Poor little guy. Prayers for him.
/johnny
ping
My daughter had it a few years ago. Almost killed her. Spent 18 days in intensive care. She’s fine now. She had HUS/TCP=
Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome/Thrombocytopenia.
I can’t advise you on your cat. I can only sympathize.
The Power of the Dog
There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie—
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find—it’s your own affair—
But...you’ve given your heart for a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone—wherever it goes—for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart for the dog to tear.
We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we’ve kept ‘em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long—
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?
Rudyard Kipling
Substitute cat, and the sentiment is the same when the final prescription runs
to lethal chambers or loaded guns.
/johnny
I’m a marrow donor for a child with this disease.
My wife has Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia. Had no idea cats got it! She was bruising at the drop of a hat. After multiple attempts with different meds she finally had her spleen removed in 2001. She’s not had a problem with it since. The primary medication when first diagnosed was prednisone. It boosted her platelet count quickly and was very inexpensive. It does have some bad side effects such as bone loss-swelling-insomnia. Is some type of steroid treatment available for cats??
Poor little guy. I hope your vet can successfully treat this so your pal can get back to being his cute zippy little self.
The vet did a blood count test and that is what it revealed. He hydrated her then gave us some antibiotics and a steroid to administer. The antibiotic was to prevent any possibility of infection.
The steroid was to overcome the desire of the immune system to destroy her liver.
After several trips to the vet, she is now normal, like her active self. We are still giving her a mild dose of steroid. We go in the 13th to have her rechecked.
Sorry to hear this news about your little buddy. Hopefully, the drug company will provide some form of help if this is a reaction. I would also contact MSU veterinary teaching hospital: http://cvm.msu.edu/hospital/information-for-clients.
My cat is about 11 years old, stays indoors, and the only vaccines she's had are the ones she got prior to me adopting her........
Let me modify that, back in 2006 she did receive a feline leukemia vaccination but that is it. As expected, she was out of sorts for a day or two..........
With that being said, I don't recommend letting your cat outside and if you do that then there is no need in subjecting it to unneeded vaccines which makes them ill...........
Letting a cat outdoors is a personal choice but one has to weigh all the cons of letting them out as to the advantages of just keeping them in the house.....
I hope your kitty gets well.....
Lots of big words and they all sound very scary. And they may be. You precious kitty has a low platelet count and in extreme cases there is an additional attack against white cells and other blood producing marrow. Fundamentally, this is an auto immune disease. I don’t know what additional your vet is doing but there are some protocols out there to help. Prognosis is unknown because each animal is so individual and what the overall health of the animal was before onset, etc etc.
Love your kitty. Check what kind of food you are feeding to be sure you have American made ( not some off shore unknown). Push your vet to see what additional can be done. Say lots of prayers.
Big heart felt hugs from here. I hope you and your cat have a long life together
Several years ago, one of my cats developed thrombocytopenia and hemolytic anemia, both immune system mediated, most likely the result of a drug reaction.
We found her in the closet, severely underweight and yellow. We took her to the UC Davis teaching hospital. She was there for about 3 weeks, and was treated with steroids and an anti-leukemia chemotherapy drug. The first steroid was prednisolone for about a week, then she was switched to something else, but I do not remember what it was. She received heparin to treat blood clotting. Because of the platelet problem, she had blood clots all over her body, including in her lungs and heart. They kept her in an oxygenated incubator (the same kind used for premature babies), but had a DNR sign on it because of the clots. She received a blood transfusion and would have received another except that the donor cat developed an infection where the blood was drawn for the transfusion. The donor cat was her daughter.
When we finally brought her home, I had to give her pills and injections several times a day. I think it took about 3 or 4 months for her to recover fully.
All of this treatment was about $3,000, back in 1998. However, I consider it money well-spent, because she lived for another 9 years and died at the ripe old age of 18 of kidney failure. I also never had her vaccinated after that, because I was afraid that a vaccine might put her immune system into overdrive and she would not survive a second episode of the autoimmune disease. Not having her vaccinated did hamper our lifestyle somewhat, since not being able to board her meant we could never take vacations as a family. We also had to take her in the car with us during moves because airlines will not take unvaccinated animals (we prefer to drive ourselves but have the cats flown when we move).
Bottom line is that a cat can pull through this, but the treatment is labor-intensive and quite expensive. I hope my experience helps you decide what to do.
Please keep us updated. Prayers for you and kitty.
Prayers for your furry baby.
Our cat is part desert lynx and when we got him we were told that we had to have live vaccine like they give to the lions and tigers. We did that for a few years when he was young but now just give him the regular stuff. We can’t tell any difference.
That’s all I know. But you might ask the vet about that. I don’t know what he could do.
I’ve never dealt with this issue, but it’s been my experience with our cats (many, over the years) that a young, healthy cat has a pretty good chance of bouncing back from a lot more than you’d credit them for. Even older cats can fool you. One of our fat, older cats recently hurt his knee, and my vet (who I trust) recommended a $1000 surgery for him. She said he was unlikely to recover from it on his own. Instead we went with anti-inflammatories and kept him in a room for about a month where he had nothing to jump up or down on . . . and his limp is now all gone.
My point being, I guess, that especially if the company will pick up the tab, I’d treat your pet with whatever is available, and give him some time. If he just feels kinda crummy but is not in pain, I’d definitely take a “wait and see” attitude. With luck and prayers, he may bounce back yet. I hope he feels better soon!
No advice to impart, but keeping you & your little guy in my thoughts. I hope he reacts well to whatever you decide & that you’ll have many happy years together.