Re: hello and new to the group

[Lernermichelle]

Neil,     Kerry's cat Bandy went from a fairly low HCT back up to 32 from being on a combination of meds and supplements. If no one has forwarded you one of the emails describing Bandy's regimen I can forward it to you, since I saved it.      It kind of depends on the cause of the anemia.  If it is from lymphoma, which positive cats are predisposed to, you need to do chemo in addition to the steroids for any hope of long-term remission, but long-term in such cases usually means a year or two at best.  Sometimes anemia is from an auto-immune response and steroids alone correct it, but in that case you want to use a stronger steroid like depomedrol. And there are bacterial and parasitical causes of anemia that need to be treated with antibiotics.  Finally, if the kidneys fail to make a certain hormone that triggers the bone marrow to create red blood cells, then  drug called Epogen can help. I think Bandy did a combination of all these things plus some supplements like folic acid.      The way to tell for sure what is wrong is to do a bone marrow aspirate and to test the blood for hemobartonella.       There is a drug called Immuno-regulin which some of us have used to help our cats heal from respiratory infections and to raise low white blood cell counts, and the vet who wrote an article about it says it has cured the anemia of many FeLV+ cats he has treated. I don't think any of us have used it for that yet, but it is worth a try.  The articles about it are on the www.felineleukemia.org website.  You can order the drug without a prescription from Revival Animal Health online; it is a bacteria, actually, rather than a drug per se, which stimulates the immune system.  My cat Ginger took the dose that vet recommends, 1 ml at a time, and had bad side effects for about an hour (high fever and chills) but then got better quickly. My cat Patches got the same dose and had no side effects.  It has to be given as an IV shot, so you need to get a vet or vet tech to administer it.   Michelle     In a message dated 1/18/2006 12:26:06 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Hello i am in a state of total shock so if i blabber please forgive me i have a ten month old girl kitten that has just tested positive by the snap test which was done twice and expect the ifa test back in two days she has anemia and her count was 17 at first test and and since then dropped to 13 at which point we gave her a blood transfusion which only brought her up to 17 again she has been on predisione since we first took her in and doxycyline and l-lysine she has lost almost two lbs now is there any hope at all ???? money is not an issue Neil