet? I happen to have leftover eye drops here from when his sister had pink eye 2 weeks ago and have leftover antibiotics when a dosage changed...don’t want to give unnecessary/inappropriate meds but I hate to see him suffer another day.
They’re still up, and I was told this doesn’t warrant an emergency vet visit. My usual vet is closed the rest of the week so I’m calling tomorrow to get him in somewhere new.
He’s tested negative 3 times now for worms/parasites and bacteria in stool, most recent visit a few weeks ago. 3 weeks ago x ray was clear after fighting pneumonia. What should I ask for from the vet? I happen to have leftover eye drops here from when his sister had pink eye 2 weeks ago and have leftover antibiotics when a dosage changed...don’t want to give unnecessary/inappropriate meds but I hate to see him suffer another day.
Poor baby! I would suggest you make a new thread with your picture and info to get it more exposure and answers. I agree with you that he's still not 100%. I'm glad you're getting him to a different vet.
