Pam’s cat Emily

[admin]

Hello all

I am posting on behalf of a lady called Pam and her cat, Emily.

Emily has been having a tough time with non-regenerative anaemia, and Pam has been working tirelessly to try to reach a diagnosis. I am sure she will fill in the details, but in short there is some question as to whether Emily is suffering with non-regenerative IMHA, a type of parasite called Mycoplasma haemofelis, or perhaps Lymphoma. She has been treated with prednisone and a short course of Baytril, and has maintained a fairly respectable PCV, between 23-27%.
Emily is not keen on taking her medication and this is a real difficulty for Pam, particularly when we aren’t sure what the correct medication is as there is no firm diagnosis.

I am really hoping that with our combined experiences, we can help Pam and Emily through this.

With love,

Mary and Mable x

Attachments:

1. 

[Susie]

Mary,

Has Pam tried putting any pill wrap on it? My Emily thinks taking her pills is a real treat since I’ve discovered pill wrap. I’m not sure if you have that over there, but here in California it is sold by vets and pet supply stores.

Hoping to hear some good news on kitty Emily!
♡Susie

[admin]

Hello Mary, Pam and beautiful Emily. I am so sorry poor Emiky is going through this.

So, the vets are up in the air about her. It seems to me that Baytril is a good start. Is she still on prednisone. And I apologize, but I don’t know her ‘healthy’ PCV. Do we have that information?

Mary, I think you told the team about your dear friend and her precious Emiky a while back. I certainly hope we can help. Let’s try, for sure.

Love and hang-in-there hugs, Linda

[Vally]

Hi Pam, I’m so sorry your Emily is sick. There’s nothing so worrying and it feels as though everything is out of our control.

Do you have any blood test results for Emily? If you do, perhaps post them. Mary or anyone else would be happy to help with that.

You’ve very welcome here and we’d all love to help your beautiful girl.

Vally & Bingo.

[Pam]

Hello! (Thanks Mary for your help)

I tried pill pockets but Emily does not like those. Since her appetite is down she is not keen to eat all things. If there are any other wrap suggestions let me know.

She is not still on Baytril that was only prescribed on 7/17/15 because she had a fever at the time of the testing. That was for only 5 days and was finished on 7/21/15.

A Normal HCT would be 30 and above.

No PCR test was ever done, and only blood slides were looked that showed no parasites.

Here is a summary:

Emily First seen due to weight loss and lessened appetite on 5/13/15

5/13/15 (HCT 31.2) Discovered Emily lost 3 pounds since last weigh in one year ago

5/19/15 (HCT 27.3) Prescribed liquid Iron and B12/ Path Report : No FHM seen

5/27/15 (HCT 25.4) FeLV Neg, FIV Neg

6/09/15 (HCT 25.0) Stopped Iron/ Prescribed Pred 5mg 2x day / Minocyline 50 mg—– Minocyline not tolerated and discontinued after first trial.

6/30/15 (HCT 23.3) Ultrasound of ab found enlarged spleen/liver nothing else

7/02/15 (HCT 24.7) Path Report – Moderate Neutropenia, no parasites seen

7/07/15 (HCT 25.0) Prescribed Doxy + Prednisone 2x per day to attempt to treat FHM, which was my idea not vet’s.

7/11/15 Stopped Doxy, and Began to wean off of Prednisone for testing, as vet convinced me she could not have FHM because her anemia is non-regenerative indicated by a normal reticulocyte count.

7/17/15 (HCT 27.0) Spleen aspirate shows no cancer found, instead found microphages, Vet thinking this is immune mediated and possibly cancer some where, but says they have never seen a case like hers and are confused.

7/17/15 Prescribed to resume Prednisone at 5 mg 1x per day and 5 days of Baytril due to a fever.

7/24/15 Infectious Disease Panel Pending – testing Bartonella, Toxo Titer IgG igM, Fungal Screen, Tick Serology

Any ideas? Thanks, Pam

[Vally]

Pam, I hope this latest test gives an answer so that it can be treated with whatever it needs. When do you get the results of this test?

I’m no good with blood test results, but others are. Do you have a copy of what’s been done? Might be an idea to send them through the Urgent Advice:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/urgent-advice/

Regards, Vally & Bingo

[admin]

Hello Pam & Emily

Emily – you are a beautiful girl with the prettiest eyes.

I am so pleased you’ve found us & I hope we can help you through this illness. A huge welcome from us all. I “met” Mary through a mutual friend – it’s a small world! Mary has e-mailed us the tests & reports. I admit I am no expert on cats, so we will all be learning as we go. Mary says giving medications to cats can be quite a dangerous business, so I really feel for you trying to find a way of getting the drugs into her. I used a nice piece of smelly stinky Toulouse sausage to start with, but Worzel now just opens his mouth out of habit & I pop them in the back of his throat!

I know Patrice is helping too – she really is the expert on the spleen, as her dog Chance had his removed, leading to the discovery that Chance had bone marrow failure.

My gut instinct on this is also that Emily could have an infectious disease & would urge you to contact Dr Holland, as Patrice suggested. My dog Worzel had ehrlichiosis – we are 99% sure of that – even though a blood test was negative. He could have had this evil disease hiding away in his bone marrow for months or even years, without having any symptoms – and if it wasn’t in his bloodstream, I imagine the blood test would of course be negative. Gradually, he went downhill, slowly & horribly – I cannot count how many times I took him to the vets & said I knew there was something wrong. Stupidly, even though the vets said he was fine, I let him have a vaccination & things got even worse – he became anaemic. Not much appetite, losing weight rapidly, really miserable. We started him on prednisolone for a couple of weeks & then things really went from bad to worse – loads of strange symptoms, but NO temperature, then a few days later, a raging temperature, diarrhoea, stopped eating completely. So we started him on high dose long term doxycycline (5 week course) & found a great specialist who was totally convinced that ehrlichia had triggered his bone marrow failure. Does this story sound familiar to you at all? If so, an infectious disease seems likely. The moral of the story for me was the prednisolone will allow any infection to really take a hold on them, so strong antibiotics for many weeks are often necessary. Also, if the diagnosis is definitely IMHA or bone marrow failure, a second immuno-suppressant is the only way to get that bone marrow working properly again. At this stage, I know it is not certain Emily has IMHA (and I am not sure either), but something is affecting all the cell lines in her blood – all are just below the normal levels. This buys you time, thank goodness, but I know you are really desperate to find out what on earth is the matter.

I think most vets jump on the cancer idea to be on the safe side – quite understandable & it is necessary to rule out these things. Again many of us have heard that cancer word mentioned but it mostly turns out to be immune-mediated disease.

Reading your post above, we very often see enlarged spleens in dogs with this disease because the poor old spleen had to work very hard to keep up with cleaning up the damaged cells & other debris from the bloodstream. Macrophages are a type of phagocyte which are cells that clean up unwanted bits & pieces such as bacteria, dead cells & pathogens, so they are probably working overtime too – many of them would be needed to cope with that cleaning up operation. Macrophages start life off as monocytes & differentiate, or turn into macrophages. I have never come across them being mentioned as “significant” in a spleen sample myself – I’m sure they should be present & am wondering why this has been flagged up. They are absolutely essential & are supposed to be there (in certain areas) for sure. They play a vital role in “innate and acquired immune defence mechanisms response”. Maybe this is an indicator of underlying, rumbling infection? I don’t know for certain.

If this is something infectious that has not yet led to IMHA, the prednisone will make things worse without the correct antibiotic treatment. If it’s IMHA/bone marrow failure, prednisone is not enough to suppress the over-active out of control immune system adequately. Stating the obvious from me then! I can see exactly why your vets are uncertain, but they will get to the bottom of this with the right help. It’s a matter of getting the experts involved – & I know you are determined to get her better.

Please keep firing thoughts & questions at us – we’ll do our best to help.

Love Sheena, Worzel & Ollie xxxxx

[Jen]

Hi Pam, sorry to hear your kitty is not feeling well. I’m not a cat mom so I’m not certain what they tend to like to eat but have you tried wrapping it in her favorite food- peanut butter, peice of tuna fish, cheese?? Sometimes a smelly food (like tuna) tricks them to thinking it’s a treat… You may have already done this but figured I throw it out there. Wishing you best of luck and your baby to feel better soon!
Jen

[admin]

Hello all

I am posting on behalf of a lady called Pam and her cat, Emily.

Emily has been having a tough time with non-regenerative anaemia, and Pam has been working tirelessly to try to reach a diagnosis. I am sure she will fill in the details, but in short there is some question as to whether Emily is suffering with non-regenerative IMHA, a type of parasite called Mycoplasma haemofelis, or perhaps Lymphoma. She has been treated with prednisone and a short course of Baytril, and has maintained a fairly respectable PCV, between 23-27%.
Emily is not keen on taking her medication and this is a real difficulty for Pam, particularly when we aren’t sure what the correct medication is as there is no firm diagnosis.

I am really hoping that with our combined experiences, we can help Pam and Emily through this.

With love,

Mary and Mable x

Attachments:

1. 

[Susie]

Mary,

Has Pam tried putting any pill wrap on it? My Emily thinks taking her pills is a real treat since I’ve discovered pill wrap. I’m not sure if you have that over there, but here in California it is sold by vets and pet supply stores.

Hoping to hear some good news on kitty Emily!
♡Susie

[admin]

Hello Mary, Pam and beautiful Emily. I am so sorry poor Emiky is going through this.

So, the vets are up in the air about her. It seems to me that Baytril is a good start. Is she still on prednisone. And I apologize, but I don’t know her ‘healthy’ PCV. Do we have that information?

Mary, I think you told the team about your dear friend and her precious Emiky a while back. I certainly hope we can help. Let’s try, for sure.

Love and hang-in-there hugs, Linda

[Vally]

Hi Pam, I’m so sorry your Emily is sick. There’s nothing so worrying and it feels as though everything is out of our control.

Do you have any blood test results for Emily? If you do, perhaps post them. Mary or anyone else would be happy to help with that.

You’ve very welcome here and we’d all love to help your beautiful girl.

Vally & Bingo.

[Pam]

Hello! (Thanks Mary for your help)

I tried pill pockets but Emily does not like those. Since her appetite is down she is not keen to eat all things. If there are any other wrap suggestions let me know.

She is not still on Baytril that was only prescribed on 7/17/15 because she had a fever at the time of the testing. That was for only 5 days and was finished on 7/21/15.

A Normal HCT would be 30 and above.

No PCR test was ever done, and only blood slides were looked that showed no parasites.

Here is a summary:

Emily First seen due to weight loss and lessened appetite on 5/13/15

5/13/15 (HCT 31.2) Discovered Emily lost 3 pounds since last weigh in one year ago

5/19/15 (HCT 27.3) Prescribed liquid Iron and B12/ Path Report : No FHM seen

5/27/15 (HCT 25.4) FeLV Neg, FIV Neg

6/09/15 (HCT 25.0) Stopped Iron/ Prescribed Pred 5mg 2x day / Minocyline 50 mg—– Minocyline not tolerated and discontinued after first trial.

6/30/15 (HCT 23.3) Ultrasound of ab found enlarged spleen/liver nothing else

7/02/15 (HCT 24.7) Path Report – Moderate Neutropenia, no parasites seen

7/07/15 (HCT 25.0) Prescribed Doxy + Prednisone 2x per day to attempt to treat FHM, which was my idea not vet’s.

7/11/15 Stopped Doxy, and Began to wean off of Prednisone for testing, as vet convinced me she could not have FHM because her anemia is non-regenerative indicated by a normal reticulocyte count.

7/17/15 (HCT 27.0) Spleen aspirate shows no cancer found, instead found microphages, Vet thinking this is immune mediated and possibly cancer some where, but says they have never seen a case like hers and are confused.

7/17/15 Prescribed to resume Prednisone at 5 mg 1x per day and 5 days of Baytril due to a fever.

7/24/15 Infectious Disease Panel Pending – testing Bartonella, Toxo Titer IgG igM, Fungal Screen, Tick Serology

Any ideas? Thanks, Pam

[Vally]

Pam, I hope this latest test gives an answer so that it can be treated with whatever it needs. When do you get the results of this test?

I’m no good with blood test results, but others are. Do you have a copy of what’s been done? Might be an idea to send them through the Urgent Advice:
https://www.secondchanceaihadogs.com/urgent-advice/

Regards, Vally & Bingo

[admin]

Hello Pam & Emily

Emily – you are a beautiful girl with the prettiest eyes.

I am so pleased you’ve found us & I hope we can help you through this illness. A huge welcome from us all. I “met” Mary through a mutual friend – it’s a small world! Mary has e-mailed us the tests & reports. I admit I am no expert on cats, so we will all be learning as we go. Mary says giving medications to cats can be quite a dangerous business, so I really feel for you trying to find a way of getting the drugs into her. I used a nice piece of smelly stinky Toulouse sausage to start with, but Worzel now just opens his mouth out of habit & I pop them in the back of his throat!

I know Patrice is helping too – she really is the expert on the spleen, as her dog Chance had his removed, leading to the discovery that Chance had bone marrow failure.

My gut instinct on this is also that Emily could have an infectious disease & would urge you to contact Dr Holland, as Patrice suggested. My dog Worzel had ehrlichiosis – we are 99% sure of that – even though a blood test was negative. He could have had this evil disease hiding away in his bone marrow for months or even years, without having any symptoms – and if it wasn’t in his bloodstream, I imagine the blood test would of course be negative. Gradually, he went downhill, slowly & horribly – I cannot count how many times I took him to the vets & said I knew there was something wrong. Stupidly, even though the vets said he was fine, I let him have a vaccination & things got even worse – he became anaemic. Not much appetite, losing weight rapidly, really miserable. We started him on prednisolone for a couple of weeks & then things really went from bad to worse – loads of strange symptoms, but NO temperature, then a few days later, a raging temperature, diarrhoea, stopped eating completely. So we started him on high dose long term doxycycline (5 week course) & found a great specialist who was totally convinced that ehrlichia had triggered his bone marrow failure. Does this story sound familiar to you at all? If so, an infectious disease seems likely. The moral of the story for me was the prednisolone will allow any infection to really take a hold on them, so strong antibiotics for many weeks are often necessary. Also, if the diagnosis is definitely IMHA or bone marrow failure, a second immuno-suppressant is the only way to get that bone marrow working properly again. At this stage, I know it is not certain Emily has IMHA (and I am not sure either), but something is affecting all the cell lines in her blood – all are just below the normal levels. This buys you time, thank goodness, but I know you are really desperate to find out what on earth is the matter.

I think most vets jump on the cancer idea to be on the safe side – quite understandable & it is necessary to rule out these things. Again many of us have heard that cancer word mentioned but it mostly turns out to be immune-mediated disease.

Reading your post above, we very often see enlarged spleens in dogs with this disease because the poor old spleen had to work very hard to keep up with cleaning up the damaged cells & other debris from the bloodstream. Macrophages are a type of phagocyte which are cells that clean up unwanted bits & pieces such as bacteria, dead cells & pathogens, so they are probably working overtime too – many of them would be needed to cope with that cleaning up operation. Macrophages start life off as monocytes & differentiate, or turn into macrophages. I have never come across them being mentioned as “significant” in a spleen sample myself – I’m sure they should be present & am wondering why this has been flagged up. They are absolutely essential & are supposed to be there (in certain areas) for sure. They play a vital role in “innate and acquired immune defence mechanisms response”. Maybe this is an indicator of underlying, rumbling infection? I don’t know for certain.

If this is something infectious that has not yet led to IMHA, the prednisone will make things worse without the correct antibiotic treatment. If it’s IMHA/bone marrow failure, prednisone is not enough to suppress the over-active out of control immune system adequately. Stating the obvious from me then! I can see exactly why your vets are uncertain, but they will get to the bottom of this with the right help. It’s a matter of getting the experts involved – & I know you are determined to get her better.

Please keep firing thoughts & questions at us – we’ll do our best to help.

Love Sheena, Worzel & Ollie xxxxx

[Jen]

Hi Pam, sorry to hear your kitty is not feeling well. I’m not a cat mom so I’m not certain what they tend to like to eat but have you tried wrapping it in her favorite food- peanut butter, peice of tuna fish, cheese?? Sometimes a smelly food (like tuna) tricks them to thinking it’s a treat… You may have already done this but figured I throw it out there. Wishing you best of luck and your baby to feel better soon!
Jen