a cat with anaemia

geordief · 17-11-2010 3:13pm #1

Am treating it with antibiotics.
Anyone here have an idea of how long it might be expected to be before an improvement is notceable?
I am most of the way through the course and the change is fairly small.

blondie7 · 17-11-2010 3:15pm

Do you mind me asking what the signs and symptoms of this are? Just curious cos i wasnt aware they could suffer from this!

geordief · 17-11-2010 3:27pm

She lost a lot of weight and only eats small bits at a time.
Also her breathing is heavy .
Her gums are pale.
She sleeps a lot and is quite comfortable as she has a blanket at the base of the aga.
But ,unless she makes an improvement soon I am becoming more pessimistic about her.

anniehoo · 17-11-2010 3:43pm

Do you know what type of anaemia she has? Theres different types eg. regenerative and non regenerative. If its something like Feline Infectious Anaemia (regenerative generally) it could take 3 or 4 weeks to treat. Im presuming your vet is keeping you in the loop with info about it? Did he mention she might need a blood transfusion at all?

Jules · 17-11-2010 3:52pm

Treatment depends on type. And in general, i think the most common is caused when the white blood cells attack the red blood cells, it's called Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia.

Its generally treated with a steroid, which slows down the immune system and allows the body to make new red bloods cells. Anti biotics are generally give to cover for the low immune system. But there can also be a bug in the blood than can complicate the problem. Did he do any tests to confirm this, and did he tell you what your cats red blood cell count is?

Orla K · 17-11-2010 3:59pm

Since you are giving her antibiotics I figure you've already been to the vet, what did they say was the cause of the anaemia.

I had noticed my cat eating cat litter(she was old enough not to) and checked her out, turns out she was anaemic too. Her cause was a tumor partily blocking blood flow to one of her organs(I think it was liver)
She lost weight but the tumor caused fluid to collect giving her a large belly
She was tired and pale in the mouth and eyes but didn't have a problem eating just the absorbtion of it. She didn't breath heavy either (or at least I don't remember that part)

Did your vet mention anything about any special diet, I bought a lambs heart for mine which improved her slightly but since the anaemia wasn't the cause it was never going to cure her just make for feel better for a while.

I have to add that my cats tumor was inoperable and it was in a vain/vessel and too close to the orgin to remove, she had to be pts. Also there's loads of reasons why a cat could be anaemic so I'm in no way saying that your cat was as bad as mine but this has been my experience with it.

I suggest you give your vet a call and ask them when you should see improvement and if there's anything you should give it (like lambs heart) to try improve it.

geordief · 17-11-2010 4:03pm

the vet did give the name of the infection in the blood.I don't remember the exact name.The thing is that ,as she also came up positive for FIV (cat aids) he was reluctant to prescribe antibiotics at all as he said her chances weren't good and also I think he was worried about the chances of her infecting other cats.
As she doesn't interact with the other cats at all (they don't come into the house and she shuns them if she goes out) I think that ,for now anyway, that that is not a problem.
No the vet didn't mention a transfusion.Like I said he was gently suggesting that she should be put to sleep so I think the idea in his mind may have been to see how she reacted to the antibiotics first -or maybe he could just see that I was a bit too upset at the time to agree there and then to putting her to sleep.

Jules · 17-11-2010 4:09pm

Do you remember if it was Hemobartonella?

geordief · 17-11-2010 4:35pm

I am pretty sure it wasn't that.

I could be wrong as I am trying to find the term by looking for it in the Google searches to see if they ring a bell, but mycoplasma may possibly have been what he said.At least it was definitely a shorter word than Hemobartonella

The vet did agree that it could have been introduced by ticks .But when I said she had been tick free for a long time he dropped that idea.

anniehoo · 17-11-2010 5:01pm

Hemobartonellosis is caused by Mycoplasma haemofelis, previously known as Haemobartonella felis.so you were on the ball there Jules. Ive no idea of the effects involving FIV aswell though.

dvet · 17-11-2010 6:18pm

Yeah, Haemobartonellosis = Feline Infectious Anaemia, and mycoplasma felis = haemobartonella felis. I don't think they could have made the terminology much more confusing if they tried!

It's not normally not that severe if it happens on its own, but a few things like stress, other illnesses & tumours can make it worse, so that's probably where the FIV is coming into play. Sorry to hear your cat is so sick OP

Sounds like you're doing a good job of keeping her comfortable though!

boomerang · 17-11-2010 10:45pm

If she has FIV then the best practice is to keep her indoors-only. Couple of reasons for this:

1) Protect her from parasites, viruses etc, all of which will chip away at her steadily weakening immune system. This will prolong her life.

2) Prevents her from getting into scrapes with other cats, and hence passing on the virus to some other poor misfortunate.

Lots of info and resources out there for helping your FIV+ cat stay strong and healthy for as long as possible. Hope she feels better soon, OP. xxx

a cat with anaemia

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