- Joined
- Jul 22, 2013
- Messages
- 17
- Purraise
- 1
Hello. My 3 year old domestic shorthair Michelle (in my avatar photo) was losing weight and in general seemed more lethargic than her sister. Michelle is eating extremely heartily (as usual), drinking OK, cleaning herself well, still making regular trips to litter tray, etc. Everything seems normal. Except for the weight loss, slight lethargy, occasional vomiting and weird behaviors (like licking bricks, concrete, litter).
So I took her in to the vet on Wednesday July 17th. The vet did blood tests on Thursday (18th), then re-did them on Saturday (20th) as the first set clotted. Tests included T4, Felv/Fiv. From the blood tests, the vet concluded anemia and believes it to be the non-regenerative kind.
Today (24th) we've just returned from the bone marrow biopsy and I've been able to pick up the blood results from Saturday. A summary of what the blood analysis shows (everything was in acronyms, I've looked up what I think might be the translations):
Low Numbers:
RBC (Red Blood Cells): 1.36x10^12/L
HCT (Hematocrit): 8.8%
HGB (Hemoglobin): 3.1 g/dL
NEU (Neutrophils): 0.43 x 10^9/L
High Numbers:
MCV (Mean Cell Volume): 64.8 fL
MCH (Mean Cell Hemoglobin): 22.5 pg
Normal Numbers:
RETIC (Reticulocytes): 33.0 K/uL
WBC (White Blood Cells): 6.21 x 10^9/L
RDW (Red Cell Distribution Width): 19.9%
MCHC (Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration): 34.7 g/dL
LYM (Lymphocytes): 4.79 x 10^9/L
MONO (Monocytes): 0.81 x 10^9/L
EOS (Eosinophils): 0.14 x 10^9/L
BASO (Basophils): 0.04 x 10^9/L
PLT (Platelets): 182 K/uL
The UREA, CREA (Creatinine), GLOB (Globulin), ALT (Alanine Aminotransferase) and TBIL (Total Bilirubin) numbers are also high (and the ALB-Albumin-low), but the vet said these are probably being driven by and secondary to the above numbers.
It doesn’t specifically mention the results of the T4 (thyroxine, test of hyperthyroidism), FLV or FIV, but the vet didn’t mention any abnormalities to me on these points. She’s sent in additional blood smears along with the bone marrow sample to the lab experts. We’ve not yet been able to rule out bone marrow disease or leukemia.
Michelle is not on any drugs or treatment yet (except for the drugs to recover from the pain of the bone marrow biopsy), and we’re waiting 3-5 days for the bone marrow paperwork to come back. I’ve switched her from her normal dry food to a high calorie food. It’s food specifically designed for active, outdoor cats, even though she’s an indoor cat and only goes out with her sister into the garden when I’m at home to watch and during daylight hours. And I’ve taken to feeding her wet food and cat treats more often to try to build back some weight.
I’ve also been giving her more petting and attention over the past few days, as I do not know how much longer we may have to be together. At 3, she's still a young cat. She is a very sweet, well-behaved cat, even the vet could not believe how angelic she was through the process (nor how energetic and friendly she is each time in the examination room). I pray for her nightly, may she be granted with a treatable illness.
I will update this thread as soon as any more information comes in from the lab results.
So I took her in to the vet on Wednesday July 17th. The vet did blood tests on Thursday (18th), then re-did them on Saturday (20th) as the first set clotted. Tests included T4, Felv/Fiv. From the blood tests, the vet concluded anemia and believes it to be the non-regenerative kind.
Today (24th) we've just returned from the bone marrow biopsy and I've been able to pick up the blood results from Saturday. A summary of what the blood analysis shows (everything was in acronyms, I've looked up what I think might be the translations):
Low Numbers:
RBC (Red Blood Cells): 1.36x10^12/L
HCT (Hematocrit): 8.8%
HGB (Hemoglobin): 3.1 g/dL
NEU (Neutrophils): 0.43 x 10^9/L
High Numbers:
MCV (Mean Cell Volume): 64.8 fL
MCH (Mean Cell Hemoglobin): 22.5 pg
Normal Numbers:
RETIC (Reticulocytes): 33.0 K/uL
WBC (White Blood Cells): 6.21 x 10^9/L
RDW (Red Cell Distribution Width): 19.9%
MCHC (Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration): 34.7 g/dL
LYM (Lymphocytes): 4.79 x 10^9/L
MONO (Monocytes): 0.81 x 10^9/L
EOS (Eosinophils): 0.14 x 10^9/L
BASO (Basophils): 0.04 x 10^9/L
PLT (Platelets): 182 K/uL
The UREA, CREA (Creatinine), GLOB (Globulin), ALT (Alanine Aminotransferase) and TBIL (Total Bilirubin) numbers are also high (and the ALB-Albumin-low), but the vet said these are probably being driven by and secondary to the above numbers.
It doesn’t specifically mention the results of the T4 (thyroxine, test of hyperthyroidism), FLV or FIV, but the vet didn’t mention any abnormalities to me on these points. She’s sent in additional blood smears along with the bone marrow sample to the lab experts. We’ve not yet been able to rule out bone marrow disease or leukemia.
Michelle is not on any drugs or treatment yet (except for the drugs to recover from the pain of the bone marrow biopsy), and we’re waiting 3-5 days for the bone marrow paperwork to come back. I’ve switched her from her normal dry food to a high calorie food. It’s food specifically designed for active, outdoor cats, even though she’s an indoor cat and only goes out with her sister into the garden when I’m at home to watch and during daylight hours. And I’ve taken to feeding her wet food and cat treats more often to try to build back some weight.
I’ve also been giving her more petting and attention over the past few days, as I do not know how much longer we may have to be together. At 3, she's still a young cat. She is a very sweet, well-behaved cat, even the vet could not believe how angelic she was through the process (nor how energetic and friendly she is each time in the examination room). I pray for her nightly, may she be granted with a treatable illness.
I will update this thread as soon as any more information comes in from the lab results.