High WBC after inside cat was outside for 19 days!

[profcat]

Our cat got out 2.5 weeks ago and hid in the woods, only coming out at night. (You can read about the ordeal here) We finally got him in on Thursday night and took him immediately to our vet to make sure he didn't have fleas, worms, etc. He has dropped 3 pounds (down to 11 pounds from 14) and wasn't eating much while he was out there. Since he has come back in, he's not eating much. The vet did bloodwork and found a very high white blood cell count.

The vet is thinking FeLv or FIP which would be devasting. We have other cats (2 older ones in kidney failure) so we could never bring him home again.

High WBC could also be from infection (non-viral) and stress. Maybe it's from stress? Any experience with this? Other blood work was fine.

(also he was in the office briefly, on the cat tree etc. before we quarantined him into the bathroom-- do we need to worry that we exposed our other cats??)

 

[FeebysOwner]

I am glad your cat is back home but am a bit alarmed that the vets want to immediately lean toward FeLV or FIP, especially considering there really isn't a conclusive test for confirming FIP. They can test for FCoV, the virus that can mutate to FIP under certain circumstances, but there are so many cats that have this virus, and it never mutates. All other blood work was within normal range? No indication of hepatic lipidosis? High WBC can be seen for numerous reasons, including high stress.

Are they going to check for pancreatitis as well? I would ask for the vet to test for this via the feline pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (fPLI). In the meantime, ask the vet how to treat your cat as if it is pancreatitis, as fluids and meds to help with loss of appetite and nausea and to get him eating again are likely needed anyway. It might not hurt to ask about some pain meds too. Pancreatitis can be brought in by many things, but the lack of proper nutrition could be the culprit in this case.

I don't think a brief time on the cat tree would easily enable transmission of FeLV. If your other cats are not vaccinated, they can be tested for FeLV and if negative, you can get them vaccinated and protect them from any future exposure to this cat should it turn out he has it. If you can get him through this crisis, FeLV does not have to mean isolation from other cats who have been vaccinated. Just check with your vet about any risks involved in getting your two older CKD cats vaccinated.

 

[profcat]

I am glad your cat is back home but am a bit alarmed that the vets want to immediately lean toward FeLV or FIP, especially considering there really isn't a conclusive test for confirming FIP. They can test for FCoV, the virus that can mutate to FIP under certain circumstances, but there are so many cats that have this virus, and it never mutates. All other blood work was within normal range? High WBC can be seen for numerous reasons, including high stress.

Are they going to check for pancreatitis as well? I would ask for the vet to test for this via the feline pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (fPLI). In the meantime, ask the vet how to treat your cat as if it is pancreatitis, as fluids and meds to help with loss of appetite and nausea and to get him eating again are likely needed anyway. It might not hurt to ask about some pain meds too. Pancreatitis can be brought in by many things, but the lack of proper nutrition could be the culprit in this case.

I don't think a brief time on the cat tree would easily enable transmission of FeLV. If your other cats are not vaccinated, they can be tested for FeLV and if negative, you can get them vaccinated and protect them from any future exposure to this cat should it turn out he has it. If you can get him through this crisis, FeLV does not have to mean isolation from other cats who have been vaccinated. Just check with your vet about any risks involved in getting your two older CKD cats vaccinated.

She did check for pancreatitis and he doesn't have it. We adore our vet but she can jump to worse-case very scenario quickly. This is was already a very high strung cat and it makes sense to me that he got himself literally sick with worry and not eating well. And maybe he has a UTI on top of that (thus the high WBCs). I hope that’s what it is.

I read more about FIP and I am pretty sure we have 2 cats that tested positive for coronavirus as kittens but we were told most cats have antibodies for it and not to worry. Apparently, only 1-2% actually mutate into FIP. And it seems like FeLV can take weeks to develop symptoms, so his non-appetite and WBC count seem early for that.

I'm glad the vet is being thorough, even if we are now super worried. Will hope for good results on Monday!