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Dear Robert and family.
I am so very sorry to read of the loss of your dear Mattie. IMHA is a horrible disease and sometimes, despite intensive treatment, it wins. I know that nothing can be said at the moment to make you feel any better, but just want to pass on my sincere condolences and very best wishes.
Mary x
Hi Linda
Fantastic news that Sadie’s PCV is stable! I’m so pleased.
Thank you for thinking of me re: your friend’s cat. Mable is fed on a very mainstream wet cat food (Felix, one of Purina’s products). I am not keen on these foods as they are only 4% meat! All the main brands here are. Unfortunately, she will not eat anything else. Due to this, she is supplemented with Iams biscuits and Royal Canin dental biscuits. She is the fussiest, and yet easiest cat I have ever known. I tried giving her some tuna and smoked salmon recently, but she turned her nose up! Admittedly she would take a little ham or chicken, but since I stopped eating meat I tend not to have it around. She would live on biscuits if she could but I insist on some wet food for renal function. I have occasionally fed mashed egg and rice to my cats when they have had upset stomachs, but only for limited periods and usually mixed in with meat. Mable has also been known to supplement her diet with birds, mice, frogs….. ;)
Cats nutritional requirements can be a bit tricky. Too much fish is a bad idea, as it can cause pansteatitis. Cats also need dietary taurine, and are obligate carnivores. Another issue with feeding fresh food is that many seemingly innocuous foods are highly toxic to cats. Obviously, onions and garlic are a big no-no, but many other things are also poisonous to them.
Some of the very fancy cat foods with a high percentage of meat/fish do not contain all the essential nutrients and should therefore only be used as a complementary food (the label should say whether it is a complete or complementary food).
This is a good place to start:
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/FeedYourCat.cfm
I also like this site:
http://www.felinecrf.org/which_foods.htm
I don’t know how reliable it is, but I read a lot on here before Molly’s IMHA diagnosis and found some very useful information.
What is your friend feeding her cat? Molly was on Royal Canin urinary S/O wet food, as she suffered idiopathic cystitis. I must say that before that, she was on medications and still suffered bouts of cystitis every fortnight. She never suffered another episode after starting the vet diet, and I was quickly able to stop all her medications (although, of course, I questioned if it was the special diet which had caused the IMHA). I also used to make her “broths” of chicken or fish/shrimp boiled and blended with lots of water, to boost her fluid intake. This is cheap and easy to add in as a complementary food (and was recommended by my vets). I’d freeze it into little pots, a bit like baby food!
Personally, I would suggest that she continues to feed her cat the vet diet if it is a specialist renal diet, although I am sure she could add in some fresh/raw meat to complement this.
I hope this helps a bit, but am more than happy to look into it further if there is any more information you would like?
Lots of love from me and Mable to you and Sadie! x
Sorry Robert – the prednisone should give her an big appetite when it starts to kick in properly. In the meantime, just try to tempt her with chicken or her favourite foods. Let us know how she’s doing – there will be lots of ideas for food from the others, I’m sure
Sheena (again!)
Hi Robert
I hope you don’t mind that I’ve started a new topic especially for Mattie.
I’m really sorry she has been diagnosed with this disease & very glad you’ve found us. We all have experience with AIHA through our pets & are here to help you as much as we can. I can remember how frightening & confusing it was to be told that my dog Worzel had AIHA in Dec 2012, so I totally understand how you must be feeling. Thanks to the right treatment, Worzel has made a full recovery so far. I cannot emphasise how important it is to get the correct treatment.
I am glad to see that your vet has started prednisone. The treatment protocol for AIHA is high dose prednisone, an additonal long-acting immuno-suppressant such as azathioprine or cyclosporine, tummy protection (which I see you already have – great!) & very importantly. Most dogs need an anti-clotting medication as this is a big risk with AIHA. Ocassionally, depending on the “type”of AIHA, dogs do not need anti-clotting medication, but this is rare. It is also important to treat any cause that can be found, for example infection, although sometimes that is not possible. Does your vet think Mattie has an infection? Tick-borne diseases are sometimes the cause.
I don’t want to bombard you with too much information, but would urge that you speak to your vet regarding clotting risks as soon as possible – that information can be found in the AIHA Terms in the top (blue) bar under the section “abnormal clotting”. I would also ask them to add in a long acting immuno-suppressant as prednisone is not enough on it’s own to conquer AIHA.
If you can, it would help us if you can tell us some of Mattie’s blood test results, such as PCV or HCT, WBC – the more information, the better.
Many vets do not have a lot of experience with this disease & finding a specialist in internal medicine is always a good idea. Your vet should not take this personally – mine didn’t & was fantastic – our local vets recommended we went to a specialist as soon as they realised how serious the problem was. I hope Mattie’s breathing will improve soon with the lasix. You can look up all the information on prednisone in the AIHA terms too & I hope that will help you. It is important to have the right dose & you will see a list of side effects etc,
Mattie can beat this – and we are here for you anytime you need us. There are some wonderful people on here who helped me through Worzel’s illness with their support & kindness. I live in France, so forgive me if I can’t always reply straight away. I hope I haven’t overdosed you on information – if there’s anything you need to know, just ask. Someone on here will probably have experienced exactly the same thing.
In the meantime, all my best wishes to you & your dear girl Mattie
Sheena, Worzel (AIHA dog) & Ollie
Hi Karen
I’m really sorry to hear that Mystique has received this diagnosis, but want to welcome you to the site. Everyone here is very supportive and has been through this emotional time, with some wonderful success stories.
Anyway, welcome, and I look forward to hearing more about Mystique.
Mary and Mable x
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