Hey, With respect to blood transfusions in cats. Most cats are blood group A - around 99% in the US. As it is in people you need to match the blood types. Because there is such a high prevelance of type A in the US, they do not always do a type and cross - to me this seems foolish as it would be easy to just do a cross and look for any reaction in the test tube. I don't think they always know how to do this in general vet labs. If you have a cat that is O or B (again unlikely in the US), they will react to the transfusion of an A blood type donor.
I personally have had bad luck with transfusions in felv because you are only treating the symptoms of the disease and they will have to be transfused every month or two. Every transfusion increases the risk of a bad transfusion reaction. If, however, the cat has a regenerative anemia (lots of reticulocytes) and something like a hemobartonella infection, the transfusion in conjunction with treatment of the hemobartonella may yield positive results. What I am trying to say is that, if the cat is anemic because his bone marrow is not producing more red blood cells, a transfusion will only prolong the inevitable by a month or two (this would be end stage effects of the felv). Unless there is some novel treatment for felv in this stage (I haven't found much - LTCI, acemannan and interferon have been proposed and sometimes help but no guarantees) and you are willing to try one of them, I would probably not opt to do a transfusion. If, on the other hand, there is a regenerative anemia and an underlying cause for the anemia - like hemobartonella - a transfusion in conjunction with treatment of the hemobartonella may be helpful. Especially if there is some desire to attempt to treat the felv - LTCI, interferon, acemannan, a combination of herbal remedies, etc. If all they want to do is a transfusion, I can almost guarantee that is will simply prolong the inevitable by a few weeks. Hope that helps. Jenny On 8/24/10, MaryChristine <twelvehousec...@gmail.com> wrote: > > just got an email from a rescue i work with, about someone who adopted > a FeLV positive a few months ago. kitty is NOT doing well--with a > hematocrit of 8. she asked her vet about doing a transfusion, and he > said that's not done with FeLV cats. well, other than getting a new > vet, i'm asking you guys for help. (he's also saying it could be > whatever-they're-now-calling-hemobartenellosis.) i've got all the info > from the rescue, and the contact info of the cat's mom. > > i know that some of you have experience with this, which i do not: if > any of you are willing/able to help walk lisa (the human) and josie > (the cat) through this, please let me know! feline anemia boards? i've > suggested she check www.adopt.bemikitties for local vets (she MAY be > in the miami, FL area, but not sure on that yet--that's where the > rescue is), as well as amer assn of feline practitioners for a vet > near her, but i think that talking with someone who knows what they're > talking about would be a big help..... > > thanks! > > MC, out of her depth > -- > Spay & Neuter Your Neighbors! > Maybe That'll Make The Difference.... > > MaryChristine > Special-Needs Coordinator, Purebred Cat Breed Rescue (www.purebredcats.org > ) > Member, SCAT (Special-Cat Action Team) > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org > _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
