[Felvtalk] Buzzy is Anemic

[wendy]

Sue,
I don't want to scare you, but 8 is dangerously low, and the member who stated if you don't do something very soon, Buzzy will die, is correct.  The labored breathing is due to the lack of oxygen in the the blood from the anemia, and could be causing the heart murmur as well.  My kitty died from anemia and it was a tough road.  Had I to do it differently, I would have had him put on doxycycline right away, because of the high rate of incorrect hemobart test results (hemobart is common in FeLV+ cats).  The steroid shot will help him feel better temporarily, but it's not because the anemia is reversing.  So the source of the anemia needs to be treated.  The transfusion will help also, but is only temporary, making kitty seem to "come back to life" for around 8-14 days or so.  It might buy kitty time for other treatments to kick in, but the type of anemia is important in determining whether or not treatments will even work.  Epogen can be great
 in some cases, but sometimes with Epogen/Procrit, cats develop an "allergy" to it, and can reject it eventually, so Epogen is often a last resort.  It's a Catch-22 with Epogen, because often it takes a while to kick in, but sometimes it's not known whether to use it or not as opposed to other treatments, due to the rejection rates, until it's too late.  Even so, I would do the doxy and steriods for sure.  Make sure you take some pictures of Buzzy if you are able to, in case the anemia cannot be reversed, and spoil him rotten.  I hate to sound like a Debbie-downer, but anemia is serious, and over the last two+ years, I have seen several cats here claimed by it.  Never lose hope though.  It will help you and Buzzy through this, no matter what the outcome.  Please keep us posted.  
Prayers going out for Buzzy and you and your husband,
Wendy
 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!"     ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~



----- Original Message ----
From: Belinda Sauro <macat at bemikitties.com>
To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 9:45:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Buzzy is Anemic

      Bailey was on the other name for the procrit, it is epogen.  
Bailey bacame anemic and we did a bone marrow aspirate and tested for 
hemobartonella.  I had him on doxy even though he tested negative.  He 
had precancerous cells in his marrow and the oncologist my vet consulted 
with, he was her mentor in vet school, said to put him on epogen and a 
fairly high dose of prednisolone, where I live it is a bit cheaper than 
procrit.  His HCT went down before it went up, we started the epogen 
when it was 18%, it went to 15%, then started going up.  When he passed 
from undiagnosed pancreatic cancer, his HCT was still normal at 32% or 33%.

It is normally dosed at 3 times a week to start, with the cat being 
carefully monitored to make sure it doesn't go up too quickly.  It took 
6 weeks for Bailey's HCT to go from 15% to 40%, once it got to 40% we 
spread the dose to once a week, that kept it at 32% to 34% which is 
normal.  It is fairly common for the HCT to go down and can take up to 3 
weeks, with some cats even longer, before it goes up.

We did every test we could think of to find the cancer we suspected, my 
vet didn't feel comfortable treating for cancer without knowing what 
kind or where.  We never found it, it was upon his death we found out 
what and where.

If you don't do something quickly Buzzy will die, if he is having 
breathing problems he is in extreme danger.  I lost my Frankie to this 
when he started breathing funny I took him to the vet, his HCT was 6%, 
my then vet didn't express to me how dangerous this or how close to 
death he was, so I took him home to decide whether or not to do the 
transfusion, he died that night.

-- 

Belinda
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